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Latin America was "discovered" from the point of view of Europeans and settled earlier than Anglo societies that would later become the United States, Canada, Australia etc. This could be one factor that makes them more distinctive from their colonist source countries since they had longer to develop as "New world" nations.
But also a major factor people talk about is how in Latin America there was more combining and influencing from non-European cultures like African and native ones than in Anglo societies. This makes them seem farther from their "Old World" roots than Anglo cultures. Then again, the US also received lots of non-Anglo immigrants like Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking New Worlders themselves, plus of course African-American culture and Asian and other later immigrants.
Do you think societies like Mexico, Argentina or Brazil are less like Spain or Portugal than the US, Canada or Australia is like England? Or both are equally far removed from their origin cultures' roots perhaps and both types of New World societies are equally "new" societies.
Latin America was "discovered" from the point of view of Europeans and settled earlier than Anglo societies that would later become the United States, Canada, Australia etc. This could be one factor that makes them more distinctive from their colonist source countries since they had longer to develop as "New world" nations.
But also a major factor people talk about is how in Latin America there was more combining and influencing from non-European cultures like African and native ones than in Anglo societies. This makes them seem farther from their "Old World" roots than Anglo cultures. Then again, the US also received lots of non-Anglo immigrants like Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking New Worlders themselves, plus of course African-American culture and Asian and other later immigrants.
Do you think societies like Mexico, Argentina or Brazil are less like Spain or Portugal than the US, Canada or Australia is like England? Or both are equally far removed from their origin cultures' roots perhaps and both types of New World societies are equally "new" societies.
I don't know too much about Europe or the culture out there, but I think the Latin American countries have a greater resemblance to the United States than they do with the European countries.
You'll always see traces everywhere.. like the percentage of Catholics in Colombia or Brasil... but at the end of the day they're still pretty far removed.
I don't know much about them but I guess not being as familiar with them they seem more similar to Spain than the US is to the UK, but that's probably not the case.
Each country has a distinct situation. And one cannot confuse influence with the core culture.
In the case of Brazil, the culture is remarkedly portuguese. Most of people is Roman Catholic (despite the recent growth of the neopentecostal), the national language is Portuguese, the predominant architecture in most of the cities is mainly of portuguese origin, and the general way of thinking of the people in general is very similar to those found in Portugal.
Obviously there are influences of indigenous, african and other european (italians, germans), and in lesser extent also from japanese people, but it's more restricted to food and music. The people of black, indigenous and non-portuguese european ancestry is completely integrated to the society, except some isolated communities in the countryside.
In the case of countries such as Bolivia and Paraguay, however, the situation is very different. These countries are culturally hybrid, sharing both indigenous and spanish features in the core culture, with more ties to the spanish culture in the urban areas.
Western South Americas seems in between settler colonies like the US and Australia and those without real settler populations like in Asia and Africa (ex-colonies that is).
Latin America was "discovered" from the point of view of Europeans and settled earlier than Anglo societies that would later become the United States, Canada, Australia etc. This could be one factor that makes them more distinctive from their colonist source countries since they had longer to develop as "New world" nations.
But also a major factor people talk about is how in Latin America there was more combining and influencing from non-European cultures like African and native ones than in Anglo societies. This makes them seem farther from their "Old World" roots than Anglo cultures. Then again, the US also received lots of non-Anglo immigrants like Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking New Worlders themselves, plus of course African-American culture and Asian and other later immigrants.
Do you think societies like Mexico, Argentina or Brazil are less like Spain or Portugal than the US, Canada or Australia is like England? Or both are equally far removed from their origin cultures' roots perhaps and both types of New World societies are equally "new" societies.
Nah I feel that both English speaking nations and Spanish speaking nation developed the same. Each nation has it's own unique history and experience and context. Both English speaking cultures and Spanish cultures were equally influenced by Europeans, Native Americans, Africans, Asians, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Middle Easterners, and people from all over the world.
Both English speaking and Spanish speaking places developed in the same manners roughly speaking.
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It depends of the countries. Latin America is a very diverse group of countries. Some countries are still very European in their culture and population (argentina, Uruguay and in lesser extend chile). These are the most culturally (southern) European places in the whole new world.
Others have a great part of their culture that is native (Bolivia, Paraguay, and in lesser extend Peru and Mexico, other have a afro cultural influence (caribean area plus Northern Brazil: dominican republic, and lesser extend Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, etc...
But all countries have thei main cultural roots (language, religion and social systems) inhirated to the European colonial times. The main difference with north America is that this european culture is a latin/catholic one instead of anglo/protestant.
I'd say that Latin American countries are more European.
They are built upon a classic European pattern, their way of life and culture is also more European.
As to the influence of non-European culture on those countries, the mainstream culture there has a European origin.
I don't think that the culture existing in the US is similar to north European culture at all.
It does not have anything to do with the genetic origins of inhabitants, as many Americans imply.
We are talking culture wise right. Because i don't want to talk about race...then all the race baiters are going to flood the thread with all their pseudo history
Euro Latin Americans are more Euro than white Americans. ( Argentina)
Afro Latin Americans are more African than black Americans (Brazil)
Indigenous Latin Americans are more indigenous than Native Americans (Bolivia)
Last edited by Almeida93; 03-26-2014 at 06:59 PM..
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