The majority of the people in Latin America have some proportion of European origins. However there is a large percentage of the people in Latin America are of mixed origins, the result of racial intermingling among European settlers, African slaves, and American natives. This mixture of backgrounds ("Mestizaje" in Spanish) has profoundly influenced religion, music, and politics, and given rise to a vague identity of those belonging to these mixed cultures; this imprecise cultural heritage is (arguably improperly) called Latinos in Am ...

See also:

Latin America, Latin America - Etymology, Latin America - Political Divisions, Latin America - History, Latin America - Demographics, Latin America - Economy, Latin America - Language, Latin America - Religion, Latin America - Music, Latin America - Film

Read more here: » Latin America: Encyclopedia II - Latin America - Demographics

Below is a table showing the Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) prices and the GDP (PPP) of each of the Latin American countries. This can be used as a rough gauge to the relative standards of living in the region. Data are from the year 2005. Sources: Data from table are from an April 2005 report by the IMF and graphics data are from data by the World Bank from 2003 [1]. Data for Cuba is a 2004 estimate from the CIA World Factbook. GDP (PPP) per capita for Latin America was calculated using population data fro ...

See also:

Latin America, Latin America - Etymology, Latin America - Political Divisions, Latin America - History, Latin America - Demographics, Latin America - Economy, Latin America - Language, Latin America - Religion, Latin America - Music, Latin America - Film

Read more here: » Latin America: Encyclopedia II - Latin America - Economy

The Spanish and Portuguese (in the 10 most populated countries), and French (in smaller countries, in the Caribbean, and in French Guiana) languages predominate. Many Caribbean nations have their own African-influenced Creole versions of these languages. Native American languages are spoken in many Latin American nations, mainly Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Mexico. Other European languages are also spoken, such as Italian in Brazil an ...

See also:

Latin America, Latin America - Etymology, Latin America - Political Divisions, Latin America - History, Latin America - Demographics, Latin America - Economy, Latin America - Language, Latin America - Religion, Latin America - Music, Latin America - Film

Read more here: » Latin America: Encyclopedia II - Latin America - Language

One of the main characteristics of Latin American music is its diversity; contrarily to a widespread view (especially in the US), there is not one specific Latin American style of music. The so-called "Latin music" covers generally only the Hispano-Caribbean music (salsa, merengue, bachata, etc.), that is to say the styles of music that have been strongly influenced by African rythms and melodies. It is also possible to find completely different styles of music in Latin America, such as the Argentine tango, Colombian cumbia and vallen ...

See also:

Latin America, Latin America - Etymology, Latin America - Political Divisions, Latin America - History, Latin America - Demographics, Latin America - Economy, Latin America - Language, Latin America - Religion, Latin America - Music, Latin America - Film

Read more here: » Latin America: Encyclopedia II - Latin America - Music

Latin America is often seen as encompassing the following countries: Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela And the following dependencies: To France French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique

See also:

Latin America, Latin America - Etymology, Latin America - Political divisions, Latin America - History, Latin America - Demographics, Latin America - Economy, Latin America - Language, Latin America - Religion, Latin America - Art, Latin America - Music, Latin America - Film

Read more here: » Latin America: Encyclopedia II - Latin America - Political divisions