Latin American culture

Latin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America, and includes both high culture (literature, high art) and popular culture (music, folk art and dance) as well as religion and other customary practices. Latin America also has many races.

Definitions of Latin America vary. From a cultural perspective,* Latin America generally includes those parts of the Americas where Spanish, French or Portuguese prevail: Mexico, most of Central America, and South America. There is also an important Latin American cultural presence in the United States (e.g. California and the Southwest, and cities such as New York city and Miami). There is also increasing attention to the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. See further discussion of definitions at Latin America.

The richness of Latin American culture is the product of many influences, including:

Latin America has a very diverse population with many ethnic groups and different ancestries. Only in three countries, do the Amerindians make up the majority of the population. This is the case of Peru, Guatemala and Bolivia. In the rest of the continent, most of the Native American descendants are of mixed race ancestry.

In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries there was a flow of Iberian emigrants who left for Latin America. It was never a large movement of people but over the long period of time it had a major impact on Latin American populations: the Portuguese left for Brazil and the Spaniards left for the rest of the vast region. Of the European immigrants, men greatly outnumbered women and many married natives. This resulted in a mixing of the Amerindians and Europeans and today their descendants are known as mestizos. Even Latin Americans who are considered "European" usually have some native ancestry. Today, mestizos make up the majority of Latin America's population.

Starting in the late 16th century, a large number of African slaves were brought to Latin America, especially to Brazil and the Caribbean. Nowadays, Blacks make up the majority of the population in most Caribbean. Many of the African slaves in Latin America mixed with the Europeans and their descendants (known as Mulattoes) make up the majority of the population in some countries, such as the Dominican Republic, and large percentages in Brazil, Colombia, etc. Mixes between the Blacks and Amerindians also occurred, and their descendants are known as Zambos. Many Latin American countries also have a substantial tri-racial population, which ancestry is a mix of Amerindians, Europeans and Africans.

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