Latin American
Latin America is the portion of the Americas comprising regions where Romance languages—languages that derived from Latin, e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, and French–are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in the nineteenth century, to refer to regions in the Americas that were ruled by the Spanish, Portuguese and French empires. The term does not have a precise definition, but it is "commonly used to describe South America, Central America, and Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean." A short definition of the region is Spanish America and Brazil, that is, Portuguese America. The term "Latin America" is broader than categories such as Hispanic America, which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and Ibero-America, which specifically refers to both Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. The term Latin America was first used in an 1856 conference called "Initiative of America: Idea for a Federal Congress of the Republics", by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao.
