Latino mentality. Why is Latin America called Latin, and who are Latinos?

A review on the seemingly paradoxical topic of whether Brazilians are Latin Americans. And what does the term “Latin American” or “latinas” mean in Brazil (in Russian the spelling “latinos” is also found) 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, which abolished slavery (1888), there has never been a broad black movement for human rights, as there was in the United States, and there is no racial debate,” noted one Brazilian user, discussing the rights of black Brazilians.

Let us note that Brazil is a multicultural vibrant society, and the word “Brazilian” is consistently associated with people of different races all over the world. With. At the same time, some Brazilians also don’t really like being collectively classified as Latinos.

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 here it’s not the right term to define 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 are from Japan, he is Brazilian, but I'm sure he is not Latin. I am a mixture of German (my grandmother came from Germany) and Spanish (from my dad's father) blood, and I am white skinned. And so it is family history, at least half the population (by my count). There are many people in our country who come mostly from African countries, Italy and Japan.

In the south of Brazil, where I live, there are many white-skinned people with entire cities where people speak Polish, German and Italian as well as Portuguese.

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

At the same time, user Eduardo commented on Amandha’s statement:

"When they (in outside world) call us “Latinos,” but they don’t mean the color of our skin. “Latinas” 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.

This was echoed by user: Leigh:

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

Although it is correct to call all Latin Americans this way. The term "Latino" was originally intended for people from Latin America, who actually officially exist - look in the encyclopedia. So people from Spain and Portugal are not Hispanic. Of course, part of this question contains prejudices, because... many white Latinos 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 the majority of 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 RAL user appealed to encyclopedias, trying to find the answer to what Latin America is:

“For your information, what is considered Latin America, geographically speaking?

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

In other words, from Mexico to La Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), this is all Latin America.”

At the end of our review, a very informative message on the topic under consideration 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 is 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 countries founded by immigrants. . Thus, to say that there is a Brazilian race (nationality) does not make sense...

Information on the topic:

Latin Americans and Latin America: definitions in encyclopedias

English-language encyclopedias define Latin Americans (Spanish "latinoamericano", Portuguese "latino-americano") as citizens from Latin American countries and dependent territories. English-language Wikipedia notes that “Latin American countries are multinational”. This source notes that due to multi-ethnicity Some Latinos have problems with national identification.

This means that it is difficult for Latinos to choose what to focus on in terms of ethnicity: country, parental origin, race or skin color. For example, in Brazil, a mulatto may have ancestors of a white Portuguese colonist and a black slave brought from Africa, but still feel like a Brazilian.

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

In turn, the countries of Latin America usually mean states and territories where Romance (in other words, Latin languages) dominate, namely Spanish and Portuguese. At the same time, the Romanesque French minority of Canada and the United States, as well as the southern United States with its Spanish-speaking population in general, are not included in Latin America, since these territories are considered to belong to the Anglo-Saxon world.

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

(Prepared by Monitoring website)

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

This is why we have the terms "German-Mexican Americans". This doesn't 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 will never say that I am German or that I am a Brazilian of German descent.

Latino/Latin Americans is an interesting example. In the US, when people hear this word, they immediately associate it with race or ethnicity. In Brazil, the term "Latino" only means that a person was born in Latin America. In Brazil there is no connection between this word and race or ethnicity. If you ask peopleon the street in Brazil, if they are Latino, then they will answer: “no”. Or maybe they will even say that 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 little jarring that Latin America isn't a continent, it's only a geographic region that originally denotes 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 United States with their families, and interracial marriage was almost a crime here for some time. On the other hand, in Brazil many immigrants were single men, because... Brazil was not considered a place where people expected to build new life, but only a place to try to make money and return to Europe. This only began to change in the second half of the 19th century, when immigrants from Japan and some European countries, excluding Portugal, began to arrive in Brazil.

