Latin America is everything located in the Americas south of the United States. Accordingly, Latin America is inhabited by Latinos - Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking peoples with a similar mentality and customs. The term hereinafter is used not in a pejorative, but in a definitive context.

And since Latinos are so similar, we can justifiably generalize by describing the features of Latin American countries.

Latin America, lo and behold, is practically homogeneous. Most Latin American countries have approximately the same level of development. From our point of view, this is explained very simply: the majority of the inhabitants of these countries have a common origin and common roots. These roots go back to the time of Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors who followed him, whose descendants today form the population of modern Latin America.

In the process of development, Latin Americans took as a basis mainly the Spanish and Portuguese cultures, and a very small part of the culture and life of the indigenous inhabitants of America - the Indians. And over time, their own, typical only for Latin America, habits and traditions were born. Having spun off from the European heritage, Latin America is developing quite independently, without sharp ups and downs.

In addition, coups and coups can be considered the hallmark of Latin America. As part of the overthrow of the existing political system, no region of the globe can compete with the Latin American states. Chile and Honduras, Nicaragua and Argentina, Colombia and Brazil, and other countries throughout their history have changed governments many times, so to speak, by non-parliamentary means. The fate of the former rulers in most cases is unenviable: they were executed publicly, imprisoned for many years, or they were simply torn apart by an angry mob. Some former presidents had more luck - they had time to leave the country, and lived in a foreign land until the end of their days.

Latin America is a champion in another way. The number of odious dictators here is strikingly high. Presidents in Latin America are not the one who is able to offer the best program, but the person who is able to get the crowd to the maximum. In this - all Latin Americans, they often live not by reason, but by emotions. Hence all the troubles of Latin America - Hugo Chavez, Castro, Peron and Pinochet, as well as many dictators of lesser rank.

The mentality of the people of Latin America

The mentality of the "Latinos" is the talk of the town, the subject of sharp jokes and ridicule. Of course, most of the features attributed to the inhabitants of Latin America are nothing more than stereotypes. Not every Cuban or Puerto Rican has a hefty knife in his pocket, and not every one of them walks in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt over a T-shirt, jeans and pointed boots.

Latin America is inhabited by different people - rich and poor, good and evil, calm and aggressive. Here, as in other parts of the world, honest work, service to society, family values ​​and honesty are common human virtues.

And yet, the inhabitants of Latin America are markedly different from representatives of other parts of the world. Of course, the differences are not in criminal inclinations and not in a pathological painful attraction to the opposite sex. Of course, this is not true. The average Latin American is a completely law-abiding citizen of his country, moderately lazy and not at all aggressive, and family values ​​in Latin America are quite traditional and strong.

Many perceive Latin America as a paradise for drug lords and smugglers. In fact, this is idle fiction. Of course, there are several drug cartels that the governments of Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina are waging a fierce and quite effective fight against. However, the influence of the barons and the volume of drug trafficking are greatly exaggerated, primarily through the efforts of Hollywood.

Mexico is a paradise for fugitives. How often in American films successful bank robbers solemnly sip champagne in Acapulco Bay in the finale ... And this, to put it mildly, is a stereotype. Most Latin American countries have long signed mutual extradition treaties with the United States, and they are clearly implementing them by deporting fugitive criminals.

It is impossible not to mention the interest of the majority of Latinos in the United States. Many Cubans, Mexicans and Argentines flock to the States every year in the hope of gaining a foothold there and eventually moving their families by hook or by crook. Moreover, one interesting fact is noteworthy: while lounging at home, the average Mexican is ready to work in the United States up to a sweat in order to realize the “great American dream” and become a wealthy citizen of America. If this enterprising macho showed at least 10% of the energy spent in the States at home, he could achieve more. But the United States was and remains a kind of paradise on earth, attracting Latin Americans like a magnet.

Income

Latin America is a poor continent. The most developed countries are Argentina and Brazil. But they also lag far behind in industry and development from the countries of English-speaking North America and Europe.

The salary of the average Latin American is something around 200 dollars a month. However, since life here is quite inexpensive, this money, in principle, is enough for a modest existence. Naturally, the exceptions are large metropolitan areas - Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas. Living in big cities is much more expensive, but the incomes of citizens are correspondingly higher.

Latin America has a very low percentage of the middle class. There are many more poor and very poor people. Poverty is especially widespread among the indigenous population - the few surviving Indians. Most of them do not have the opportunity to get an education, and are forced to live by odd jobs and day work until their very old age.

As elsewhere in the world, there are also a certain number of very rich people in Latin American countries. These are industrialists, successful stock speculators, businessmen. In rare cases, multimillion-dollar fortunes are family-owned and have a long history.

Expenses

Money, if, of course, they are, Latin Americans are willing to spend on clothing and improving housing conditions. A car in Latin America is rather not an object of prestige, but a means of transportation and transportation of goods.

Latin women love jewelry, stylish, fashionable haute couture clothes, bright or moderate makeup. Naturally, all this should be provided by husbands, and if a woman is not yet married, grooms. And they provide, often to their own detriment or by working overtime. This is all Latin American: by all means, the lady must look brilliant! Attention is paid to a woman, and often the well-being of a spouse is assessed by her appearance.

Going to a cafe or restaurant is something ordinary, not considered a special chic. The rich go to luxurious expensive restaurants, the middle class prefer quiet small family establishments. And poorer people go to noisy pubs and bars, since there are a great many of them in any Latin American city.

Recreation and entertainment

Latinos are very musical. No event is complete without the sound of a guitar and melodic songs. Residents of South America are always not averse to having a drink, getting together in a friendly company, and eating delicious food.

Since family ties are strong among the peoples inhabiting Latin America, travel here is timed to visit relatives. Of course, there are trips to the sea, camping or cruise, but they are much less common than among Americans or Europeans.

Taverns and coffee houses are an integral feature of any, even the smallest, Latin American city. Basically, these are regional establishments with their own signature cuisine and a constant circle of visitors. However, a new person in such an institution will be very happy and will have all possible honors.

The poor spend most of their free time at home. And the majority of free time does not happen at all - often, in order to live, you need to work 12-14 hours daily.

Very rich Latin Americans travel the world, do not disdain social events and brilliant receptions. Money for luxury yachts, mansions and limousines is not accepted among the Latin American elite. As well as the staff of servants, of which the more there are in the house, the heavier the owner's wallet.

Latin America is a region with the richest nature. Amazonian jungle and prairies, mountains, sea and beautiful corners of unspoiled virgin nature attract many tourists from all over the world. Do not disdain their own natural resources and residents of Latin American countries.

