Latin America and the Caribbean

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Latin America and the Caribbean
Area21,951,000 km2 (8,475,000 sq mi)
Population670,230,000
DemonymLatin American and Caribbean
Countries
Dependencies
LanguagesSpanish, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch
Time zonesUTC−02:00 to UTC−08:00
UN M49 code419 – Latin America and the Caribbean

The term Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC[1]) is an English-language acronym referring to the Latin American and the Caribbean 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 as of 2016,[citation needed] and spanned for 21,951,000 square kilometres (8,475,000 sq mi).[citation needed]

List of countries and territories by subregion

Various countries within the Latin American and the Caribbean region do not use either Spanish, Portuguese or French as official languages, but rather English or Dutch.[citation needed]

Caribbean

Main article: Caribbean

Scattered island in the Caribbean Sea

Further information: List of Caribbean islands

West Indies

Main article: West Indies
Antilles
Main article: Antilles
Greater Antilles
Main article: Greater Antilles

* Disputed territory administered by the United States, claimed by Haiti.

Lesser Antilles
Main article: Lesser Antilles
See also: Leeward Antilles, Leeward Islands, and Windward Islands
Lucayan Archipelago
Main article: Lucayan Archipelago

Latin America

Main article: Latin America

Central America

Main article: Central America
See also: Middle America

† The

UN geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America.[2]

Offshore islands
Further information: List of islands of Central America

* Disputed territories administered by Colombia, claimed by the United States.

South America

Main article: South America

† The

UN geoscheme includes Bouvet Island in South America instead of Antarctica or Africa
.

* Disputed territories administered by the United Kingdom, claimed by Argentina.

Politics

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

crisis in Venezuela and Gang war in Haiti. 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. These conflicts, however, have received lesser attentions from international media, and varied by time.[citation needed
]

The Latin American and Caribbean countries with the most representative democracy were Costa Rica, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Jamaica and least democratic were Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela according to 2024 V-Dem Democracy Report.[3]

Map of V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2023

Culture

Religion

See also:
List of Gurdwaras in South America

Most countries are dominated by

New Orleans Voodoo and Melungeon in North America).[citation needed
]

Especially in the Caribbean, Central America and Brasil, there are

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.[citation needed
]

Music

See also: Music of Latin America and List of Caribbean music genres

The region is extremely popular for its own distinct music which can not 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.[4]

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 are also popular.[citation needed]

The region is known for producing significant mixed martial-arts fighters, notably competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Mexico and Brazil being the ones that stand out in this sport.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "UNESCO in LAC". Archived from the original on 2022-04-09. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  2. ^ "UNSD Methodology – Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49)". Archived from the original on 2017-08-30. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  3. ^ Democracy Report 2024, Varieties of Democracy
  4. ^ "MUS305H1: Latin American and Caribbean Music". Archived from the original on 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  5. ^ Gross, Josh. "Latin America, like China before it, is becoming an untapped MMA market". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  6. ^ "UFC, Hispanics helping to grow MMA". 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
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