Thus, at the beginning of the period of colonization by European immigrants, “marriages” took place between them and non-white wives, mainly black slaves, but also girls from Indian tribes. In this context, interracial marriages were tolerated due to the insufficient number 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 huge problem, and national origin was not very important. Supporting this argument is that people in Brazil will determine someone's race based on the person's appearance rather than on their ancestors.

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

What conclusions can be drawn from the above statements:

1. Brazilians do not like to be called Latin Americans, because outside the country this word includes belonging to a certain dark-skinned Caucasian type. While in Brazil there are blacks, white-skinned people of German blood, and Indians.

2. For Brazilians, the term "Latino" is simply a person who lives in Latin America, i.e. in the area 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 of “Brazilians”. While abroad I still don’t fully accept this T. At the same time, this fact is supported by the huge percentage of mixed marriages in the country. Moreover, from the very moment of the beginning of its colonization by Europeans, due to the fact that many European immigrants during the development of the country were single men without families and without the opportunity to find a wife from Europe. Brazil at the time of exploration 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. That's why European girls didn't go there. They went to the USA with their families and their traditional national way of life. Therefore, the United States remembers more about national roots, but at the same time, the long-standing principles of democracy led to equal rights among nations. At the same time, in Brazil there is national unity, but people are divided according to social sign, which was facilitated by the long-existing hierarchical system of Brazilian society, introduced, including for Europeans, during the time of Portuguese colonization. In contrast to the principles of democracy of the first settlers in the future USA.

Manuel Galic::: History of Pre-Columbian Civilizations

CHAPTER I.

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

The ancestors of today's Latin Americans should first of all be considered Indians, since only they have inhabited a continent unknown to the Old World since time immemorial. In addition, the predecessors of those who live there today were Europeans and even Africans. Europeans arrived as conquerors and colonizers - in the era of emerging capitalist relations, they needed more and more wealth. Africans were brought there as slaves to produce this wealth - they were brought to a place where, as a rule, there were no longer any Indians left who had fled oppression or were exterminated by invaders. Thus, as a result of the mixing of these three ethnic components during the 16th-18th centuries. and the Latin Americans emerged.

At that time, 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 black women found themselves in an unequal, oppressed position. The new ethnic formations were called “crossed” and “dim-colored.” 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, sambo) or in accordance with the proportion of constituent racial characteristics. There are many examples of this: “Moriscos”, “albino”, “Moor”, “turn back”, “sambaigo” (from sambo), “black” (descendant of a Chinese and an Indian), “leper” (or “red-black mestizo"), "white-piebald", "coyote" (i.e. gray-brown), "firebrand", "neither this nor that", "quinteron", "requinteron", " a white man", "civilized" (i.e. the son of a European and an Indian), "Chinese" (anyone from Asia). This repulsive sociology nevertheless reveals the complex ethno-social essence of the continent, inherited from colonialism.

Bolivar's insightful gaze deeply comprehended the entire essence of the new man formed in the colonies of Spain and Portugal. Life itself became the source of his apt social and political assessments. Therefore, his warning, sounded from the rostrum of the Angostura Congress on February 15, 1819, has enduring significance not only for South America, but also for the entire region, which today is called Latin America. “It is impossible to indicate with precision to which human family we belong. Most of the Indian population was destroyed, Europeans 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 of different skin colors.” In the same speech, but somewhat earlier, the Liberator said:

“Our problems are thus extremely confusing and unusual.”

In the 19th and 20th centuries. “our problems” have become even more complex. This was greatly facilitated by the arrival of those who 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 “Hispanics,” just like the descendants of Indians, “old Europeans,” and blacks. 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. Not a single one of the former or new American colonies was left without replenishment. The number of Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, English, French, Jews and other ethnic groups was constantly increasing. This immigration, which took place from 1850 to 1930, amounted to 12 million people. Especially many Italians settled in Rio de la Plata. But not everyone knows about the drama that befell them and other Europeans in the south of Brazil, where coffee plantations instead of black work force began to mercilessly exploit white slaves.

