Why the 'latin' in Latin America?

Question

What does the 'Latin' bit of Latin America actually signify? What are it's origns? and what countries are actually included in Latin America?

Answer 1

im not really sure.

Answer 2

The term Latin and Latino(a) stem from the history of the peoples in those countries.

It actually starts with the traditional history of Rome.  Now more than likely the "traditional history" of Rome is not its actual history, but the story is what it is.

We find the story from the Aeneid, written by Virgil (real name Virgilius Publius Nano).  Virgil wrote it as a way of proclaiming Rome's glory as well as that of Julius and Augustus Caesar.

During the Trojan War, Aeneas was a warrior for Troy.  And for ten years the Trojans fought against the Greeks, and Aeneas was known to be among the great fighters for Troy.  But with the Trojan Horse, the Greeks were able to enter the city of Troy and destroy it from the inside.  In the book The Iliad by Homer, Zeus (god of the gods) proclaims that Aeneas will survive the fall of Troy and lead the fallen remnant to new glory.

Aeneas leads all the survivors of Troy through various hardships to West Italy, where he meets King Latinus.  Obviously, King Latinus is the king of the Latins and is the forbear of the name of Latin.  King Latinus offers to marry his daughter to Aeneas, but another tribe (the Italians) under King Turnus aren't happy about it.  Turnus was the lead suitor for Lavinia's hand; Lavinia of course being the aforementioned daughter.  Turnus was not too happy about being passed over.

Turnus and the Italians combine forces with the Latins and try to fight off the Trojans, but Aeneas is able to beat Turnus in single combat.  With that victory Lavinia is giving to Aeneas and the Trojans, Latins, and Italians mix into one tribe.

Various events occur but the founders of Rome (Romulus and Remus) come from the line of Aeneas, as does Julius Caesar.  The Romans are therefore also nicknamed Latins.

The Roman Empire spreads throughout the known world of the time, encompassing lands including Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania.

After the fall of Rome and the split of the Empire, new countries emerge.  These countries become interested in colonization, and among the colonies for Spain, France, and Portugal is the west of the United States, Mexico, and South America and its islands.

They conquer the Native American tribes and begin to intermix with them.  While the tribes of Incas and Aztecs don't really exist anymore, the Mexicans and many of the South American countries are descended of a combination of those tribes and the Latin-descended Spanish and French and Portugese.  That is why they came to be known as Latins and why the area is known as Latin America.

The United States considers itself to be more or less descended of England, though in truth it is made up of many nations.  However, since it considers itself a descent of English stock who in turn are descended of Germanic tribes (Angles and Saxons), the Americans don't consider themselves to be Latins; though most people in America have at least some Latin background among their Germanic backgrounds.

Answer 3

you have:  Latin American and Latin European

Strictly speaking, Latin America can designate all of those countries and territories in the Americas where a Romance language (i.e. languages derived from Latin, and hence the name of the region) is spoken: Spanish, Portuguese, French, and creole languages based upon these. Indeed, this was the original intent when the term was popularized by Napoleon III as part of his campaign to install Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. Using this definition, Latin America includes not only all Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, but also the current and former French territories in the hemisphere, including Quebec in Canada, Louisiana in the United States, Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, French Guiana in South America, and St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland

JAS G put it better then i did, lol

Answer 4

Latin refers to the language. Spanish, Portuguese and French are latin languages.

Answer 5

No, in reallity is a terminology use by anglo- americans to differenciate this part of the continent with different roots than the ones up north.

it has to do with the languages ( Spanish and Portuguese) and all the social development that this region has , mostly catholic, Mix race from white, indian, and black and some other common characteristics.

The term latin comes from the region LATVIA in Roman times. although all people who speak "ROMAN LANGUAGES  should be consider "latino"  that includes french , italian and Spanish, nowadays people from this regions in Europe call them selves Mediterranean, making a a diference with the Latin americans.

In todays world Latino means somebody that comes from Latin America alone,  

The Canadians from Quebec they are not consider Latinos since they don´t have all that cultural roots that i talked about before except for the roman language French.

Answer 6

are the countries than don't speak anglo languages

Haiti, some part of canada and guyanas are part of latin america because they speak french which is a latin language

Answer 7

Some French called Latin America Latin America, and now people call it that way, but it hasn't a lot to do with Latin the language. It includes the countries in the American continent that speak Spanish.

Answer 8

cuz most people there speak spanish and spain used to own most of the countries.

Answer 9

The Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire, which conquest many countries through Europe.

The Latin vulgar (common) were mixed with local dialects and with the time originated new languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and many actual dialects: Catalan, Gallego, etc.

Latinamerica are the countries in the American continent, where one of these languages is spoken ( yes, include part of Canada), but it was established for the use to design mainly countries from Central and South America...

Answer 10

what countries are actually included in Latin America??

since  mexico til  south of  argentine or chile :)