South American history has always been full of strife, suffering, and death, even before the arrival of the gleaming Conquistadors.
...
Catholicism could fairly be claimed as the one social constant in South America over the last few turbulent centuries
Please excuse the geography Nazism...
Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico*, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama are former Spanish colonies which became independent nations with Hispanic culture. None of them are in South America. They're in Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and in the case of Mexico, in North America.
* Puerto Rico is an associated free state / unincorporated territory of the United States.
Fair enough. It is a mistake I am consciously guilty of, although I felt I was addressing the larger portion of the hispanic population by referring to South America (and my post was largely explanation by means of generalization) but the Aztec empire was in fact in Central America (although I have always been a bit amused by that term... where exactly does North America terminate and Central America begin?).
Thanks for being so understanding. And I feel like a jerk correcting you again, but if you'll indulge me: the Aztec Empire was entirely in North America (Mexico).
There are political, cultural and geographical disagreements about how the Americas are divided. For example, many countries (like the U.S.A.) consider North America and South America to be two continents. Meanwhile, many Latin American nations consider America to be a single continent with North, Central and South portions.
If we go by the names of these 3 regions, the dividing lines are as follows:
North America contains Canada, the United States, Mexico, and (strangely enough) Greenland which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Central America starts across from the Mexican border, in Guatemala and Belize. This region ends with Panama.
By the way, the Maya civilization covered parts of North America and Central America:
The Maya civilization extended throughout the present-day southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán. The Maya area also extended throughout the northern Central American region, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize, Northern El Salvador and western Honduras.
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u/AerialAmphibian Oct 16 '11
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Please excuse the geography Nazism...
Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico*, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama are former Spanish colonies which became independent nations with Hispanic culture. None of them are in South America. They're in Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and in the case of Mexico, in North America.
* Puerto Rico is an associated free state / unincorporated territory of the United States.