From the very beginning, Asians suffered the same fate as the Italians who moved to Brazil. Black slaves were often replaced by Chinese. So, in 1849-1874. 80 thousand people were taken to Peru to collect cane and mine guano on the Chincha Islands. For similar work, the Chinese were brought to Cuba, where many of them joined the struggle for independence. In Mexico, the memory of the 1911 massacre in Torreon, during which 300 Chinese were killed, is still preserved.

Most Latin American governments have at one time passed discriminatory laws against the Chinese and the so-called Syrian-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 thousand and 29 thousand Japanese, respectively. It even arose in Brazil new type Hispanic - Nisei, or Japanese-Brazilian.

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

“No part of the world has seen such a gigantic mixing of races as Latin America and the Caribbean after 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 ethnic groups of humanity mixed, either directly or through the mediation of intermediate carriers. The Indian and African origins came directly from the Indians and Africans. Latin came indirectly, through the Spaniards, Portuguese and French, through the Roman seizure of Gaul and Spain. Therefore, in the veins of Latin Americans there is a share of the blood of Celts, Arabs, Goths and Gauls. The influence of the East and Asia manifests itself differently in different countries, depending on the number of immigrants and their area of ​​​​origin.

Bolivar's statement remains true today. The ethnocultural heritage of Latin Americans can be considered much less Latin than indigenous. In addition, there are other components to 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 Latin Americans,” they do not even think about the accuracy of this term, they do not fully sense 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 fairly well represented. Moreover, the border between the two Americas is neither racial, nor linguistic, nor religious. The political structure cannot serve as a sign of it either. Nor does it coincide with the boundaries established in the process of clashes between rival European colonialists and the later changed new type of conquistadors - the Yankees in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and the USA.

This border follows a contour outlined by economic differences caused by the Conquest and European colonization. They determined the subsequent development of new American societies. “North America began with the plow, and Spanish America began with the hunting dog,” Marty noted. He was able to surprisingly accurately and succinctly characterize 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 ones in the south.

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

Hence the gap between the two Americas - the exploitative and the exploited, to be more specific. The “continental unity” and “western hemisphere” that American political scientists talk about are nothing more than a colossal absurdity, invented, repeated and spread 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, prescient warnings made by Marty at Wallington in the troubled days of the first Pan-American Conference of 1889-1890 about the “difference of origin and interests between the two continental factors” and about "the relationship between the two nationalities of America in its past and present." One can endlessly quote this vivid, pain-filled speech from Marty.

The question of the border between the two Americas, born of European colonization, is closely related to another important problem - the territories that were or continue to be Anglo-Franco-Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and Guyana. Narrow ethnic criteria increasingly alienate their residents from Latin Americans. But the events and processes experienced modern world, and in particular the American continent - from open war to colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and backwardness, which are ultimately the same thing - oblige us to think again about the fate of the peoples inhabiting these territories. Nothing other than their different colonial origins distinguishes them from the rest of Latin America. The reality of our world urgently and inevitably leads to the close unity of all who are fighting for the liberation of the continent from common disasters: colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism and backwardness. To win this difficult battle, it is first necessary to overcome the disunity generated by various reasons.

This is the “intricacy and extraordinary complexity of our problems.” The peoples and cultures that represent the heritage and, at the same time, the present and future wealth of the continent are diverse and numerous. It is impossible to forget about someone or underestimate someone without distorting or falsifying the “birth certificate” common to Latin Americans. Thanks to this complexity and diversity, “our problems” cannot be contained in one palm. We 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 take 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 first parents and ancestors who gave birth to people in ancient times.” It's about about the Indians.