Politics can be safely called a characteristic entertainment of the inhabitants of all Latin American countries without exception. During the elections in these countries, completely unrealistic passions boil, and the situation is literally tense to the limit. Everyone, from young to old, participates in campaigns to promote candidates, and everyone is overwhelmed with emotions. We can say that politics is the second favorite pastime of Latin Americans after carnivals.

And a separate part of the rest of Latin Americans is serials. Argentinean and Brazilian soap operas are watched by everyone here. And the most tragic and popular of them are capable of paralyzing life in a small town for the time they are shown on television. In institutions, shops, hairdressers, in cafes and restaurants where a TV is installed, the series is sure to be watched. Sometimes the owners of the institution are in no hurry to tear themselves away from the screen, even for the sake of serving visitors.

Family life

Latin Americans are devout Catholics. Divorce or adultery in most cases causes a storm of protest. Relatives and friends are trying in every way to reason with the initiator of the divorce, condemning and cursing the culprit of the conflict.

The average Hispanic is fanatically attached to his own children. Offspring are pampered and nurtured in every possible way, they get all the best, within the limits of their parents. Sending a child to the best school possible is not a priority, but a law. People with little income want to see their son as a famous lawyer or banker, politician or judge. However, in practice, few people from poor families embody these dreams - mostly representatives of wealthy families become judges and prosecutors, lawyers and politicians.

Latin Americans are sentimental. Therefore, a husband and wife can maintain an ardent, passionate love for each other for life. A declaration of love is the most common SMS message template in all Latin American countries.

Latin America is a distinctive and rather interesting region inhabited by normal, good-natured and hospitable people. Many traits attributed to Hispanics are nothing more than stereotypes.

It is possible to live in Latin America, but only if you have some source of external income, or sufficient funds to open your own business.

Also recommended reading:
marry a Brazilian --|-- marry a Russian --|-- marry an Argentinean

Manuel Galich ::: History of pre-Columbian civilizations

CHAPTER I

"Our problems are extremely complicated and unusual" ( Simon Bolivar)

In the first place, the Indians should be considered the ancestors of the current Latin Americans, since only they inhabited the continent unknown to the Old World from time immemorial. In addition, the predecessors of those who live there today were Europeans and even Africans. The Europeans arrived as conquerors and colonizers - in the era of then emerging capitalist relations, they needed more and more wealth. The Africans were brought there as slaves for the production of these riches - they were brought to where, as a rule, there were no longer Indians who fled from oppression or were exterminated by the invaders. Thus, as a result of the mixing of these three ethnic components during the XVI-XVIII centuries. and Latin Americans arose.

In those days, the dominant position in society was occupied by a minority, consisting exclusively of Europeans and their descendants born in America. The latter were called Creoles. Numerous mestizo variants of Europeans and Creoles with Indians and Negro women found themselves in an unequal, oppressed position. New ethnic formations were called "crossed" and "dull". They were given the most mocking and contemptuous nicknames. This "art" was especially successful in New Spain and Peru, where nicknames were invented depending on origin (from Indians, Spaniards, blacks, mestizos, mulattoes, sambos) or in accordance with the proportion of composite racial characteristics. Many examples of this have been preserved: “moriscos”, “albino”, “Moor”, “turn back”, “sambaigo” (from sambo), “crow” (descendant of a Chinese and Indian woman), “leper” (or “red-black metis"), "white-piebald", "coyote" (i.e., gray-brown), "firebrand", "neither this nor that", "quinteron", "perequinteron", "white man", " civilized" (i.e., the son of a European and an Indian), "Chinese" (any native of Asia). This repulsive sociology nonetheless reveals the complex ethno-social nature of the continent, inherited from colonialism.

Bolívar's perspicacious gaze deeply comprehended the whole essence of the new man, who was formed in the colonies of Spain and Portugal. Life itself became the source of his well-aimed social and political assessments. Therefore, his warning, delivered from the rostrum of the Angostura Congress on February 15, 1819, is of enduring significance not only for South America, but for the entire region that is today called Latin America. “It is impossible to pinpoint exactly to which human family we belong. Most of the Indian population has been destroyed, Europeans have mixed with Americans and Africans, and the latter with Indians and Europeans. Born in the womb of the same mother, but different in blood and origin, our fathers are foreigners, people with different skin colors. In the same speech, but somewhat earlier, the Liberator said:

"Our problems are thus extremely intricate and unusual."

In the XIX and XX centuries. “our problems” have become even more complex. This was facilitated by the arrival of what should be called "new Europeans", as well as immigrants from the Middle East - Arabs, Jews, Indians, Chinese and Japanese. Of course, their descendants also became "Hispanic", just like the descendants of Indians, "Old Europeans" and Negroes. Statistics show that European immigrants to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and southern Chile, who arrived in the middle of the last century, settled over vast territories. None of the former and new American colonies was left without replenishment. The number of Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Jews and other ethnic groups constantly increased. This immigration, carried out from 1850 to 1930, amounted to 12 million people. Especially many Italians settled in the Rio de la Plata. But not everyone knows about the drama that befell them and other Europeans in southern Brazil, where white slaves began to be mercilessly exploited instead of black labor on coffee plantations.

From the very beginning, immigrants from Asia suffered the same fate as the Italians who moved to Brazil. The black slaves were often replaced by the Chinese. So, in 1849-1874. 80 thousand people were taken to Peru to collect cane and prey guano on the Chincha Islands. For such work, the Chinese were also brought to Cuba, where many of them joined the struggle for independence. Mexico still cherishes the memory of the 1911 massacre in Torreon, during which 300 Chinese were killed.

Most Latin American governments at one time passed discriminatory laws against the Chinese and the so-called Syrio-Lebanese. However, fate spared the former more than the latter. The Japanese, for their part, preferred to settle in Brazil and Peru. These countries are home to 190,000 and 29,000 Japanese, respectively. In Brazil, a new type of Hispanic has even emerged - Nisei, or Japanese-Brazilian.

As for the Indians, they were brought to America by the British colonialists, under whose oppression the inhabitants of India, the Antilles and Guyana languished. The Swedish researcher M. Mörner, who collected a lot of material on this issue in the book “Racial Mixing in the History of Latin America”, described this process as follows:

"No part of the world has seen such a gigantic mixture of races as Latin America and the Caribbean since 1492."

In other words, this means that the most complex world, called Latin America, turned out to be a world in which all or almost all the ethnic groups of mankind mixed up directly or through the mediation of intermediate carriers. The Indian and African beginnings came directly from the Indians and Africans. Latin went indirectly, through the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the French, through the Roman capture of Gaul and Spain. Therefore, in the veins of Latin Americans there is a share of the blood of the Celts, Arabs, Goths and Gauls. The influence of the East and Asia manifests itself in different countries in different ways, depending on the number of immigrants and their area of ​​origin.

