Portal:Latin America

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LATIN AMERICA PORTAL

Latin America was traditionally defined as the regions of the Americas where Spanish, the language of Spain, and Portuguese, the language of Portugal, were spoken. In practice, however, virtually all of the Western Hemisphere except the United States, Canada, and the non-Hispanophone countries of the Caribbean have tended to come under the heading of Latin America. Other areas where languages derived from Latin (such as French, Papiamento or Kreyol) predominate are sometimes included and sometimes excluded from Latin America, depending on the speaker.

See also Latino, Hispanic and Ibero-America

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Countries of Latin America

Countries: Argentina Bolivia Brazil Colombia Chile Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Dependencies: Guadeloupe French Guiana Martinique Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon

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Featured article

The flag of Mexico is a vertical tricolor of green, white and red with the coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence. The current flag was adopted in 1968, but the overall design has been used since 1821. The current law of national symbols that governs the use of the national flag has been in place since 1984.

Throughout history, the flag has changed eight times, as the design of the coat of arms and the length-width ratios of the flag have been modified. However, the coat of arms has had the same features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle and a serpent, which is now Mexico City. The current national flag, the "Fourth National Flag", is also used as the Mexican naval ensign by ships registered in Mexico.

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Featured picture

Photo credit: Pismire

The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 90 cm (3 ft) tall and weighing 11 to 15 kg (24 to 33 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There is a world population of approximately four million King Penguins, divided into two subspecies (A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli). These populations are thought to be on the increase.

King penguins eat small fish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (350 feet), often over 200 metres (700 feet). King Penguins live on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, as well as Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and other temperate islands of the region.

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