ABSTRACT
Latin America is comprised of 20 politically independent nations, and the people who inhabit the region are as diverse as the geography that tends to separate them. During the nineteenth century, the newly independent nations of Latin America constructed territorial boundaries that roughly resembled the Spanish–Portuguese delineations. In terms of language, Portuguese is spoken by about 210 million residents of Brazil, while Spanish is dominant in the rest of Latin America. Latin America, it is important to note, is a remarkable melting pot—more so, perhaps, than the United States. The largest concentrations of Asians in Latin America are found in Peru and Brazil. Significant concentrations of Europeans are found in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, and the major metropolitan areas of most other Latin American countries. Yet, though racially mixed over time and place, social segregation continues to pose historic challenges to Latin American citizens and societies.