Bolivar's statement remains true to this day. The ethnocultural heritage of Latin Americans can be considered to a much lesser extent Latin than aboriginal. In addition, there are other components in this heritage. The Liberator said "South America" ​​and Marty said "Our America". These words most fully reflect the complexity of Latin American reality, since both of them are truly comprehensive. When the inhabitants of the continent say about themselves: “We are Hispanics”, they do not even think about the accuracy of this term, they do not fully feel the meaning hidden in it.

It is known that the culture of North America, which includes the United States and Canada, does not include a component that is commonly called Latin American. However, in both countries the Latin population is represented quite fully. Moreover, the border between the two Americas is neither racial, nor linguistic, nor religious. Its sign can not serve as a political structure. It also does not coincide with the frontiers established in the process of clashes between rival European colonialists and later changed new type of conquistadors - the Yankees in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and the USA.

This border follows a contour delineated by economic differences caused by the conquest and European colonization. It was they who determined the subsequent development of the new American societies. “North America started with a plow, and Spanish America started with a hunting dog,” Marty remarked. He was able to characterize surprisingly accurately and succinctly the essence of European rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, as a result of which British colonies were formed in the north of America, and Portuguese-Spanish colonies in the south.

A farmer came to the north - a bourgeois and a Protestant. He was a representative of Europe, which had already embarked on the path of capitalist development. And in the south, an adventurer appeared, who came out of chivalric novels and was carried away by endless internecine wars - a characteristic representative of Europe, mired in dogmatism and inquisitorial persecution. The plow and the hunting dog are two different ways of colonization. They determined the starting points from which the border between North America and South originates.

Hence the gulf between the two Americas - exploitative and exploited, to be more specific. The "continental unity" and "Western hemisphere" that American political scientists talk about are nothing more than a grandiose nonsense invented, repeated and disseminated about a century ago by the North American imperialists and taken up by their loyal classes and their respective governments. Therefore, while both still exist, it is necessary to recall again and again the clear, far-sighted warnings made by Marty in Walington during the anxious days of the first Pan-American Conference of 1889-1890 about "the difference in origin and interest between two continental factors" and about "the relation between the two nationalities of America in her past and present". You can endlessly quote this bright, pain-ridden speech by Marty.

The question of the border between the two Americas, born of European colonization, is closely linked to another important problem - the territories that were or continue to be Anglo-French-Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and Guyana. A narrow ethnic criterion is increasingly alienating their inhabitants from Hispanics. But the events and processes experienced by the modern world, and in particular the American continent - from open war to colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and backwardness, which in the end are one and the same - oblige us to think again about the fate of the peoples inhabiting these territories. Nothing but a different colonial background distinguishes them from the inhabitants of the rest of Latin America. The reality of our world urgently and inevitably leads to the close unity of all those who are fighting for the liberation of the continent from the common scourges of colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and backwardness. To win this difficult battle, first of all, it is necessary to overcome the disunity generated by various reasons.

Therein lies "the intricacy and extraordinary complexity of our problems." The peoples and cultures that constitute the heritage and at the same time the present and future wealth of the continent are diverse and numerous. It is impossible, forgetting about someone or underestimating someone, not to distort or falsify the “birth certificate” common for Hispanics. Thanks to this complexity and diversity, “our problems” cannot fit in one palm. One must try to embrace them with both hands in order to embrace almost the entire earth and the entire history of mankind. And so we will undertake our journey into the most distant past of the American continent. As the myth of Quetzalcoatl says, let us turn to the search for "our progenitors and ancestors, who in ancient times gave birth to people." It's about the Indians.

Tribes of Israel, Atlantis and the Seven-Headed Hydra

The origin of the ancestors of Hispanics is still largely a mystery, despite the fact that over the past decades, science has made significant progress in this area. At the same time, the absurd fantasies of some chroniclers of the early colonial period have finally been handed over to the archive. So, according to one of them, the continent was inhabited by Jews - the descendants of Noah, or ten tribes of Israel, who disappeared in the VIII century. BC e. after the Assyrian conquest. According to another, the first settlers to America were the Phoenicians, Canaanites, or some other immigrants from Asia Minor. They were allowed to move to another continent, according to one version, by exceptional seafaring abilities. Others believed that these tribes were forced to flee under the onslaught of a powerful enemy, such as Alexander the Great.

Exactly the same, devoid of any hint of plausibility, is an extremely seductive myth, according to which the distant ancestors of Latin Americans passed to the territory of the modern continent through land that existed about ten and a half thousand years ago. This is the myth of Atlantis, heard by Solon from some Egyptian priests. Plato later retold it in the Timaeus and Critias. Particularly impressive is the conjecture about the continent located on the other side of the huge sea that once swallowed up Atlantis. This thought never occurred to the great Admiral, despite the fact that he managed to discover the lands mentioned in the myth. He did not realize the significance of his discovery until his death.

Geological data suggest the possibility of the existence of a once ancient land connection between Europe and Africa, on the one hand, and the American continent, on the other. According to one theory, it is quite probable that the large island of Atlantis existed in very ancient times, which subsequently disappeared as a result of a cataclysm. Supporters of the other believe that we could talk about the existence of a huge continent that united the lands of Europe, Asia and America. This hypothesis is based on the similarity of the profiles of both hemispheres, the coastal contours of which ideally coincide if you mentally remove the Atlantic Ocean and combine the American east and the Euro-African west. With the help of a map and scissors, everyone can connect and separate the continents as the powerful forces of nature actually did in ancient times.

However, none of the theories mentioned can explain the origin of the first inhabitants of America. After all, both the cataclysm and the "moving apart" of the two worlds, called the Old and New Worlds, and the formation of the Atlantic Ocean could take place only at the latest - as far as fantasy allows - in the Tertiary period, which ended more than a million years ago. However, in those ancient times, there was not yet a person on earth, but only his ancestor - ramapite to, which anthropologists define as the first great ape. It was she who was the most ancient predecessor of a human being, who lived about 14 million years ago. About 5 million years ago, different types of higher human primates appeared, moving on two legs - australopithecines, and only about 1 million years ago did the oldest fossil man appear, the creator of the cultures of the early Paleolithic, - Pithecanthropus.

Thus, from the point of view of Earth science, the theory of an intercontinental Atlantic bridge that existed in ancient times looks quite plausible. However, the assumption of wanderings during that period of people from one continent to another is without any foundation. There were no such people on our planet then.

A comparatively recent science, called American Studies, has achieved very significant success in a short time. She rejected not only such fantastic theories as the biblical version or the Platonic myth, but also the hypotheses of those who until recently were considered classics of American studies.

