Latin American culture

Latin American culture 

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



     Definitions of Latin America vary. From a cultural perspective, Latin America generally refers to those parts of the Americas of Spanish and Portuguese culture and language: Mexico, most of Central America, and South America. There is also an important Latin American cultural presence in the United States (such as in California, Florida, the Southwest, and cities such as New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami).



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



     Spanish and Portuguese culture, owing to the region's history of colonization, settlement and continued immigration by Spain and Portugal. All the core elements of Latin American culture are of Iberian origin.


     Pre-Columbian cultures, whose importance is today particularly notable in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, and is central to indigenous communities such as the Quechua, Maya and Aymara.


     19th- and 20th-century European immigration from Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Eastern Europe; which transformed the region and especially countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil (particular the southeast and southern regions), Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic (specifically the northern region) and Mexico (particularly the northern region).


     Chinese, Indian, Lebanese and other Christian Arabs, Filipino, Japanese and other Asian Diaspora. Mostly of immigration and indentured laborers who arrived from the coolie trade influenced the culture of Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru in areas such as food, art, and cultural trade.


    The culture of Africa brought by Africans for Trans-Atlantic slave trade has influenced but not all of Latin America. Influences are particularly strong in the dance, music, cuisine, and religion of Cuba, Brazil, Dominican Republic and coastal Colombia.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_culture