Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. The 20 republics are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The term Latin America is also used to include Puerto Rico, the French West Indies, and other islands of the West Indies where a Romance tongue is spoken. Occasionally the term is used to include Belize, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname.
See H. M. Bailey and A. P. Nasatir, Latin America: The Development of its Civilization (3d ed. 1973); B. Keen, A History of Latin America (1988); J. A. Crow, The Epic of Latin America (4th ed., 1992); E. Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America (1992); M. Arana, Silver, Sword, and Stone (2019).
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