THE PEOPLE AND CULTURE OF LATIN AMERICA located south of the border of the United States because these countries and dependent states speak languages derived from Latin Spanish Portuguese and French Even the other languages such as Creole languages spoken in the West Indies are a fusion of Latin languages with other tongues such as African languages Latin American nations are the southern neighbors of the United States However the population of Latin America is much greater than that of the United States For example the United States has approximately 325 million people within its borders In contrast Brazil alone has approxi mately 205 million people It is the fifth most populous country in the world and one-third of the people of Latin America live there Altogether more than 626 million people live in Latin America a region that covers some 15 percent of the The skyline of Panama City the capital and largest city of Panama 6
INTRODUCTION Earth The people and cultures are as diverse as the region itself which includes Mexico Central America South America and the West Indies areas with vastly different features The West Indies and Caribbean are islands for example that enjoy a tropical climate On the other hand many nations on the western side of South America are marked by the Andes Mountains and enjoy cooler climates In yet another example many Central and South American cities are built on coastlines bordering either the Atlantic the Pacific or the Gulf of Mexico and those regions are influenced by that feature While these countries are diverse in many ways for example Brazilian culture differs from Peruvian culture which differs from Cuban culture they all have certain broader attributes in common These similarities have been influenced by their shared history 7
CHAPTER ONE INDIGENOUS ROOTS W hen Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492 he opened the way for European colo nization of what came to be known as the New World The lands he encountered however had long been populated by Amerindians the indigenous people of North and South America In fact cultures dating back at least thirteen thousand years already existed on the two new continents and neighboring islands of the Americas The indigenous people were diverse in many ways They had different languages religions systems of government and traditions At the time of the European conquest of Latin America the three major indigenous civilizations or high civilizations were the Maya of Mesoamerica the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru THREE HIGH CIVILIZATIONS The Mayan culture flourished between 1000 BCE and 1542 CE Mayan corn farmers grew the vegetable in abundance 8
INDIGENOUS ROOTS An eighth-century terra-cotta Mayan sculpture from Mexico depicting a deity who was worshiped as part of the cult of the corn 9