So, let's continue the review of scientific achievements in the field of studying the origin of the "American" person. Naturally, all the proposed constructions are based on the data of archaeological finds, chronological studies, comparisons, deductions and hypotheses, proven or formulated in accordance with established research methods and annually updated dates. Nevertheless, I would like to warn you: each new discovery - and they occur almost daily in American studies - forces us to revise existing estimates, and therefore many of the conclusions drawn for the time being are preferably considered conditional. Everyone understands that new studies often clarify, but sometimes refute previous conclusions, which were considered true for the time being. At the same time, thanks to this process, the treasury of our knowledge about the American continent is constantly enriched.

Written in the 16th century in Spain, P. Martir de Angleria, his work Decades of the New World, was extremely lamented about this:

“Like the Hydra, whose severed heads grow back, so in my case, at the end of one story, others come to mind. I wanted to close the door to Mexican problems, but a new messenger has arrived, and I am forced to open it again.

We experience the same problems while working on our book, with the only difference that everything happens even more abruptly and rapidly than in the time of P. de Angleria. After all, Hydra constantly feeds itself with the data of new methods - such as, for example, radiocarbon. And this allows you to increase the number of her goals not seven, but hundreds of times!

The method of radiocarbon dating (carbon-14, or C-14) is based on the phenomenon that every organism - animal or plant - accumulates in the tissues a certain amount of radioactive carbon, which is constantly contained in the earth's atmosphere. When the organism dies, the accumulated radioactivity begins to decrease by arbitrary self-emission of constant intensity: in 5720 years, half of the radioactivity is lost, and in 11,440 years - 3/4 of it. Thus, with a sufficient degree of accuracy, it is possible to determine the date of the termination of the existence of a living organism or the antiquity of organic remains.

The French researcher P. Rive wrote in 1957 in his work "The Origin of Man in America":

“The only drawback of the new prehistoric chronometer is its limited time. The older the object under study, the less radioactive coal it contains. Therefore, the calculations become less accurate, especially given the imperfection of the current technology. In this regard, it is impossible to date materials whose antiquity exceeds 35 thousand years. It can even be said that starting from 15 thousand years old, the establishment of age implies a large share of inaccuracies.

This dating method, developed by the North American scientists J. R. Arnold, E. K. Anderson, W. F. Libby, relies on auxiliary data from another system for establishing absolute chronology, known as the dendrochronological method. It is based on counting the growth rings of certain types of trees, such as sequoia or California pine. Today, these trees - or rather, the rings on the cuts of their trunks - make it possible to clarify the dates of the radiocarbon method. With the discrepancy between the latter and the data of dendrochronology, it was proved that starting from 700 AD. e. the radiocarbon method can give an error of up to 70 years. At the same time, it allows dating objects that are up to 50,000 years old. This is one of the clearest examples of how one of the heads of the Hydra discovered by Martyr de Angleria appeared before Professor Rivet and North American scientists. Another of her heads, perhaps, will seem to be information from K. Wissler's book “Indians of the United States of America” prepared by Kluckhohn for reprinting:

“There is another method of estimating the age, based on the time required for the complete divergence of once related languages. With the help of careful and detailed research, it is possible to reveal the connections that once existed between now completely dissimilar languages.

And here we are again forced to turn to the problem of the origin of the "American" man. Consider the state of this issue, although the available data is constantly becoming outdated and each time pushed into the past by newer information.

Center for the fusion of races and peoples

For almost half a century - from the last quarter of the past to the first quarter of the present - theories of the autochthonous origin of the population of America, which had two main directions: polygenistic and monogenistic, have been at the center of a heated discussion of specialists. According to the first, the human race could have arisen simultaneously or in different eras, both on one or several continents at once. In accordance with the second, humanity originated in America and from there spread throughout the planet. The father and creator of this theory was the Argentine scientist F. Amerino, who decided that the cradle of all mankind should be sought in the Argentinean pampa. But since modern science has already refuted these hypotheses, we will not occupy the reader with their detailed presentation and analysis.

However, it seems that it would be wrong to finally close this topic without first making the following remark: one of the most weighty arguments against the point of view of supporters of the theory of the autochthonous origin of "American" man is the absence of large anthropoids in the archaic fauna of the continent. Pranksters could dismiss this argument by presenting Latin American-specific specimens of large anthropoids - the notorious "gorillas". True, with the only caveat that they do not belong to the Quaternary period, but to our century and are an extremely dangerous and peculiar fauna, very far from the classifications of evolutionists.

“It is not entirely clear, however, how they crossed the sea: they crossed it on this side, as if there were no sea; they crossed it over stones placed in rows in the sand. For this reason, in remembrance, they were called "stones in a row", "sand under sea water" - the names given [to the area where] they (the tribes) crossed the sea; the waters parted as they passed."

Kaqchikeli also preserved poetic tales in the famous "Annals", telling about the fate of their main characters - Gagavitsa and Saktekaukha:

“So they said: from the east they came to Tula (Tulan), from the other side of the sea; and came to Tulan to be conceived and begotten by our mothers and our fathers.”

And the whole passage through Beringia must have been very similar to the mythical wanderings of the kakchikels:

“Then they came to the sea. There gathered all the tribes and warriors on the coast of the sea. When they saw him, their hearts sank. There is no way to cross it; “No one has ever crossed the seas,” said all the warriors from the seven tribes among themselves ... And the ancestors of Gagavits and Saktekaukh said to us:

“We are talking to you! To work, our brothers! We did not come to languish on the shore and not be able to contemplate our homeland, which, as they said, we will see, we warriors, our seven tribes. Let's make up our minds to go now."

So they were told, and immediately everyone was overwhelmed with joy... Thus they passed over the sands, stretched out in ridges, when the depth of the sea and the surface of the sea were already revealed... Then they rushed and crossed over the sand; those who walked at the end entered the sea when we went out on its other side.

Something similar should have actually happened. The vanguard of immigrants from Asia was already in Alaska, while the rearguard had not yet left Chukotka. Leads to certain thoughts and the similarity of the names of the points of their exit and arrival: Whalen- on the old continent and Wales- on the new one. They almost touch each other - just like the noses of a bear and a jaguar colliding. And the peninsulas themselves - Asian and American - really look like two opposing heads.

It is possible that the distant ancestors of the “American” man looked exactly as described in the Popol Vuh:

“And their garments were only the skins of animals; they did not have good fabrics to wear; animal skins were their only clothing. They were poor, they didn't own anything, but they were people of wondrous nature."

“They could no longer endure either cold or hail; they trembled and their teeth chattered; they were completely numb and barely alive; their arms and legs shook; and they could not keep anything in them when they came."

“But the tribes did not die, they came, although they were dying from the cold. There was a lot of hail, there was black rain, there was fog and indescribable cold...

