Latin America and the Caribbean


Latin America and the Caribbean is a geographic subregion in the Americas encompassing Latin America and the Caribbean. It covers an extensive region, extending from The Bahamas and Mexico in the north to Argentina and Chile in the south. The region has over 670,230,000 people as of 2016, and spans for.

List of countries and territories by subregion

Various countries within the Latin American and the Caribbean region do not use either Spanish, Portuguese or French as official languages, but rather English or Dutch.

Caribbean

Scattered island in the Caribbean Sea

West Indies

Antilles
Greater Antilles
*
* Disputed territory administered by the United States, claimed by Haiti.
Lesser Antilles
*

Latin America

Central America

†
† The UN geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America.
Offshore islands
* Disputed territories administered by Colombia, claimed by the United States.

South America

† *
† The UN geoscheme includes Bouvet Island in South America instead of Antarctica or Africa.
* Disputed territories administered by the United Kingdom, claimed by Argentina.

Culture

Religion

Most countries are dominated by Christianity, the largest being Roman Catholicism. Smaller groups include Protestantism and Orthodoxy and other forms of Christianity. There are many venerated folk saints and folk religions namely folk catholicism as well as african diaspora religions as well as Native American religions including shamanism. Many folk healers also practice folk magic. Specific Creole peoples often have their own religions/spiritual practices like the Maroons's Rastafari and Garifuna's belief system.
Especially in the Caribbean, Central America and Brasil, there are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baháʼí Faith, Buddhist, Shinto and Romani mythology, Chinese folk religion, Dravidian folk religion practitioners. The Muslims and especially Jews and Gitanos are often descendants of the peoples forced into Crypto-Judaism and Crypto-Islam from the Reconquista. There most likely is Sikh and Jainist groups. There is also a growing movement of unitarian universalism/new age/neo-paganism-type unorganized spirituality; goddess worship is especially popular with younger, often progressive people like feminists. Again, these movements are often also syncretic, such as Pachamama or other Pre-Columbian Deity worship. Atheism/Agnosticism is quite dichotomous with a few countries having high percentages, but most are small and may be growing slowly.

Music

The region is extremely popular for its own distinct music which can not be found somewhere in the world. Began since the conquest of Spain, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal in 15th century, due to the greater diversification including indigenous, Asian, African and European population merged, it expanded popularity of their music, dated from 1950s and rampant globalization, music from the region has become widely noticed, and has been nominated for several music awards.

Sports

The region is rich at sporting activities, especially in association football, which have some of the world's strongest football teams, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and others. Baseball, tennis, cycling, volleyball, rugby union, basketball, hockey, and cricket are also popular.
The region is known for producing significant mixed martial-arts fighters, notably competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Mexico and Brazil being the ones that stand out in this sport.