Tribes of Israel, Atlantis and the Seven-Headed Hydra

The origins of the ancestors of Latin Americans still remain largely a mystery, despite the fact that science has made significant advances in this area in recent decades. At the same time, the absurd fantasies of some chroniclers of the early colonial period have finally been archived. So, according to one of them, the continent was inhabited by Jews - the descendants of Noah, or by the ten tribes of Israel, who disappeared in the 8th 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. According to one version, they were allowed to move to another continent by their exceptional seaworthiness. 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 the 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 Timaeus and Critias. Particularly impressive is the guess about the continent located on the other side of the huge sea that once swallowed Atlantis. This thought never occurred to the great Admiral, despite the fact that he managed to discover the lands mentioned in the myth. He had no idea about the significance of his discovery until his death.

Geological data suggest the likelihood 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 likely that it existed in very ancient times. big island Atlantis, which subsequently disappeared as a result of a cataclysm. Supporters of the other believe that we could be talking 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 perfectly match if you mentally remove the Atlantic Ocean and combine the American east and Euro-African west. With the help of a map and scissors, anyone can connect and separate the continents in the same way that the powerful forces of nature actually did in time immemorial.

However, none of the theories mentioned can explain the origin of the first inhabitants of America. After all, both the cataclysm and the “spreading apart” of the two worlds called the Old and New Worlds, and the formation of the Atlantic Ocean could only have taken place at the latest - as far as imagination allows - in the Tertiary period, which ended more than a million years ago. However, in those ancient times, it was not man who existed on earth, but only his ancestor - ramapita k, which anthropologists identify as the first great ape. She was the most ancient predecessor of a human being, living about 14 million years ago. About 5 million years ago, different species of higher human primates appeared that walked on two legs - Australopithecus, and only about 1 million years ago the oldest fossil man, the creator of Early Paleolithic cultures, arose - 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 about the wanderings of people from one continent to another during that period is without any basis. Such people did not yet exist on our planet.

The relatively recently emerging 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 Plato's myth, but also the hypotheses of those who until recently were considered classics of American studies.

So, let’s continue our review of scientific achievements in the field of studying the origins of the “American” person. Naturally, all proposed constructions are based on data from archaeological finds, chronological research, comparisons, deduction and hypotheses, proven or formulated in accordance with established research methods and annually updated dating. Nevertheless, I would like to warn: each new discovery - and they occur almost daily in American studies - forces one to reconsider existing assessments, and therefore many of the conclusions made for the time being are preferably considered conditional. Everyone understands that new studies often clarify, but sometimes also refute previous conclusions that 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, his work “Decades of the New World” P. Martyr de Angleria extremely lamented this issue:

“Like Hydra, whose severed heads grow back, so I, 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 are experiencing the same problems while working on our book, with the only difference that everything is happening even more abruptly and rapidly than in the time of P. de Angleria. After all, Hydra constantly feeds itself with data from new methods - such as radiocarbon. And this allows you to increase the number of her heads not seven, but hundreds of times!

The radiocarbon dating method (carbon-14, or C-14) is based on the phenomenon that every organism - animal or plant - accumulates in its 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 through random 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 cessation of the existence of a living organism or the antiquity of organic remains.

French researcher P. Rivet 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, calculations become less accurate, especially given the imperfections of current technology. In this regard, it is impossible to date materials whose antiquity exceeds 35 thousand years. One might even say that, starting from 15 thousand years ago, establishing age presupposes a large share inaccuracies."

This dating method, developed by North American scientists J. R. Arnold, E. C. 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 tree species, such as redwoods or California pine. Today, these trees - or rather, the rings on the sections of their trunks - make it possible to clarify the dates of the radiocarbon method. When the latter disagreed with dendrochronological data, it was proven that starting from 700 A.D. e. The radiocarbon method can be off by up to 70 years. At the same time, it makes it possible to date objects whose age reaches up to 50 thousand years. This is one of the clear examples of how one of the heads of Hydra, discovered by Martyr de Angleria, appeared before Professor Rivet and North American scientists. Another one of her heads may seem to be information from Kluckhohn’s book “Indians of the United States of America” prepared by Kluckhohn for republication:

“There is another method of estimating age, based on the time required for the complete divergence of once related languages. Through careful and detailed research, it is possible to identify 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” person. Let us consider the state of this issue, although the available data are constantly becoming outdated and are each time being 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 American population, which had two main directions: polygenistic and monogenistic, were at the center of heated discussion among experts. According to the first, the human race could have arisen simultaneously or in different eras, both on one and on several continents at once. According to 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 humanity should be sought in Argentine pampa. But since modern science has already refuted these hypotheses, we will not occupy the reader with their detailed presentation and analysis.