And they approached, each tribe trembling and shivering from the cold ... Great was the emptiness of their hearts, their mouths were tightly compressed, and their eyes were downcast.

Mammoths, big-horned bison, saber-toothed tigers, horses, camels, wolves and other living creatures also moved from Asia to America together with man, and possibly fleeing from him. Indeed, paleontologists claim that of the 54 known representatives of the Quaternary fauna of America, 48 were of Asian origin.

When did it happen, more precisely, when did the great migration “to the other side” begin? Evidence from modern geology suggests that the last of the four ice ages is what Europeans call Würm and North Americans Wisconsin, - lasted about 60 thousand years. During this time, the sea level dropped several times. This happened for the first time 50-40 thousand years ago, when its level dropped by 115 m. The second time - 28-10 thousand years ago - this level decreased by 120 m. Thus, Bering Bridge was exposed at least twice, and then people could cross it "to the other side."

Hence, from the point of view of geology, the possibility of such migrations is quite reasonable. Archeology and modern research methods allow us to recreate a picture of the period when all this happened. Already at the end of the 60s, scientists had no doubt that the American continent began to be settled 38-40 thousand years ago.

So, the ancient inhabitants of America ended up in Alaska, more precisely, in the very place that one of the researchers dubbed the "sports field of the University of Alaska." How did the first settlers move south? The geological and logical answer to this question is that they passed through a kind of corridor that actually existed between Alaska and the United States. 25-13 thousand years ago, it was “closed” by huge glaciers, but “opened” three times, which coincided with the retreat of the glaciers that drained the Bering Bridge.

To be precise, it was possible to get from north to south between 50 and 40 thousand years ago, between 28 and 25 thousand years ago, and, finally, between 13 and 10 thousand years ago. One can imagine caravans of wanderers trudging through ravines, wading through ice walls, trudging in search of lands with a less harsh climate that would ensure their survival. Others, who fell behind for one reason or another, could be trapped in an ice trap. Those who did survive began to adapt to harsh conditions - perhaps this is how they founded their settlements eskimos and Aleuts. But most likely they were much later aliens.

The forward detachments of migratory waves continued their difficult journey to the south, closer to the warm lands of the equator, in search of their "promised land", where they could settle forever. The journey turned out to be extremely long - it captured many generations of settlers. All this time, the languages ​​they spoke were divided into more and more numerous branches, which differed significantly from each other. This is well known to those who glottochronology. Some authors write about the existence of linguistic similarities between the languages ​​of the population on both sides of the Bering Strait. The tribes sought to leave the cold lands as soon as possible and go towards the sun - where the climate is mild and warm.

Myths from the chronicles of the Guatemalan Indians have preserved for us a poetic image reminiscent of the situation just described:

“Each of the tribes continued to stay awake to see the star, which is the messenger of the sun. This sign of the dawn they carried in their hearts as they came from the east, and with the same hope they left that place which was a great distance from here. That's what it says now...

Soon we dispersed over the mountains; then everyone left, each tribe in its own way (the following is a long enumeration of places that are difficult to determine by modern geography). Then they were mountains and valleys where they went, left and returned. We do not boast, but only remind and will never forget that in reality we have passed through numerous places, as our fathers and ancestors used to say in ancient times...

Then all the [other] peoples arrived: the people from Rabinal, the Kaqchikels, the people from Tsikinaha and the people who now bear the name of the Yaquis (meaning the Mexicans, the ancient Toltecs, the Nahua people, who, having joined the southern Maya, served to form the Indian peoples of Guatemala, as A. Resinos explains).

And there the speech of the nations changed; their languages ​​became different. They could no longer clearly understand what they heard from each other after they arrived in Tulan. There they also divided: there were those who went to the east, but the majority came here.

Glottochronology is an important support for theories about the settlement of the first inhabitants of the Americas and the spread of their languages. They dispersed over a very wide region, which allows us to try to reconstruct the paths of the initial migrations.

In the heart of Canada are located the territories of five tribes (Iroquois tribes of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk) of North American Indians. Once these now studied clan-families occupied a vast region stretching from Idaho to Mexico and Guatemala. At first, these tribes were assigned to different groups, but later linguistic studies made it possible to prove that they all belong to the same family. The evidence we have allows us to classify sometimes seemingly dubious linguistic groups, uniting them under a common name Aztec-Tanoan, or, more commonly, uto-astec, uto-nahua.

In due time we will turn to both the prominent and the humble representatives of these tribes, who, according to the apt definition of one specialist, were divided into "poor and rich relatives." The poor, for example, were Shoshone and the rich of course Aztecs. Here I would like to add that the relationship between these tribes was noticed by the Spanish missionary P. de Ribas, who put forward in the 17th century. very original theories, which have only now been confirmed by linguistic research. Even earlier, in the 16th century, the Spanish Jesuit X. de Acosta wrote in his work The Natural and Moral History of India:

"Most recently a great land called New Mexico has been discovered, where, as they say, there are many people who speak the Mexican language."

Thus, modern science and ancient myths intersect and complement each other. We cannot agree with the idea of ​​K. Wissler about the loss of memory by an American Indian:

“He was ignorant of everything related to his own past. Therefore, the white man had to restore the forgotten Indian history.

No, that's not true! It is quite obvious that the memory of the Indian was by no means so bad.

Is Latin America called Latin? Indeed, in fact, this is part of the mainland South America, and the term “Latin” creates associations with Europe and Ancient Rome. We will try to answer all these questions in this article, referring to historical facts and geography.

History of Latin America: colonization and conversion

The countries that make up Latin America were created as colonies of European states. Since the 16th century, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands have been actively seizing lands. In the middle of the 19th century, the emerging young states became financially dependent on the United States. Some island countries became colonies of the United States.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, wars for independence from the colonialists began. Some of the first countries to gain freedom were Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, managed almost without bloodshed. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 is widely known. Then the island states gained independence. The modern borders of Latin America were established only in the 40s of the XX century.

The countries of Latin America until the 20th century were called differently: "Indo-America", "Spanish America", "Ibo-America". It will be a big mistake to think that Latin America is geographically and territorially equal to South. It consists of:

• Mexico (country in North America).
• West Indies (islands).
• The mainland of South America and its island states.
• Countries located on the isthmus of Central America.

This list includes Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guiana, Saint Martin, Argentina and other states. Thus, the name "Latin" cannot be explained geographically. Its origin is connected with the colonization of this region by Europeans.

The term "Latin America" ​​itself was fixed in the 30s. XX century. It was invented by the French Emperor Napoleon III. So he decided to call those parts of the continent whose territories were inhabited by immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula and France from the 15th to the 16th centuries.

Today it is the unofficial name of a group of countries, which is firmly entrenched in scientific and public circles.

