The region of Latin America is made up of South America, Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. Within this region are nearly three dozen independent nations plus some colonies and other political units that have special ties with the United States. Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Central and South America became independent during the first half of the 19^th century. Haiti, the first Latin American country to win independence, gained its freedom from France in 1804. In the West Indies the Spanish-American War in 1898 freed Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spanish rule. From the end of World War II through the 1980s, several Netherlands colonies have become self-governing and all the British associated states have been granted independence.

Latin America, one of the world’s three major developing regions, is making rapid economic progress. Foreign investment in mining and manufacturing has greatly stimulated development. The region is a major world supplier of tropical agricultural commodities, such as coffee, sugar, and bananas. Wheat, soybeans, wool, and meat come from its cooler temperature regions. Rich deposits of important minerals are found throughout Latin America. The United States depends heavily on Mexico and Venezuela for much of its supply of petroleum.

The people of Latin American reflect a variety of ethnic heritages that is unmatched in any other region. Intermarriage among Indians, white and blacks has created unique blends of cultures in the region. Traditions inherited from Indians, black slaves, and white immigrants have contributed to a rich regional culture. Music, arts, and crafts, foods, religion, architecture, and language all reflect the contributions of American African, and European heritage. The diverse influences have created many ethnic groups in Latin American.

At the time of the Europeans’ arrival in the New World in 1492, from 60 to 75 millions people lived in Latin America. Most of them inhabited the highlands of the central Andes and the region between northern Central America and central Mexico. These were areas under the control of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec. Within 50 years after the arrival of the Europeans, more than half the Indians had perished. Within a century, no more than a fourth remained. The disappearance of the native population has often been attributed to cruel treatment by the Spaniards. However, the introduction of such European diseases as smallpox and measles, against which the Indians had no natural immunity, had an equal effect.

To provide a supply of labor in places uninhabited by Indians, the Portuguese and, to a lesser degree, the Spaniards imported African slaves. After 1650, settlers from the colonizing nations of northern Europe transported slaves into the territories they had seized form the Spaniards in West Indies. During the three centuries prior to 1850, as many as 14 million slaves may have been introduced into Latin America, compared with about 500,000 brought into the United States. In Latin America, most of the slaves were taken to northeastern Brazil and the islands of the Caribbean, where they worked on sugar plantations.

The slave trade ended during the early decades of the 19^th century. Thereafter, the need for labor was satisfied by the immigration of about 8 million Europeans into Southern Brazil and nearby Argentina and Uruguay. Europeans migrating to Latin America during the 100 years following 1850 exceeded by 15 times the number that arrived in the 300 years prior to that date. Beginning in the mid-1800s, the new arrivals became involved primarily in the production of coffee, grains, wool, and meat, all destined for the markets of northwestern Europe.

Today, Indian and mixed Indian and white populations tend to be concentrated in tropical highlands of South America, Central America, and Mexico. Large numbers of blacks and mulattos live in northeastern Brazil, the West Indies, and the tropical lowlands around the Caribbean Sea. The temperate lands of southern South America serve as the homeland of European peoples who are primarily of Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian origin.

Throughout Latin America, language, religion, architectural forms, education, and many other aspects of life reflect European culture. However, Indian and African traditions are strongly represented in regions where Indians and blacks prevailed. Arts and crafts, behavior patterns, forms of music, types of food, methods of farming, and other ways of life represent elements of Indian and black heritage that add to the diversity of Latin America society.