Forgive me for missing this is school..but


Why are Central and South American countries called "Latin America"? I know that to most of you this may be a very stupid question, but to satisfy my curiosity, this is something I really would like to know :@@:

I would guess because of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.

I think it's because they speak latin languages (spanish and portuguese).
In Europe, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France are called "Latin countries" as they speak languages derived from latin and share many cultural traits.

It is actually a misspelling of the term Latte' America. They received that name because they just love their sophisticated coffee drinks. You have perhaps heard the old expression, "They drink an awful lot of coffee in Brazil." The area was almost known as Cappucino America.

Originally posted by astrapol2
I think it's because they speak latin languages (spanish and portuguese).
In Europe, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France are called "Latin countries" as they speak languages derived from latin and share many cultural traits.

Correct.

How about Romania? Is that considered a latin country? Or is it just a romance language speaking country that doesn't get included with the other 4 due to cultural differences or whatnot?

If Romania left out, it is most likely excluded because of the spatial reasons (and a different culture compared to that in Western Europe), it is separated from those other areas that are rather close-knit or border each other.

From Wikipedia:


The languages of Spain and Portugal came into being with a blend of Latin and local dialects and so it is this and the need to differentiate between the south of the northern American continent, the United States of America, and the southern continent itself that brought about the term 'Latin America'. Napoleon III brought the term latin-America over the Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking parts of the Americas. making it an equivalent expression than Latin Europe. The language and peoples of Latin America are not connected to the Latium region of Italy and do not speak the ancient Latin language. Furthermore, many people in Latin America do not speak the official Latin-derived languages, but languages indigenous to the region or languages brought by immigration.

Québec, Acadia and other French-speaking areas in Canada, Louisiana, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and other places north of Mexico are traditionally excluded from the Social-political definition of Latin America, despite significant populations speaking a Latin-derived language, because they don't exist as independent states, and/or because they are geographically isolated from the rest of Latin America. French Guiana, however, is usually included, despite being a dependency of France and not an independent country.

The related term Iberoamerica is sometimes used to refer to the nations that were formerly colonies of Spain and Portugal, as these two countries are located on the Iberian peninsula. The Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) takes this definition a step further, by including Spain and Portugal (often termed the Mother Countries of Latin America) among its member states, in addition to their Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking former colonies in America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America

Originally posted by Lungdop Philing
Correct.

How about Romania? Is that considered a latin country? Or is it just a romance language speaking country that doesn't get included with the other 4 due to cultural differences or whatnot?

I would say it's usually not considered a "latin" country. Language is not the only common thing, it has a lot to do with the influence of catholicism, roman empire and mediterranean culture. I think even Belgium, where half of the population speaks french, would not be considered "latin".
In fact even in France people northern people often refer to southern as being "more latin". People from Brittany or Alsace would not really consider themselves as "latin".

Thanks guys :cool:

Yes. It is because two Latin-European countries (Spain and Portugal) “discovered” and settled the vast majority of the landmass of South and Central America and beat into submission the indigenous peoples thus foisting their respective languages upon the Indian population. We often forget that although Mexico is geographically North American, it is none-the-less part of Latin America.

In reply to the other subject: Romania is considered Latin though it’s sometimes difficult to believe it. But no matter how you see it, Romanian is a Latin language and all the Romanians I've met consider themselves to be Latin as well. I just spent the afternoon with a young Romanian woman on the plane back home with me yesterday, as a matter of fact. A fairly saucy lady she was, but a bit too hefty for my taste and suffering from the typical application of over-cosmetic fervour. Oh. Sorry. That was a bit too much information, wasn't it.