The very type of colonization of these countries is called "Latin". The conquerors were carriers of Romance languages, originating from Latin. Therefore, most of the inhabitants of this region speak three languages ​​belonging to this group: Spanish, Portuguese or French. This is the main difference between Latin America and North America, which was mastered by the Anglo-Saxons and propagated by the English language.

The second reason for the name "Latin America" ​​follows from the first: the planting of a foreign language for the indigenous peoples took place simultaneously with their conversion to another religion - Catholicism. It is no coincidence that the Spanish conquistadors, having first landed on the coast of the future Spain, first of all celebrated Mass. Services in Catholicism are held in Latin, which is probably why Catholics in Russia used to be called "Latins".

The introduction of peoples to Christianity was one of the main tasks assigned to Columbus by the king and queen. Centuries later, Latin America remains a stronghold of the Catholic Church.

Who are Hispanics?

The most interesting thing is that Hispanics are not all Latin Americans, as it might seem at first. These are people who speak Spanish and Portuguese and live both in Latin America and in the USA, Great Britain, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Canada and other countries. Hispanics are usually immigrants. In a number of states they are disparagingly called Latinos. Their number is 600 million people, but this figure is approximate.

The term "Latin America" ​​is often used to refer to all the southern countries of America. In Brazil, this is how the Spanish-speaking countries of their mainland are called. But knowing exactly why Latin America is called Latin, it is no longer possible to make a mistake in the name of the group of countries in which they speak Romance languages.

, Great Britain and other countries due to economic and political emigration. Due to the fact that French is also a Romance language, the French-speaking peoples of the Caribbean (Haitians, Guyans, Martiniques, Guadeloupes, also Dominicans and Grenadians by origin) also belong to Latin Americans, although French Canadians living in more northern latitudes, and also mostly assimilated by the English-speaking environment Cajuns of Louisiana are not usually classified as Hispanics.

Story

Unites all Hispanics in the first place, their historical origin. The formation of Latin American peoples began during the period of great geographical discoveries in the Western Hemisphere and the development of two early European colonial empires - the Spanish and Portuguese, and to a lesser extent also the French. The decisive period was between the 16th and 18th centuries, when European conquistadors conquered large areas of South America and entered into intensive contacts with the local autochthonous population.

Ethnogenesis

The dominant, although far from the only role in the process of ethnogenesis of the Latin American peoples was played by the Romanesque peoples of the so-called Old Romania and / or Latin Europe, therefore, modern Latin Americans are called neo-Roman peoples, and their area of ​​​​residence is neo-Roman (New Romania). They consider native or speak well the Romance languages, which are descended from Latin (hence the name). The only exception is a certain part of Hispanics in the USA, natives of this country, who, while maintaining Latin American culture and self-consciousness, switched to English or completely Americanized. Another distinguishing feature is the adherence of the majority of Hispanics to Catholicism, although the number of atheists, followers of Protestant churches, other religions and various sects has recently increased. Hispanics are also distinguished by their concentration in regions with a hot equatorial, tropical and subtropical climate.

Religion

The vast majority of Hispanics are devout Catholics. A small number are Protestants.

Racial diversity

Unlike the North American colonies of Great Britain, where the autochthonous Indian population was subjected to almost universal genocide, in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, the places of mass concentration of the autochthonous population (Mexico, Peru) became at the same time the centers of Spanish culture, initiating the process of racial and cultural mixing. Therefore, modern Latin Americans are distinguished by a peculiar racial and genetic composition with a predominance of people of mixed origin with a variety of combinations of European, African, Indian and even Asian genes. At the beginning of the 16th century, in addition to Spanish and Portuguese hidalgo men, gypsies, Jews, Morisco Arabs exiled from Spain began to arrive here, then Negro slaves from Africa were brought; later, European colonists from other, predominantly Catholic countries appeared (French, especially numerous Italians, Germans, Croats, etc.), the influx of immigrants from Spain and Portugal increased again (late 19th - early 20th centuries)

Therefore, now the racial and genetic composition varies significantly by country. Thus, conventionally designated white Hispanics make up the majority of the population (over 80%) in Argentina and Uruguay, but only about half of the population of Brazil (53.7%) and less than 10% of the population of Mexico. In Mexico and Chile, 2/3 of the population are mestizos: in Chile with a greater admixture of European, in Mexico - with Indian blood, although the proportions vary greatly by city and province within each country. For example, the average Mexican has 58% European genes (mostly Spanish), 39% Amerindian, and about 3% African. Moreover, unlike the United States, racial categories are flexible and transparent, the same person can refer to several categories and move from one to another throughout his life, depending on his social status, education, social circle, etc. So a significant part of the conditionally white population of Argentina has a significant admixture of Indian (about 1/3) and even African blood. The same applies to conditionally white Brazilians. Although there has never been open institutional racism and segregation in Latin American countries, more European (lighter) features are perceived as more desirable than Indian and African ones.

population

The total number of Hispanics is about 600 million people. The largest Latin American peoples: Brazilians - about 190 million people (2008, estimate) and Mexicans - about 150 million people. (g., estimate). They are followed by Colombians (45 million) and Argentines (40 million). A large emigrant group of US Hispanics stands out, constituting over 15% of the country's population or 45 million people ().

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing Hispanics

Has he been married for a long time? she asked, “honestly?”
Pierre gave her his word of honor.
– Is he still here? she asked quickly.
Yes, I saw him just now.
She was obviously unable to speak and made signs with her hands to leave her.