However, I think it would be wrong to finally close this topic without first making the following remark: one of the most compelling 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. Jokers could reject this argument by presenting specimens of large anthropoids specific to Latin America - the notorious "gorillas". True, with the only caveat that they do not belong to the Quaternary period, but to our century and represent 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 was no sea there; they crossed it on stones placed in rows on the sand. For this reason, in the memory they were called "stones in a row", "sand under sea water" - names given [to the area where] they (the tribes) crossed the sea; The waters were divided as they passed through."

Kaqchikeli also preserved poetic tales in the famous “Annals”, telling about the fate of their main characters - Gagavitsa And Saktekauha:

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

And the entire passage through Beringia must have been very similar to the mythical wanderings of the Kaqchikels:

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

“We are telling you! Let's get 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 would see, we warriors, our seven tribes. Let’s decide to move now.”

So they were told, and immediately everyone was filled with joy... So they walked along the sands, stretched out in ridges, when the depth of the sea and the surface of the sea had already opened up... Then they rushed and crossed over the sand; those who walked at the end entered the sea when we came out on the other side.”

Something like this should have happened in reality. The vanguard of immigrants from Asia was already in Alaska, while the rearguard had not yet left Chukotka. The similarity of the names of their points of departure and arrival also suggests certain thoughts: 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 “American” man looked exactly like this, as described in the Popol Vuh:

“And their clothing was only the skins of animals; they did not have good fabrics to dress themselves with; animal skins were their only clothing. They were poor, they owned nothing, but they were people of wondrous nature.”

“They could no longer endure the cold or the hail; they trembled and their teeth chattered; they were completely numb and were barely alive; their arms and legs were shaking; and they could not hold 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, 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 clenched, and their gazes were downcast.”

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

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

This means that from a geological point of view, the possibility of such migrations is quite reasonable. Archeology and modern methods research allows 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, or 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 along 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 was “opened” three times, which coincided with the retreat of glaciers that drained the Bering Land 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, struggling to overcome gorges, making their way among icy walls, wandering in search of lands with less harsh climate, which would ensure their survival. Others, who fell behind for one reason or another, could find themselves locked in an ice trap. Those who did survive began to adapt to the harsh conditions - perhaps this is how they founded their settlements Eskimos And Aleuts. But most likely they were much later aliens.

The vanguard of the migration waves continued their difficult journey 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 immigrants. All this time, the languages ​​they spoke were divided into increasingly numerous branches, differing significantly from each other. This is well known to those who deal with glottochronology. Some authors write about the existence of linguistic similarities between the languages ​​of the population of 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 was 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. They carried this sign of the dawn in their hearts when they walked from the east, and with the same hope they left that place that was at a great distance from here. This is what they say now...

We soon scattered across the mountains; Then everyone left, each tribe on their own way (what follows is a long list of places that are difficult to determine in modern geography). Then these were the mountains and valleys where they walked, left and returned. We do not boast, but only remind and will never forget that in reality we have passed through numerous places - this is what our fathers and ancestors said in ancient times...

Then all the [other] peoples arrived: the people from Rabinal, the Cakchiquels, the people from Tsikinaja and the people who now bear the name Yaqui (meaning the Mexicans, the ancient Toltecs, the Nahua people, who, joining the southern Mayans, served to form the Indian peoples of Guatemala, as A. Resinos explains).

And there the speech of the peoples changed; their languages ​​became different. They could no longer clearly understand what they heard from each other after they arrived in Tulane. There they were 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 America and the spread of their languages. They dispersed over a very wide region, which allows us to try to reconstruct the routes of initial migrations.

