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edit   Latin America was a name coined by "Emperor of Mexico" Maximilian I in an effort to gain legitimacy, since his patron, Napoleon III, spoke French, a Latinate tongue like Spanish and Portuguese. Maximilian did not last, but the coinage of "Latin America" is one of the most successful of all time. Latin America is traditionally defined as the regions of America where Spanish, the language of Spain, and Portuguese, the language of Portugal, were spoken -- in other words, every part of the Western hemisphere, with the exception of Suriname and a few small islands that speak Dutch, that was not Anglo America. (English is a Germanic language.) Therefore, virtually all of the Western Hemisphere except the United States, Canada, and the non-Hispanophone countries of the Caribbean and South America have tended to come under the heading of Latin America. Other areas where languages derived from Latin, such as Papiamento and Creole, predominate are sometimes included and sometimes excluded from Latin America, depending on the speaker. See also: Latino, Hispanic and Ibero-America Show new selections below (purge) edit   Selected panorama Skyline of the City of Buenos Aires, capital and largest city in Argentina, and the most visited city in South America. This picture shows specifically the district of Puerto Madero. edit   Selected article A South American dreadnought race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile was kindled in 1907 when the Brazilian government announced their intention to purchase three dreadnoughts—powerful battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world's navies—from the British company Armstrong Whitworth. Two ships of the Minas Geraes class were laid down immediately with a third to follow. The Argentine and Chilean governments immediately canceled a naval-limiting pact between them, and both ordered two dreadnoughts (the Rivadavia and Almirante Latorre classes, respectively). Meanwhile, Brazil's third dreadnought was canceled in favor of an even larger ship, but the ship was laid down and ripped up several times after repeated major alterations to the design. When the Brazilian government finally settled on a design, they realized it would be outclassed by the Chilean dreadnoughts' larger armament, so they sold the partly-completed ship to the Ottoman Empire and attempted to acquire a more powerful vessel. By this time the First World War had broken out in Europe, and many shipbuilders suspended work on dreadnoughts for foreign countries, which halted the Brazilian plans. Argentina's two dreadnoughts were delivered, as the United States remained neutral in the opening years of the war, but Chile's two dreadnoughts were purchased by the United Kingdom. In the years between the First and Second World War, many naval expansion plans, some involving dreadnought purchases, were proposed. While most never came to fruition, in April 1920 the Chilean government reacquired one of the dreadnoughts taken over by the United Kingdom. No other dreadnoughts were purchased by a South American nation, and all were sold for scrap in the 1950s. edit   Did you know... ... that Frida Kahlo was bisexual, and had affairs with both men and women, including Josephine Baker? ... that the cinema of Argentina is one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world, has had six Academy Award nominations, and has won twice? ... that the cinema of Argentina is one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world, has had six Academy Award nominations, and has won twice? edit   Subportals for geopolitical entities Territories (in bold), dependencies, and subnational entities of a country not located primarily in Latin America are italicized. Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico Montserrat Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela edit   Selected picture Portrait of an Argentine gaucho, a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil. edit   Categories ▼ Latin America ► Caribbean ► Central America ► Mesoamerica ► South America ► Caribbean Spanish ► Central American Spanish ► CIA activities in the Americas ► Communications in Latin America ► Cooperatives in Latin America ► Crime in Latin America ► Latin American culture ► Latin American history ► Human rights in Latin America ► Latin American countries ► Latin American people ► Latin America-related lists ► Maps of the Americas ► Military history of Latin America ► Organizations based in Latin America ► Race in Latin America ► Spanish language in the Americas ► Stock exchanges in Latin America ► Latin American studies ► Works about Latin America ► Writers on Latin America ► Latin America templates ► Latin American law stubs edit   Associated Wikimedia Wikipedia's Portals All Portals Overview Glossaries Indexes Lists Outlines Categories Reference Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Featured portals About portals