Latin America

Demographics

A large percentage of the people in Latin America is of mixed origins, the result of racial intermingling among European settlers, African slaves, and American natives, with notable exception of the "Southern Cone" ("cono sur": Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil) where the population and the culture is the most Europeanized of all the Americas.

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Outside of the "Southern Cone", this mixture of backgrounds ("Mestizaje" in Spanish) has profoundly influenced religion, music, and politics, and given rise to a vague identity of those belonging to these mixed cultures; this imprecise cultural heritage is (arguably improperly) called Latinos in American English. Outside of the USA, and in many languages (especially romance ones) "Latino" just means "Latin" (which refers to cultures and peoples that can trace their heritage back to the ancient Roman Empire.)

Related Topics:
Mestizaje - Religion - Music - Politics - Latino - Latin - Roman Empire

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