In the very heart of Canada there are territories of five tribes (Iroquois tribes Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk) of North American Indians. These clan-families now being studied once occupied a vast region stretching from Idaho to Mexico and Guatemala. At first these tribes were classified as different groups, but later linguistic studies made it possible to prove that they all belonged to the same family. The evidence we have allows us to classify sometimes seemingly dubious linguistic groups, uniting them under the general name Asteco-Tanoan, or, as is more commonly accepted, Uto-Astek, Uto-Nahua.

In due course, we will turn to both the outstanding and humble representatives of these tribes, who, according to the apt definition of one specialist, were divided into “poor and rich relatives.” For example, the poor were treated Shoshone, and to the rich of course asteki. Here I would like to add that the kinship 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 “Natural and Moral History of India”:

"Very recently discovered great land, called New Mexico, where 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 K. Wissler’s idea about the loss of memory of an American Indian:

“He did not know everything that related to his own past. Therefore, it was up to the white man to restore the forgotten Indian history.”

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

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 similar mentality and customs. The term hereinafter is used not in a derogatory, but in a defining context.

And since Latinos are so similar, we can rightfully generalize when describing the characteristics of Latin American countries.

Latin America, lo and behold, is almost homogeneous. Most Latin American countries have approximately the same level of development. From our point of view, this can be explained very simply: the majority of the inhabitants of these countries have a common origin and common roots. These roots go back to the times 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 habits and traditions, typical only for Latin America, were born. Having spun off from the European heritage, Latin America is developing completely independently, without sharp ups, but also without rapid failures.

Besides, business card Latin America can be characterized by coups and coups. In terms of overthrowing the existing political system, no region of the globe can compete with 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, in an unparliamentary way. In most cases, the fate of former rulers was unenviable: they were executed publicly, imprisoned for many years, or they were simply torn apart by an angry crowd. Some former presidents they were luckier - they managed to leave the country, and lived in a foreign land until the end of their days.

Latin America is a champion in another form. The number of odious dictators here is astonishingly high. Presidents in Latin America are not those who can offer the best program, but a person who can get the crowd going as much as possible. All Latin Americans are like this; 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 inhabitants of Latin American countries

The mentality of “Latinos” is the talk of the town, the subject of sharp jokes and ridicule. Of course, most of the traits attributed to residents of Latin American countries are nothing more than stereotypes. Not every Cuban or Puerto Rican has a huge knife in his pocket, and not every one of them wears an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt over a T-shirt, jeans and pointy boots.

Latin America is inhabited 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 honored - ordinary human virtues.

And yet, the inhabitants of Latin America are noticeably different from representatives of other parts of the world. Of course, the differences do not lie in criminal inclinations or in a pathological, painful attraction to 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 people perceive Latin America as a paradise for drug lords and smugglers. In fact, these are idle fictions. Of course, there are several drug cortels with which the governments of Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina are waging a fierce and quite effective fight. 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 do successful bank robbers solemnly sip champagne in Acapulco Bay at the end... And this, to put it mildly, is a stereotype. Most Latin American countries have long signed mutual extradition treaties with the United States, and strictly implement 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 establishing a foothold there and eventually moving their families by hook or by crook. And one noteworthy interesting fact: idle at home, the average Mexican is ready to work up a sweat in the United States to realize the “great American dream"and become a prosperous American citizen. If this enterprising macho had shown at least 10% of the energy spent in the States at home, he could have achieved more. But the USA was and remains a kind of branch earthly paradise, 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 significantly behind the countries of English-speaking North America and Europe in industry and development.

The average Latino's salary is something like 200-odd dollars a month. However, since life here is very inexpensive, this money is, in principle, enough for a modest existence. Naturally, the exceptions are large cities - Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas. Live in big cities much more expensive, but the incomes of city residents are correspondingly higher.