Pierre did not stay to dine, but immediately left the room and left. He went to look for Anatole Kuragin in the city, at the thought of which now all his blood rushed to his heart and he experienced difficulty in taking a breath. On the mountains, among the gypsies, at the Comoneno - he was not there. Pierre went to the club.
Everything in the club went on in its usual order: the guests who had gathered for dinner sat in groups and greeted Pierre and talked about the city news. The footman, having greeted him, reported to him, knowing his acquaintance and habits, that a place had been left for him in a small dining room, that Prince Mikhail Zakharych was in the library, and Pavel Timofeich had not yet arrived. One of Pierre's acquaintances, between a conversation about the weather, asked him if he had heard about the kidnapping of Rostova by Kuragin, which they were talking about in the city, was it true? Pierre, laughing, said that this was nonsense, because now he was only from the Rostovs. He asked everyone about Anatole; he was told by one that he had not yet come, the other that he would dine to-day. It was strange for Pierre to look at this calm, indifferent crowd of people who did not know what was going on in his soul. He walked around the hall, waited until everyone had gathered, and without waiting for Anatole, he did not dine and went home.
Anatole, whom he was looking for, dined with Dolokhov that day and consulted with him about how to fix the spoiled case. It seemed to him necessary to see Rostova. In the evening he went to his sister's to talk with her about the means of arranging this meeting. When Pierre, having traveled all over Moscow in vain, returned home, the valet reported to him that Prince Anatol Vasilyich was with the countess. The drawing room of the Countess was full of guests.
Pierre did not greet his wife, whom he did not see after his arrival (she was more than ever hated by him at that moment), entered the living room and, seeing Anatole, went up to him.
“Ah, Pierre,” said the countess, going up to her husband. “You don’t know what position our Anatole is in ...” She stopped, seeing in her husband’s head lowered, in his shining eyes, in his resolute gait, that terrible expression of fury and strength, which she knew and experienced on herself after the duel with Dolokhov.
“Where you are, there is debauchery, evil,” Pierre said to his wife. “Anatole, let’s go, I need to talk to you,” he said in French.
Anatole looked back at his sister and obediently got up, ready to follow Pierre.
Pierre, taking him by the hand, pulled him towards him and left the room.
- Si vous vous permettez dans mon salon, [If you allow yourself in my living room,] - Helen said in a whisper; but Pierre, without answering her, left the room.
Anatole followed him with his usual, youthful gait. But there was concern on his face.
Entering his office, Pierre closed the door and turned to Anatole without looking at him.
- You promised Countess Rostova to marry her and wanted to take her away?
“My dear,” answered Anatole in French (as the whole conversation went), I do not consider myself obliged to answer interrogations made in such a tone.
Pierre's face, already pale, was contorted with fury. He grabbed Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his large hand and began to shake from side to side until Anatole's face assumed a sufficient expression of fear.
“When I say that I need to talk to you ...” Pierre repeated.
- Well, that's stupid. BUT? - said Anatole, feeling the collar button torn off with cloth.
“You are a scoundrel and a scoundrel, and I don’t know what keeps me from the pleasure of crushing your head with this,” said Pierre, “speaking so artificially because he spoke French. He took the heavy paperweight in his hand and raised it menacingly and immediately put it hastily in its place.
Did you promise to marry her?
- I, I, I did not think; However, I never promised, because ...
Pierre interrupted him. Do you have her letters? Do you have letters? Pierre repeated, moving towards Anatole.
Anatole looked at him and at once, thrusting his hand into his pocket, took out his wallet.
Pierre took the letter handed to him and, pushing the table that stood on the road, fell on the sofa.
“Je ne serai pas violent, ne craignez rien, [Don’t be afraid, I won’t use violence,” said Pierre, responding to Anatole’s frightened gesture. “Letters - once,” said Pierre, as if repeating a lesson for himself. "Second," he continued after a moment's silence, getting up again and beginning to walk, "you must leave Moscow tomorrow."
"But how can I...
“Third,” Pierre continued, not listening to him, “you should never say a word about what happened between you and the countess. This, I know, I cannot forbid you, but if there is a spark of conscience in you ... - Pierre silently walked around the room several times. Anatole sat at the table and frowned, biting his lips.
“You can’t fail to understand, finally, that in addition to your pleasure there is happiness, the peace of mind of other people, that you are ruining your whole life from the fact that you want to have fun. Have fun with women like my wife - with these you are within your rights, they know what you want from them. They are armed against you with the same experience of debauchery; but to promise a girl to marry her ... to deceive, to steal ... How can you not understand that this is as vile as nailing an old man or a child! ...
Pierre fell silent and looked at Anatole, no longer angry, but inquiringly.
- I do not know this. BUT? - said Anatole, emboldened as Pierre overcame his anger. “I don’t know and don’t want to know,” he said, without looking at Pierre and with a slight trembling of his lower jaw, “but you said these words to me: mean and the like, which I comme un homme d" honneur [as an honest person ] I won't let anyone.
Pierre looked at him in surprise, unable to understand what he needed.
“Although it was face to face,” Anatole continued, “but I can’t ...
"Well, do you need satisfaction?" Pierre said mockingly.
“At least you can take back your words. BUT? If you want me to fulfill your wishes. BUT?
“I take it, I take it back,” Pierre said and I ask you to excuse me. Pierre glanced involuntarily at the torn button. “And money, if you need it for the journey.” Anatole smiled.
This expression of a timid and vile smile, familiar to him from his wife, blew up Pierre.
“Oh, vile, heartless breed! he said and left the room.
The next day Anatole left for Petersburg.

Pierre went to Marya Dmitrievna to report on the fulfillment of her desire - on the expulsion of Kuragin from Moscow. The whole house was in fear and excitement. Natasha was very ill, and, as Marya Dmitrievna told him in secret, on the same night, as it was announced to her that Anatole was married, she poisoned herself with arsenic, which she quietly obtained. After swallowing it a little, she was so frightened that she woke Sonya and announced to her what she had done. In time, the necessary measures were taken against the poison, and now she was out of danger; but all the same she was so weak that it was impossible to think of taking her to the village, and the countess was sent for. Pierre saw the bewildered count and the weeping Sonya, but he could not see Natasha.

A review on a seemingly paradoxical topic, whether Brazilians are Hispanic. And what does the term “Latin American” or “latinas” mean in Brazil (the spelling “latinos” is also found in Russian) and the term “Brazilian”.

We tried to find out all this by translating statements on this topic from Brazilian English-language blogs.

“Brazil was the last country on the American continent to abolish slavery (1888), there has never been a broad black human rights movement, as was the case in the United States, and there is no racial debate,” noted one Brazilian user, arguing on the topic the rights of black Brazilians.

Let us note on our own, while Brazil is a multicultural vibrant society, and the word "Brazilian" around the world is steadily associated with people of different ra With. At the same time, some Brazilians also do not really like it when they are lumped together as Latin Americans “Latinas”.

Here, for example, is an excerpt on this topic from a post by a Brazilian woman named Amandha on one of the Brazilian blogs, published in December 2009:

“I'm Brazilian, and we definitely don't call ourselves Latinas because that's not the right term here to describe the population of the entire country. Take examples from Brazilian history and you will see that we had many people who came from very different countries. My friend's parents come from Japan, he is Brazilian, but I am sure that he is not Hispanic. I am a mixture of German (my grandmother came from Germany) and Spanish (after my father's father) blood, and I am white. And that's the family history of at least half of the population (by my count). We have a lot of people in our country, mostly from Africa, Italy and Japan.

In the south of Brazil, where I live, there are a lot of whites with entire cities where people speak Polish, German and Italian as well as Portuguese.

In short, Brazilians, as far as one can tell, don't call themselves Hispanic because most Brazilians don't look like Hispanics. And the word "Latino" is not well received here. It's a cultural thing, and we don't want to be defined as Hispanics. Especially because we simply don't have such a thing as Latin America. We teach in school that there is South, Central and North America. And there is no Latin America.

