9781422283554



1 Exploring Latin America The Story of Latin America

Where is Latin America? L atin America is in the western hemisphere and has the Atlantic Ocean on its east side and the Pacific Ocean to the west. America is really a double continent made up of both North and South America linked by Central America. The central and southern parts of this continent are called Latin America. The Countries of Latin America The name “Latin America” is quite recent. It first came into use in France in around 1860. When we talk about Latin America we think of one North American country (Mexico), the six small republics of Central America, three Caribbean countries (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti) and all of the Spanish-speaking republics of South America as well as Portuguese-speaking Brazil. Surinam and Guyana are not included in Latin America even though they are in South America. Exploring This Book This book is divided into seven chapters. This chapter explains the geography of Latin America. The next chapter is an introduction to some of the first people of Latin America and the third chapter looks at the great empires of the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas. The second half of the book (chapters four, five, six and seven) looks at explorers from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Amerigo Vespucci

How Did Latin America Get its Name? The first Europeans to settle in Latin America were the Spanish led by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), an Italian from Genoa. Columbus made other trips to America and brought with him Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), an Italian navigator, who wrote about the new land. Amerigo’s writings became linked with the area and it was eventually called America, after him. Latin America also inherits the first part of its name from Italy. The Latins lived in Lazio, the region where Rome was founded. When the Roman Empire became very powerful and conquered almost all of western Europe (first to second centuries), Latin was spoken everywhere. Later on (fifth century), Germanic tribes came from the north of Europe and invaded the Roman Empire, but in Portugal, Spain, France, Romania and Italy, many elements of Roman culture survived. The parts of America that the Spanish and Portuguese explored became known as Latin America.

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