Latin America has a very low middle class percentage. There are much more poor and very poor people there. Poverty is especially widespread among the indigenous population - the few surviving Indians. Most of them do not have the opportunity to receive an education, and are forced to eke out a living through odd jobs and day labor until old age.

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

Expenses

Latin Americans willingly spend money, if they have it, of course, on clothing and improving their living conditions. A car in Latin America is more likely not a matter of prestige, but a means of transportation and transportation of goods.

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

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

Recreation and entertainment

Latin Americans are very musical. Not a single event is complete without the sound of guitars and melodic songs. Residents of South America are always not averse to having fun, getting together with a friendly group, and eating delicious food.

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

Taverns and coffee shops are an integral feature of any, even the smallest, Latin American city. These are mainly regional establishments with their own signature cuisine and a constant circle of visitors. However, a new person in such an establishment will be very welcome and will be given all possible honors.

The poor spend free time mostly at home. And most people have no free time at all - often, in order to live, you need to work 12-14 hours every day.

Very rich Latin Americans travel the world and do not disdain social events and brilliant receptions. Among the Latin American elite, it is not customary to spare money for luxury yachts, mansions and limousines. As well as a staff of servants, the more of whom there are in the house, the heavier the owner’s wallet.

Latin America is a region with the richest nature. Amazon jungle and prairies, mountains, sea and the most beautiful corners The untouched virgin nature attracts many tourists from all over the world. Residents of Latin American countries do not disdain their own natural resources either.

Politics can easily be called a characteristic pastime for residents of all Latin American countries without exception. During elections in these countries, completely unrealistic passions run high, and the situation is literally tense to the limit. Everyone, young and old, participates in campaigns to promote candidates, and everyone is overwhelmed with emotions. We can say that politics is second only to carnivals favorite hobby Latin Americans.

AND separate part holidays for Latin Americans - TV series. Everyone watches Argentine and Brazilian soap operas here. And the most tragic and popular of them are capable of paralyzing life in a small town while being shown on television. In institutions, shops, hairdressers, cafes and restaurants where a TV is installed, be sure to watch the series. Sometimes the owners of the establishment are in no hurry to tear themselves away from the screen even to serve visitors.

Family life

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

The average Latino is fanatically attached to his own children. The offspring are pampered and nurtured in every possible way, they receive all the best, within the capabilities of their parents. Send the child to the best school of the possible - not a priority, but a law. People with little income want their son to become a famous lawyer or banker, politician or judge. However, in practice, few poor families realize 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 throughout their lives. Declaration of love is the most common SMS message template in all Latin American countries.

Latin America is a distinctive and quite interesting region, inhabited by normal, good-natured and hospitable people. Many traits attributed to Latinos 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:
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Is Latin America called Latin America?” After all, in fact, this is part of the South American continent, and the term “Latin” creates associations with Europe and Ancient Rome. We will try to answer all these questions in this article by turning 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 land. IN mid-19th century centuries, the newly formed young states became financially dependent on the United States. Some island countries became colonies of the United States.

From 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 virtually 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 20th century.

Until the 20th century, the countries of Latin America were called differently: “Indo-America”, “Spanish America”, “Ibo-America”. It would be a big mistake to think that Latin America is geographically and territorially equal to South America. It includes:

• Mexico (country in North America).
• West Indies (islands).
• Mainland 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 countries. Thus, the name “Latin” cannot be explained geographically. Its origins are related to the colonization of this region by Europeans.

The term “Latin America” itself was established in the 30s. XX century. It was invented by the French Emperor Napoleon III. This is how he decided to name 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 this 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 speakers of Romance languages, originating from Latin. Therefore, the majority 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 developed by the Anglo-Saxons and planted English language.

The second reason for the name “Latin America” follows from the first: the implantation of a language foreign to the indigenous peoples took place simultaneously with their conversion to another religion - Catholicism. It is no coincidence that the Spanish conquistadors, when they first landed on the shores of future Spain, celebrated mass first. Catholic services are conducted in Latin, which is perhaps why Catholics in Russia used to be called “Latins.”

