Is Jamaica and Haiti considered Latin America?

Question

If not, I think that they should be considered part of "Latin America". The cultures are the same instead the languages are a bit different. But there are also a lot of Cubans who fled to Jamaica , etc. How come they just do not include the ENTIRE area? And I mean ALL of the islands in that area, including; Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, etc.

Answer 1

Latin America include only those countries that were colonies of Spain or Portugal because of the languages.

The laguages (Spanish and Portuguese) belong to the so named Iberian Romance languages: they come from Latin (the language of the antique Rome) and the countries where they were originally spoken are located in the Iberian Peninsula.

French is  also a Romance Language, but as you know France is not located in the Iberian Peninsula, just only Spain and Portugal.

Answer 2

Haiti is part of Latin America, whether the Latinos like it or not. French is one of Haiti's official language and FRENCH IS a Latin language.

As for Jamaica they don't speak a Latin language so they don't qualify as being Latin.

For all those people saying that Haitians and Jamaicans don't have much in common with latin Americans, all I can say is, a Haitian has more in common with a Dominican (from DR) or a Puerto-Rican than a Dominican has with a Peruvian.

... I just wanted to add that a Haitian has more in common with a Dominican than he has with a Canadian(from Quebec)

Answer 3

I am west indian and Gustavo is correct. Our culture is not the same as Latin America. People from the west indies predominately connect to their African ancestry unlike those from Latin America who connect more to their  Iberian ancestry and are "latinized". West Indian countries are different, our customs are different, our language is different bla bla bla. Just because a lot of cubans fled to jamacia does not mean that jamaica should become a part of Latin America, that's just silly.

Answer 4

Haiti is technically considered Latin America, because French is a latin language. But I don't think that Haiti, Jamaica, T&T, etc, have the same culture as Latin America, much the contrary. That's why the term "Iberian America", instead of "Latin America" would be the ideal, cause the French-speaking America (Haiti, Quebec, etc) has few to do with the Iberian America.

My opinion

Answer 5

Haiti and Jamaica have two different cultures, and cultures are different from latin america. We (jamaicans ) have british background, cubans have spanish and Haiti has french. Even though we all have african ancestry, we do not have the same culture. The caribbean is made up of all the islands, and latin america is basically south america which is a continent, and they are below the equator. And cubans fled to jamaica prob because we are about 90 miles from cuba, its faster to get here than USA(miami). and we wont turn anyone back.