Why are the countries in Middle America and South America called Latin American nations?

Question

Why are the countries in Middle America and South America called Latin American nations?

Answer 1

Because "Latin" referred to spanish-speaking people, before the politically correct "hispanic" came into vogue.

Answer 2

It's Americanization of the "new" politically correct term of hispanic.  (there is no such thing as hispanic race btw. Thats simply a tool for description.)  Latino refers to the Latin origins of the Spanish language.

Answer 3

Because those countries were colonies of Spain and Portugal. Both Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian are Latin language.

The set of countries in Middle America and South America are called Latin America, because of the link with latin european countries. Rather than angloxason as the U.S. and Canada.