Latin America and the Caribbean (orthographic projection)

The term Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is an

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

acronym referring to the Latin American and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

region. The term LAC covers an extensive region, extending from The Bahamas and Mexico to Argentina and Chile. The region has over 670,230,000 people , and spanned for .

List of countries and territories by subregion

Various countries within the Latin American and the

region don't use either Spanish, Portuguese or

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

as official languages, but rather English or Dutch.

Caribbean

Scattered island in the Caribbean Sea

Aves Island Isla de Aves (; Spanish for "Island of Birds" or "Birds Island"), or Aves Island, is a Federal Dependency of Venezuela. It has been the subject of numerous territorial disputes (now resolved) with the United States (through the Guano Islands A ...

( Venezuela)

West Indies

= Antilles

Greater Antilles

* ( United Kingdom) * * * * * ^* * ( United States) ^* Disputed territory administered by the United States,

claimed "Claimed" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'', which aired on AMC on February 23, 2014. The episode was written by Nichole Beattie and Seth Hoffman, and directed b ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

Lesser Antilles

* ( United Kingdom) * **

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

** Barbuda * * ( United Kingdom) * * ** ( Netherlands) ** ( Netherlands) *** *** *** ** ( Netherlands) ** ( Netherlands) * ( Venezuela) * ** * ( France) ** La Désirade ** Les Saintes ** Marie-Galante * ( France) * ( United Kingdom) * ( Venezuela) * ( France) * ** ** * *

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (598–655) * Saint Mart ...

( France) * ** Saint Vincent **

Grenadines The Grenadines is a chain of small islands that lie on a line between the larger islands of Saint Vincent and Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Nine are inhabited and open to the public (or ten, if the offshore island of Young Island is counted): ...

Spanish Virgin Islands The Spanish Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes Españolas), formerly called the Passage Islands (Spanish: ''Islas del Pasaje'') and also known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes de Puerto Rico, ''Islas Vírgenes Puertorr ...

( Puerto Rico) * * ( United States)

= Lucayan Archipelago

= * * ( United Kingdom)

Latin America

Central America

* * * * * * ^† * * ^† The UN geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America.

= Offshore islands

= * Bajo Nuevo Bank^* * (

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) * Serranilla Bank^* ^*

Disputed territories A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...

administered by

by the United States.

South America

* * * ^† ( Norway) * * * * * ^* * ( France) * * * * ^* * * * ^† The UN geoscheme includes Bouvet Island in South America instead of Antarctica or Africa. ^*

administered by the United Kingdom,

by Argentina.

Somewhat are included

* ( United Kingdom) * ( United Kingdom) * ( Chile) * ( Canada) * ( France) * Salas and Gómez Island ( Chile)

Economy

It is estimated to attribute for over 400 billion dollars that form the core for

economic stability Economic stability is the absence of excessive fluctuations in the macroeconomy. An economy with fairly constant output growth and low and stable inflation would be considered economically stable. An economy with frequent large recessions, a pronou ...

, however, a few countries, notably Venezuela, is a member state of

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquart ...

Political situation

The region has a unique history and varied between stability to instability, included various deadly conflicts, though its level remains conflicted. The two deadliest conflicts in the region are the Colombian conflict and the Mexican drug war; and more recently, the crisis in Venezuela. Some other bloody conflicts include the internal conflict in Peru and gang wars in Argentina, Brazil, and Honduras. Other conflicts include the Mapuche conflict in Argentina and Chile; and the

Insurgency in Paraguay The insurgency in Paraguay, also known as the Paraguayan People's Army insurgency and the EPP rebellion (from the group's name in Spanish language, Spanish: Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo), is an ongoing Low intensity conflict, low-level armed co ...

. These conflicts, however, have received lesser attentions from international media, and varied by time, with Colombia in headline in 1990s, Mexico in the 2000s and currently, Venezuela.

Culture

Religion

Most countries are dominated by Christianity, the largest being Roman Catholic. Smaller groups include Protestantism (including Mormonism and

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

) and

Orthodoxy Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...

and other forms of Christianity. There are many venerated folk saints and folk religions namely folk catholicism as well as

african diaspora religions African diaspora religions are a number of related Pagan beliefs that developed in the Americas in various nations of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Southern United States. They derive from Pagan traditional African religions with some infl ...

( syncretic african traditional religions) as well as

Native American religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...

s including

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

. Many folk healers also practice folk magic. Specific Creole peoples often have their own religions/spiritual practices like the Maroons's

Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...

and Garifuna's belief system (or

New Orleans Voodoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretis ...

and Melungeon in North America). Especially in the Caribbean, Central America and Brasil, there are Jewish (including Messianic Jews),

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, Baháʼí Faith (especially in Panama, Bolivia and Belize), Buddhist, Shinto and

Romani mythology Romani folklore encompasses the Fairy tale, folktales, Mythology, myths, oral traditions, and legends of the Romani people. The Romani were nomadic when they departed India during the Middle Ages. They migrated widely, particularly History of th ...

, Chinese folk religion,

Dravidian folk religion The early Dravidian religion constituted a non-Vedic form of Hinduism in that they were either historically or are at present Āgamic. The Agamas are non-Vedic in origin,Mudumby Narasimhachary (ed.) (1976). "Āgamaprāmāṇya of Yāmunācārya ...

(among others) practitioners. The Muslims and especially Jews and Gitanos are often descendants of the peoples forced into Crypto-Judaism and Crypto-Islam (and even Crypto-Paganism, for lack of a better term) from the Reconquista. There most likely is

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

and

Jainist Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

groups (and possibly even smaller Zoroastrianism, Samaritan and

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

groups). There is also a growing movement of unitarian universalism/ new age/ neo-paganism-type unorganized spirituality; goddess worship is especially popular with younger, often progressive people like feminists. Again, these movements are often also syncretic, such as Pachamama or other Pre-Columbian Deity worship. Atheism/Agnosticism is quite dichotomous with a few countries having high percentages, but most are small and may be growing slowly.

Music

The region is extremely popular for its own distinct music which can't be found somewhere in the world. Began since the conquest of Spain, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal in 15th century, due to the greater diversification including indigenous, Asian, African and European population merged, it expanded popularity of their music, dated from 1950s and rampant globalization, music from the region has become widely noticed, and has been nominated for several music awards.

Sports

The region is rich at sporting activities, especially in association football, which have some of the world's strongest football teams, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and others. Baseball, tennis, cycling, volleyball, rugby union, basketball, hockey, and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

are also popular. The region is known for producing significant martial-arts fighters, notably competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.UFC, Hispanics helping to grow MMA
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References

External links

UN Statistics Division – Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lac Economic country classifications Latin America Caribbean Acronyms Regions of the Americas