Latino Totally Explained

Latino (Spanish Latino, (Latin Latina, (English Latin, (Latina is the feminine form) is a term that's historically denoted relation to the ancient Latina tribe, who were an ancient Italic people who migrated to central Italy, (Latium Vetus - Old Latium), in the 2nd millennium B.C and spread the Latin language in Europe. Most usage, the word Latino, it's the literal translation of the English word for Latin and are interchangeable with each other. Most often it refers to inhabitants of Latin America, and their descendants in the United States or relating to the language that developed from Latin, such as Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, or to the peoples that speak them. It is the abbreviated use of 'Latin-American'; Francophone Canadians are not normally referred to as Latino, even though they speak a Romance language. The concept of "Latin America" was coined by the French in the 1800s as a means of legitimizing French influence over the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas; compare Latin Europe. Napoleon III, cited Amérique Latine and Indochine as goals for expansion during his reign. He proposed the Monarchy in Mexico headed by the Austrian Archduke Maximillian or Maximilian I of Mexico. The term emphasized a common culture and history of the Romance language-speaking countries, as opposed to the Germanic language-speaking countries of "Anglo-America".

Usage in the United States

Since its official adoption in 1997, the definition and usage of the term by the Federal Government is strictly as an ethnic, as opposed to racial, identifier, used together with the term Hispanic.
Authorities of American English maintain a distinction between the terms Hispanic and Latino. Latino isn't officially used as a racial label, as a 'Latino' or 'Latin American' can be of any race.

Related terms

Latino is sometimes used interchangeably with the following terms:

Latin

Latin refers to the Latin peoples (linguistic), for example Romance-speaking Latin Europeans, and those tracing most of their ancestry to them. Latin also refers to the Romance-speaking Latin-Americans.
In the United States, the term Latin is often synonymous with Latino or Latin American, (External Link) for example Latin jazz, Latin Cuisine, (External Link) Latin music. The Latin Grammy Awards is an event in which many Latins, from the Latin American countries, the United States and Latin European countries participate. It is now being held in New York City, where the Latin culture has especially flourished.

The Countries of
Latin Europe and Latin America

Latin American
A Latin American is a national of a Latin American country.
Hispanic
USA Official use of the term Hispanic has its origins in the 1970 United States Census. The Census Bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets: ť * Spanish speakers and persons belonging to a household where Spanish was spoken

* Persons with Spanish heritage by birth location ť * Persons who self-identify with Spanish ancestry or descent

Rejection of the term

Arawak/Taíno Native Americans/Indians (the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Puerto Rico) have asserted to Census Bureau officials that there's a practice or mechanisms in place to discourage Latinos of Native American descent in Puerto Rico and the U.S. from choosing the Native American category as a race. Many of federally recognized Native American Tribes in the United States are Latino/Hispanic. Some 'Latinos' state that the term Latino marginalizes who they really are and distorts their individual histories. White Latinos are, in a sense, disassociated from their roots and histories that can be traced to Europe while Native American Latinos are disappropriated from their Native American origins and histories. This blurring or concealment of their identity and history impoverishes them psychologically and culturally. This confusion is the result of using a racial criteria for classifying people in the census and media as well as (only for Hispanics/Latinos) a so called 'ethnic' or cultural criteria.

Related terms in other languages

Originally, Latino in the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, French and Spanish, literally means a person from the Lazio (ancient name: Latium) region in Italy and most notably, someone of ancient Italy's capital, Rome, as well as a member of any of the modern European Romance-speaking nations or peoples, and Romance-speaking nations or peoples of the Americas. Latin: someone who speaks Latin or a language which comes from it. The Spanish adjective (feminine: ) directly translates to English as "Latin". Spaniards view themselves as being Latins, the same as Europeans with Latin heritage, such as Italians, Romanians, French, and Portuguese and any Latin Americans with any of these European heritages. It is generally accepted that Napoleon III was the first one who came up with the idea of having a "Latin America" back in the 1880's. He wanted a union between French language-speaking countries in America and other countries in America that also spoke one of the Latin-based Romance languages. After the defeat of the French in Mexico, Indian Mexican leader Benito Juarez started referring to his countrymen as latinoamericanos. This term spread throughout what is now called Latin America. Over a century later, the American government shortened the term "latinoamericano" to "latino" ("Latin American") for its annual census. In the United States, the term "Latino" doesn't have the same meaning as it has in Europe. Latin European males and their descendants, whether living in Europe or abroad, have been referring to themselves as Latino for centuries. Originally the term was used in Europe by the Italians and later by the Spaniards prior to its newer meaning and usage in America. Many of the Latin American countries have interracial populations and a large percentage of the people in the Latin American countries self-identify themselves as being of Native American descent. However there's also a large percentage who self-identify as being Latin. This is because most of the entire population falls in groups of either European descendants and Indigenous Native American descendants. The extent of inter-racial populations vary in the different Latin American countries. (The same can be said of non-Latin Countries). Puerto Rico, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina will have different percentages of people of Latin ancestral descent as well as different portions of people of Native American descent. All however, are Latin American countries and are considered Latin. In Spanish,, just like any other gentilic, is by convention not capitalized.
   Most people in Latin America consider Latiness to be a culture or a lifestyle to some degree, in Brazil as well as in Spanish-speaking countries in the region. Many Latin Americans therefore describe themselves as Latin whether they're of white, black, Amerindian, Asian, or mixed descent (Mestizo, Mulatto, Zambo, etc).
   Latin Time Line: Roman Imperium spreads Latin which gives place to Romance languages (French, Italian, Rumanian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.) Spanish and Portuguese will be spread into "Iberoamerica" (Iberian America) or "Latinoamerica" with the Colonies Period and further Italian and Spanish migrations. The same with French and Canada. Latin term is a cuestion of language and its culture around.
   Latin(o) refers o Latin Americans, However Latin(o) doesn't at anytime apply exclusively to Latin Americans, as European Latins also use the term.(as opposed to Anglo Saxons which have a different geographical and linguistic origen). As used in the United States, 'Latin(o)' isn't a racial term. Latinos may be white (of European descent). Latinos may also be of the Native American race, (Amerindians and their descendants).Some Amerindians who now speak a Latin based language may self-identify as Latino (Culturally or because they speak a Latin based language), However the language spoken doesn't determine their race, (as language spoken doesn't determine race anywhere).

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