At the same time, the user Eduardo commented on Amandha's statements in the following way:

“When they (in the outside world) call us Latinos, they don’t mean the color of our skin. "Latins" are all people who speak languages ​​derived from Latin, such as Portuguese, Spanish, etc. People who were born in Spain are Hispanic too. So I think they (those who call us Latinos) are right."

Brazilians have a southern, Latin American temperament.

ill. from the archive: a capoeirista at a carnival procession.

He was echoed by the user: Leigh:

“In fact, the term Latino is supposed to be used to refer to any person from Latin America, regardless of race or ethnicity. In the US, the term is incorrectly used for non-white people of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry..

Although it is correct to call all Hispanics that way. The term "Latino" was originally intended for people from Latin America who actually officially exist - look in the encyclopedia. Thus, people from Spain and Portugal are not Hispanic. Of course, part of this question contains prejudices, since many white Hispanics do not want to be classified as non-white. In Latin America, where racial discrimination once began, it is difficult to get rid of it. And it is not true that most people in Brazil are of European race. About 40 percent of the population, maybe even 40% or more, is said to be black or mulatto.”

But the user of RAL appealed to encyclopedias, trying to find the answer, what is Latin America:

“FYI, geographically speaking, what counts as Latin America?

Any part of the Americas where Latin (Romance) language, in the form of Spanish or Portuguese, is the dominant language is considered to be Latin America. This term also, in fact, includes the southern United States.

In other words, from Mexico to La Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), it's all Latin America."

At the end of our review, a very informative message on the topic at hand from user jack21k:

“By the way, in Brazil people speak Portuguese, but not Spanish. Thus, Brazilians are not Hispanics.

Also, Brazilian is not a race or ethnicity. This citizenship. If you don't think there is an American race, why do you say there is a Brazilian race. Brazil, Australia, Canada and the USA are all founded by immigrants. . Thus, to say that there is a Brazilian race (nationality) does not make sense ...

Related information:

Hispanics and Latin America: definitions in encyclopedias

English-language encyclopedias define Hispanics (Spanish "latinoamericano", Portuguese "latino-americano") as citizens from Latin American countries and dependent territories. The English-language Wikipedia notes that "Latin American countries are multinational". This source notes that due to the multi-ethnicity some Hispanics have problems with national identity.

By implication, it is difficult for Hispanics to choose what to focus on in terms of ethnicity: by country, by parental origin, by race, or by their skin color. For example, in Brazil, a mulatto may have ancestors of a white Portuguese colonist and a black slave brought from Africa, but at the same time feel like a Brazilian.

Latin American countries are divided into states with a predominantly Caucasoid population - Argentina and Uruguay (80% of the population belongs to the European race), countries with a strong Indian influence (Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia. Mexico) and countries with a majority of mulattos and blacks (like Brazil and, where mulattos predominate, or Haiti. But in the Haitian case, the predominantly Negro population dominates).

In turn, the countries of Latin America are usually understood as states and territories dominated by Romance (in other words, Latin languages), namely Spanish and Portuguese. At the same time, the Romanesque French minority of Canada and the United States, as well as the south of the United States with its Hispanic population in general, are not included in Latin America, since it is believed that these territories belong to the Anglo-Saxon world.

For more information about the origin of Latin American countries, see our website;

(Prepared by Website Monitoring)

Americans in the United States are the greatest patriots, but at the same time they attach incredible importance to heritage. People in the US know and track race, nationality, etc. their ancestors...

That's why we have the terms "German-Mexican Americans". This does not happen in Brazil. Children of German immigrants born in Brazil consider themselves Brazilians, but not Germans or German Brazilians. They will say that my father is German, but they never say that I am German or I am Brazilian of German origin.

Latino / Latinos is an interesting example. In the US, when people hear the word, they immediately associate it with race or ethnicity. In Brazil, the term "Hispanic" only means that the person was born in Latin America. In Brazil, there is no correlation of this word with race or ethnicity. If you ask peopleon the street in Brazil, if they are Latinos, they will answer: "no". Or maybe they'll even say they don't know what it means. By the way, we don't use this name "Hispanic" as often as people in the US or other countries. We usually say South, Central and North America. It's a bit of a bummer that Latin America is not a continent, it's just a geographic region, originally referring to Mexico when viewed from North America.

To understand the difference in racial attitudes in different countries, let's look at history. Immigrants came to the US with their families, and interracial marriage some time ago was almost a crime here. On the other hand, in Brazil, many immigrants were single men. Brazil was not considered a place where people expected to build a new life, but only a place to try to earn money and return to Europe. This began to change only in the second half of the 19th century, when immigrants from Japan and some European countries, excluding Portugal, began to arrive in Brazil.

So, at the beginning of the period of colonization by European immigrants, there were "marriages" between them and non-white wives, mostly black slaves, but also girls from Indian tribes. In this context, interracial marriages were tolerated due to the lack of single (European) women in the colony. All of the above factors contributed to the fact that society in the United States became more divided along national and racial lines, while in Brazil, race was not a huge problem, and national origin was not very important. In support of this argument is that people in Brazil will define someone's race based on the appearance of that person, and not on his ancestors.

Finally, the biggest lesson I've learned is that racial and ethnic definitions and classifications change from country to country, and in the end they don't matter. Race is a concept not even (fully) recognized by science. In general, these racial-ethnic discussions, or otherwise, the debate only divides people, ”the blogger noted.

What conclusions can be drawn from the above statements:

1. Brazilians do not like being called Hispanics, because outside the country this word includes belonging to a certain swarthy Caucasoid type. While in Brazil there are blacks, and white-skinned people of German blood, and Indians.

2. For Brazilians, the term "Hispanic" is simply a person who lives in Latin America., i.e. in the south of the United States. At the same time, Brazilians often use the name "South America" ​​instead of "Latin America".

3. Brazilians like to think that there is a nation "Brazilians". While abroad, I do not fully accept this yet t. At the same time, the huge percentage of mixed marriages in the country speaks in favor of this fact. Moreover, from the very moment of the beginning of its colonization by Europeans, due to the fact that many European immigrants from the time of the development of the country were single men without families and without the opportunity to find a wife from Europe. Brazil during the time of development was not considered a place where people expected to build a new life, but only a place to try to earn money and return to Europe. Therefore, European girls did not go there. They traveled to the USA with their families and with the traditional national way of life established in them. Therefore, the United States remembers more about national roots, but at the same time, the principles of democracy that have been working for a long time have led to the equalization of nations in rights. At the same time, there is national unity in Brazil, but people are divided along social lines, which was facilitated by the long-standing hierarchical system of Brazilian society, introduced, including for Europeans, back in the days of Portuguese colonization. Unlike the principles of democracy of the first settlers in the future USA.