It refers to the regions of America where Latin languages are spoken, specifically Spanish, French and Portuguese. The region comprises more than 20 million square kilometers of surface area, corresponding to approximately 13.5% of the surface area of the planet.
Due to its extension, Latin America presents a great geographical and biological diversity. In it are practically all the climates of the world and is home to numerous animal and vegetable species. It also has some of the largest rivers in the world and important food, energy and mineral resources, among which are its oil, copper, lithium and silver deposits.
The term was used for the first time in Paris in 1856 in a conference of the Chilean philosopher Francisco Bilbao and, the same year, by the Colombian writer Jose Maria Torres Caicedo in his poem The Two Americas.
From Mexico to Argentina the Latin American countries form a community of nations, often twinned by the same language, Spanish, common cultural traditions and a convergent historical evolution. But, beyond language, history has forged a common destiny even for those areas that, like Brazil and the Francophone Antilles, speak Latin languages other than Spanish. The American emancipation process spread, without knowing frontiers, by the new world, not only with the ideal of independence from the distant and oppressive European metropolis, but also with the dream of forging a new nation. However, various factors converged in the failure of the Bolivarian ideal of union on the equal footing of all peoples.
First, the geographic diversity of this great continent in which they are present, as a mosaic all the climates, vegetation and landscapes that can be found on our planet. On the other hand, we cannot forget the ethnic plurality and cultural richness that characterized pre-Columbian America, nor the strength that particularisms were taking after the processes of emancipation in each country, especially due to the rise of military regimes that wielded a Staunch nationalism as a standard of legitimacy.
Today, however, on the frontiers of the millennium, the generalization of democratic forms throughout most of the continent, as well as the willingness to confront the challenges posed by an economic system increasingly functioning as a single market at the Global, not to mention the growing sense of continental solidarity, are unmistakable signs that Latin America has to own its future.
The term “Latin America” has a sense of supra-nationality with respect to nation-states. This supra-national sense converges in different common initiatives that tend to the formation of political organisms that articulate it, like the South American Community of Nations currently constituted in UNASUR / UNASUR and in the process of approval at treaty level by the respective congresses. The Latin American Unity is a political-cultural concept extended by Latin America previous to the times of the independence, and that must be distinguished clearly of the Panamericanismo.
Political parties, social sectors, intellectuals and artists from the most diverse extractions have repeatedly expressed their adhesion to the most diverse forms of Latin American unity, from supranational organizations such as the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) to instances of political coordination such as the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America (COPPAL), cultural as the Union of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUAL) or sectoral that take the form of Latin American unions.
The historical and cultural similarities of the Latin American peoples have led to the creation of the idea of Latin America as a common great homeland. The plan for the regularization of immigrants from frontier countries initiated by Argentina in 2006 is named, precisely, Patria Grande.
In February 2010, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was born without the presence of the United States or Canada, as the realization of a long-cherished dream.
Derived from the generic idea of Latin American unity, political projects and instances of integration of the Latin American nations have been developed. These projects have taken shape mainly in ALADI, but also in various projects of physical, logistic and cultural integration and have been expressed in a particular theoretical body about the integration process.
In the context of Latin American integration, more or less successful experiences of subregional integration, such as Mercosur, the Andean Community, the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA) have also been developed, Which has led to the theory of Latin American integration to support different models of interrelation between subregional, Latin American and continental integration processes.
In North America, Mexico is the only Latin American member of NAFTA and is an observer in the three main Latin American groups in Central and South America.
In recent years, especially in the last decade, the leaders of Latin American countries have taken firm steps and have spoken out in favor of acceleration in regional integration.
The majority of the population in Latin America is made up of young people under the age of 25. Although the average life expectancy varies between 70 and 80 years of age in most countries, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Uruguay are exceptions, including also the Canadian province of Quebec and the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , where adults outnumber the youth population.
Aging is progressive in other countries depending on the improvement of economic conditions. This high rate of youth population is due to the high birth rate due to early marriage and the low diffusion of contraceptive methods.
Latin America is one of the most urbanized areas in the world, where about 78% of the population live in urban contexts, particularly in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, with about 90% of the urban population.
However, it is important to consider that the criteria for determining the urban area differ from one country to another, for example, while in Venezuela and Mexico it is considered urban to any agglomeration of population with 2,500 or more inhabitants, in countries such as Argentina, Colombia or Bolivia is considered an urban population of 2,000 inhabitants; In Ecuador and Costa Rica, administrative centers in the provinces and cantons are considered urban, and in agglomerations of 1,000 inhabitants, provided they have urban characteristics such as electricity and commerce.
The urban population of Latin America is characterized by large metropolitan areas such as São Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá, Lima, and Santiago, Chile, which have experienced large migratory flows from rural areas and From the smaller cities, at least since the beginning of the 20th century. In contrast, in some countries, such as Guatemala, Honduras or Haiti, more than half of the population is rural.
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