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

Who are Latinos?

The most interesting thing is that Latinos are not all residents of Latin America, 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. Latin Americans are usually immigrants. In a number of countries 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 southern countries of the Americas. In Brazil, this is what 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 naming the group of countries in which Romance languages ​​are spoken.

white latino appearance, latinos
Total: 569 million

Spanish, Portuguese

Mainly Catholicism, to a lesser extent Protestantism

Latin Americans(Spanish Latinoamericanos) is a generalized name for the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking peoples inhabiting the territory of modern Latin America and also widely represented in the USA, Spain, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Great Britain and other countries due to economic and political emigration. Due to the fact that French is also a Romance language, Latin Americans also include the French-speaking peoples of the Caribbean (Haitians, Guianians, Martinicans, Guadeloupians, also Dominicans and Grenadians by origin), although they are French Canadians living in more northern latitudes, and also mostly assimilated into the English-speaking environment Louisiana Cajuns are not generally classified as Latinos.

• 1. History
• 2 Ethnogenesis
  • 2.1 Racial diversity
• 3 Number
• 4 See also
• 5 Notes

Story

All Latin Americans are united primarily by 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 - Spanish and Portuguese, and to a lesser extent also French. The defining period was the period 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 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-Romanesque peoples, and their area of ​​residence is called neo-Romanesque (New Romania). They consider or speak well Romance languages, which are derived from Latin (hence the name). The only exception is a certain part of US Latin Americans, natives of this country, who, while maintaining Latin American culture and identity, switched to English or became completely Americanized. Another distinctive feature is the adherence of the majority of Latin Americans to Catholicism, although in Lately the number of atheists, followers of Protestant churches, other religions and various sects has increased. Latin Americans are also distinguished by their concentration in regions with hot equatorial, tropical and subtropical climates.

Racial diversity

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

Therefore, today the racial and genetic composition varies significantly across countries. Thus, conventionally designated white Latinos make up the majority of the population (over 80%) in Argentina and Uruguay, but only about half the population of Brazil (53.7%) and less than 10% of the population of Mexico. In Mexico and Chile, 2/3 of the population is mestizos: in Chile with a greater admixture of European blood, in Mexico with Indian blood, although the proportions vary greatly among cities and provinces within each country. For example, the average Mexican has 58% of European genes (mostly Spanish), 39% Indian and about 3% African. Moreover, unlike the United States, racial categories are flexible and transparent; the same person can classify himself into several categories and move from one to another throughout his life, depending on his social status, education, social circle, etc. Thus, a significant part of the conventionally white population of Argentina has a significant admixture of Indian (about 1/3) and even African blood. The same applies to conventionally white Brazilians. Although overt institutional racism and segregation have never existed in Latin American countries, more European (lighter) traits are perceived as more desirable compared to Indian and African ones.

On the other hand, mulattoes and blacks make up about 80% of the population of the Dominican Republic, and about 40% of the population of Brazil. Bolivia and Peru, Guatemala and Southern Mexico are still absolutely dominated by autochthonous Indians, a significant part of whom, however, have already converted to Catholicism and switched to the Spanish language.

Number

The total number of Latin Americans is about 600 million people. The largest Latin American peoples: Brazilians - about 190 million people (2008 estimate) and Mexicans - about 150 million people. (2008, evaluation). They are followed by Colombians (45 million) and Argentines (40 million). Particularly notable is the large emigrant group of Latin Americans in the United States, constituting over 15% of the country's population or 45 million people (2007).

see also

• White Hispanics
• Afro-Latinos
• Aymara
• Taino
• Mexican Americans
• Spanish pidgins
• Spanglish
• Brazilian diaspora
• Hispanics in the USA

Notes

1. CIA- The World Factbook -- Field Listing - Ethnic groups

white latinos, white latinos appearance, latinos

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