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Latin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America, and includes both high culture (literature, high art) and popular culture (music, folk art and dance) as well as religion and other customary practices. Definitions of Latin America vary. From a cultural perspective,〔Sérgio Campos Gonçalves, “Cultura popular e suas representações: caminhos possíveis de reflexão”, Revista História em Reflexão - Programa de Pós-graduação em História – Faculdade de Ciências Humanas – UFGD (Dourados), v. 2, p. 1-19, 2008.〕 * Latin America generally includes those parts of the Americas where Spanish, French or Portuguese prevail: Mexico, most of Central America, and South America. There is also an important Latin American cultural presence in the United States (e.g. California and the Southwest, and cities such as New York and Miami). There is also increasing attention to the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. See further discussion of definitions at Latin America. The richness of Latin American culture is the product of many influences, including: * Pre-Columbian cultures, whose importance is today particularly notable in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. * European colonial culture, owing to the region's history of colonization by Spain, Portugal, and France. European influence is particularly marked in so-called high culture, such as literature, painting, and music. Moreover, this imperial history left an enduring mark of their influence in their languages, which are spoken throughout Central (including the Caribbean), South and North America (Mexico and many parts of the United States). * The culture of Africa brought by Africans who survived the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which has influenced for instance dance, music, cuisine, and religion, especially in countries such as Dominican Republic, Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. * 19th- and 20th-century immigration (e.g. from Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Eastern Europe) also transformed especially countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil (particular the southeast and southern regions), Cuba, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico (particularly the northern region). * Chinese, Indian, Filipino and Japanese immigration and indentured laborers who arrived from the coolie trade influenced the culture of Brazil, Cuba, Panama and Peru in areas such as food, art, cultural traditions, and music. == Ethnic groups == Latin America has a very diverse population with many ethnic groups and different ancestries. Only in three countries, do the Amerindians make up the majority of the population. This is the case of Peru, Guatemala and Bolivia. In the rest of the continent, most of the Native American descendants are of mixed race ancestry. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries there was a flow of Iberian emigrants who left for Latin America. It was never a large movement of people but over the long period of time it had a major impact on Latin American populations: the Portuguese left for Brazil and the Spaniards left for the rest of the vast region. Of the European immigrants, men greatly outnumbered women and many married natives. This resulted in a mixing of the Amerindians and Europeans and today their descendants are known as mestizos. Even Latin Americans who are considered "European" usually have some native ancestry. Today, mestizos make up the majority of Latin America's population. Starting in the late 16th century, a large number of African slaves were brought to Latin America, especially to Brazil and the Caribbean. Nowadays, Blacks make up the majority of the population in most Caribbean. Many of the African slaves in Latin America mixed with the Europeans and their descendants (known as Mulattoes) make up the majority of the population in some countries, such as the Dominican Republic, and large percentages in Brazil, Colombia, etc. Mixes between the Blacks and Amerindians also occurred, and their descendants are known as Zambos. Many Latin American countries also have a substantial tri-racial population, which ancestry is a mix of Amerindians, Europeans and Africans. Large numbers of European immigrants arrived in Latin America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of them settling in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and southern Brazil). Nowadays the Southern Cone has a majority of people of largely European descent and in all more than 80% of Latin America's European population, which is mostly descended from five groups of immigrants: Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Germans and, to a lesser extent, Irish, Poles, Greeks, Croats, Russians, Welsh, Ukrainians, etc. In this same period, immigrants came from the Middle East and Asia, including Indians, Lebanese, Syrians, and, more recently, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese, mainly to Brazil. These people only make up a small percentage of Latin America's population but they have communities in the major cities. This diversity has profoundly influenced religion, music and politics. This cultural heritage is (arguably improperly) called Latin or Latino in United States' English. Outside of the U.S., and in many languages (especially romance ones) "Latino" just means "Latin", referring to cultures and peoples that can trace their heritage back to the ancient Roman Empire. Latin American is the proper term. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Latin American culture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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