Portal:Latin America
IntroLatin America (Spanish: América Latina or Latinoamérica; Portuguese: América Latina) is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish and Portuguese. Since it is defined according to its cultural identity instead of its geography, Latin America includes countries from both North and South America. For instance, countries from North America like Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, etc. tend to be included. In fact, most of the countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean are considered Latin American countries. English or Dutch-speaking countries in South America or the Caribbean like Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, etc. are not considered "Latin American" because they speak Germanic languages. As such, Latin America comprises the Hispanic America along with Brazil. Related terms include the narrower Hispanic America, which exclusively refers to Spanish-speaking nations; and the broader Ibero-America, which includes all Iberian countries in the Americas. The term Latin America was first introduced in 1856 at a conference named Initiative of the Americas: Idea for a Federal Congress of the Republics (Iniciativa de la América. Idea de un Congreso Federal de las Repúblicas), at Paris. Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao coined the term to refer to countries sharing cultural and linguistic heritage. It gained further prominence during the 1860s under the rule of Napoleon III, whose government sought to justify France's intervention in the Second Mexican Empire. (Full article...) Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
The Uruguayan War (10 August 1864 – 20 February 1865) was fought between Uruguay's governing Blanco Party and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil and the Uruguayan Colorado Party, covertly supported by Argentina. Since its independence, Uruguay had been ravaged by intermittent struggles between the Colorado and Blanco factions, each attempting to seize and maintain power in turn. The Colorado leader Venancio Flores launched the Liberating Crusade in 1863, an insurrection aimed at toppling Bernardo Berro, who presided over a Colorado–Blanco coalition (fusionist) government. Flores was aided by Argentina, whose president Bartolomé Mitre provided him with supplies, Argentine volunteers and river transport for troops. The fusionism movement collapsed as the Colorados abandoned the coalition to join Flores' ranks. The Uruguayan Civil War quickly escalated, developing into a crisis of international scope that destabilized the entire region. Even before the Colorado rebellion, the Blancos within fusionism had sought an alliance with Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López. Berro's now purely Blanco government also received support from Argentine federalists, who opposed Mitre and his Unitarians. The situation deteriorated as the Empire of Brazil was drawn into the conflict. Almost one fifth of the Uruguayan population were considered Brazilian. Some joined Flores' rebellion, spurred by discontent with Blanco government policies that they regarded as harmful to their interests. Brazil eventually decided to intervene in the Uruguayan affair to reestablish the security of its southern frontiers and its regional ascendancy. (Full article...) TopicsMore did you know -
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Selected article -Mary Wilhelmine Williams (May 14, 1878 – March 10, 1944) specialized in Latin American history. She was on the board of editors of the Hispanic American Historical Review from 1927 to 1933 and was secretary of the Conference on Latin American History in 1928 and 1934. Williams is credited for starting the first collegiate course in Canadian history in the United States in 1916. She contributed to the Dictionary of American Biography and wrote two books on Scandinavia. (Full article...) Did you know (auto-generated)
General imagesThe following are images from various Latin America-related articles on Wikipedia.
Selected panoramaThe Grey Glacier and Grey Lake left of the Cordillera del Paine in Torres del Paine National Park in the Chilean Patagonia. Selected pictureMoai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500 CE.Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna).The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most were cast down during later conflicts between clans.
CountriesTerritories (in bold), dependencies, and subnational entities of a country not located primarily in Latin America are italicized.
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