Americans have a reputation for being kind of…dumb. Just because we’ve allowed deluded residents to have a stronger voice than non-deluded ones doesn’t make us dumb. It makes us free. Free to be dumb. And one of the things we’re extremely free to be dumb about is geography. Not to encroach on that freedom, but I felt like answering this question: What makes up Latin America?
The Concept
On the surface, the idea of Latin America is pretty straightforward—it refers to the portion of the Americas in which languages derived from Latin (i.e. the Romance languages) predominate. In the Western Hemisphere, the big Romance languages are, of course, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
The term Latin America was popularized in the 1800s by a variety of people for a variety of reasons and has stuck around since then, though not without debate regarding its validity and exact definition.
Anyone from a Latin American country or territory can be called Latino (or Latina or Latinx). While these terms are often used in reference to Spanish speakers, they include anyone from Latin America, whether Spanish-speaking or not. Which leads to the next question…
Who Exactly Makes the Cut?
If we stick with the above concept, a large piece of the Americas can be considered to be Latin America. Mexico, the majority of Central America, much of South America, and French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean entities fall under the umbrella. All told, 20 countries and multiple territories fit the bill.
Who doesn’t make the cut? Left off the list are places where English and Dutch predominate. Both languages are in the same family as the others (Indo-European), but they are in the Germanic branch as opposed to the Romance branch. As such, Canada, the United States, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, and several Caribbean nations like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago get the shaft.
Where the Concept Breaks Down
Any time humans try to create somewhat random categories, it’s pretty easy to poke holes in the buckets. Let’s do it!
The US/Puerto Rico Thing
The US is not considered part of Latin America, but Puerto Rico is. At last check, Puerto Rico is part of the US.
The Quebec Situation
As above, Canada is not included in Latin America. The omission could be considered puzzling as French is an official language and widely spoken in the province of Quebec (and the province of New Brunswick). Are Canadians actually Latinos?
The Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten Phenomenon
This Caribbean island is split between France and the Netherlands, i.e. French and Dutch, meaning that some—but not all—of it is in Latin America.
Other Dutch Islands
Aruba and Curaçao—part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands along with Sint Maarten and the mothership—are known for Papiamento, a Spanish- and Portuguese-based creole language that apparently is not enough to override the Dutch-based exclusion.
Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Grenada
The official language of these Caribbean nations is English, but French-based creoles are widely spoken. That’s not sufficient, however, to land a spot on the Latin American team.
Indigenous Languages
Defining a region by colonial languages kind of overlooks the presence of indigenous languages.
Other Languages
Latin America also has a bunch of non-Romance languages (beyond indigenous languages). You know, things like German, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
To simplify our lives, I have a proposition. Given that English has a ton of loan words from various Romance languages, I think that English-speaking countries should be part of Latin America. (Canada, as far as I’m concerned, should already have been in.) That leaves just a few Dutch-speaking locations out to dry. But wait—Dutch has plenty of French words. So there you go—all of the Americas can just be called Latin America. If you weren’t Latinx before, you are now.
2 Responses
Isn’t Latin the mother or grand mother of all europian languages, including English! or I am becoming american?
Most European languages are in the Indo-European family, but that gets broken down into different branches. Thanks to the Roman Empire, Latin gave birth to the Romance (Italic) branch consisting of Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, etc. English is actually in the Germanic branch! Where it gets confusing is that English was heavily influenced by the Romance languages after the Normans invaded England in 1066 (with that influence continuing over the centuries). So English kind of masquerades as a Romance (Latin-based) language, but apparently not enough to be viewed as Latin American.