L

ATIN AMERICA, a general term given to the countries in South and Central America; especially those whose inhabitants come of Latin linguistic stock. These include inhabitants of Mexico and certain islands of the West Indies. The term HISPANIC AMERICA has also come into use, embracing both the Portuguese-American inhabitants of Brazil and the Spanish-American inhabitants of other countries of Central and South America, as descendants of natives of the Iberian Peninsula, which under Roman domination was called, as a whole, Hispania. From this point of view the Hispanic Society of America, New York City, the periodicals Hispania and Hispanic American Historical Review, all three deal with matters both Portuguese- and Spanish-American. Special information will be found in this section under the following heads:

1. General Characteristics. 10. Cattle and Meat In2. Civilization of Latin dustry in Latin America.

America.

1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. Latin America distinguishes as a group 20 American republics, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela. In a still larger sense, but less accurately, as a general term it designates all of the central and southern portions of the New World, continental and insular as well, between the United States and Cape Horn. The total area of the 20 Latin American republics is about 8,150,000 to 8,200,000 square miles and the aggregate population of the same countries not less than 75,000,000. In each the language of the ruling class is Spanish, except in Brazil, where it is Portuguese, and in Haiti, where it is French or a patois called "creole." But in the central regions of the Western Hemisphere are about 205,000 or 206,000 square miles

with 3,190,000 to 3,200,000 inhabitants not included in any of the Latin American republics. They are held as dependencies by Great Britain, Holland, France or the United States; and to denominate these dependencies "Latin American" would be misleading.

A few facts may serve to supplement descriptions in the articles devoted to South America, Central America, Panama, Mexico and the West Indies; to each of the abovementioned republics, and to their political subdivisions.

Climate. Readings of the thermometer, as set down in notes of travel in Latin America, are: At Montevideo, Uruguay, 18 June, 54° F. at 11 A.M.; Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 July, 52° F. at 3 P.M. But the average of these two, namely, 53° F., was recorded on the west coast of South America as the lowest figure the mercury reached during the cold season at Lima which lies so much nearer than do Buenos Aires and Montevideo to the equator that its range of temperatures would be decidedly higher were it not for the influence of the cold Humboldt current. In the article CHILE reference at greater length is made to this current, which is a truly beneficent river of the ocean, constantly tempering and stabilizing the climate along the Pacific coast, flowing northward and then northwestward along that coast until headlands below the equatorial line throw it straight out to sea, to cool one side of the Galapagos Islands. That is one of the big facts about the climate among others in the same field.

At the confluence of the Paraguay and Alto Paraná rivers, 25 July, the thermometer showed 80° F. in the shade at 10 A.M., and about noon of the same day on the Paraguay River, 92° F. in the shade; at Asunción, Paraguay, 27 July, 84° F. in the shade; in the same city, 28 July, 78° F. at 9 A.M. The circumstance that Asunción is built on a hill counts for much. Comparing these observations, made in regions remote from the ocean, with observations at moderate altitudes above the Atlantic coast, a striking difference is noticed immediately. Thus, on the road from the Brazilian port of Santos to São Paulo, 14 August, the thermometer showed only 62° F. at 2 P.M., and in the city of São Paulo, 15 August, 61° F. as the average of the forenoon. At Rio de Janeiro (nearly at sea-level), 19 August, we find 72° F. in the afternoon, but only 67° F. at 7-8 A.M., 20 August; and, as the record for the

warmest day of that "winter season in Rio, 84° F. at 3-4 P.M. A short distance away, at Petropolis among the mountains, we note 63° F. at 7 A.M.; and at an elevation of 1,500 feet above Rio, in the tropical forest clothing the flanks of Corcovado, 29 August, 60° F. at 7 A.M. The fact thus illustrated is, simply, that regions sufficiently elevated to receive quite directly the cool and saturated ocean breezes have, even in these latitudes near the Tropic of Capricorn, a climate not given to extremes but favorable to man and vegetation alike. Again, near the Atlantic coast in lat. 1° 52' S., long. 38° 45′ W. we read 84° F. at 11 A.M.; in lat. 1° 13' N., long. 43° 51′ W., 86° F. at 12, noon, to 1 P.M.; in lat. 8° N., long. 53° 48' W, 85° F. at 2 P.M. The highest temperatures (in the shade) observed at the equator near the Pacific or Atlantic coasts, either at sea or where the ocean influence controls-85° or scarcely more than 86° F.- must be called quite moderate. (See comment on this subject in the article BRAZIL). In the corresponding regions north of the equator, near the Tropic of Cancer, we appreciate, or resent, most promptly the development of intolerable degrees of heat in regions that are enclosed and far from the

sea.

For example, we notice en route Oaxaca, Mexico, to Puebla, 14 March, 100° F. in the otherwise comfortable cars of a train running through a valley. It is necessary to remember that the Antillean regions (see ĊENTRAL AMERICA) look out, on one side at least, upon a comparatively restricted and nearly bisected American Mediterranean, not upon the ocean which plays the part we have mentioned all along the South American east coast; that the trade winds and the Gulf stream visit some portions of this interpolated continental area assiduously, but are as constantly deflected from other portions; and, partly for this reason, each subdivision of the vast, varied and most interesting Antillean region is the subject of a special study. (See the separate titles). Panama, occupying the narrow space between two oceanic elbows, has, as shown by observations in a sheltered building near the centre of the capital during the year, an equatorially limited range of temperatures from 76° F. to 88° F. But places shut in, even parts of the city of Panama itself, because they lie nearly at sealevel, may have 100° F. thrust upon them when the air-currents from ocean to ocean are interrupted temporarily.

Climatic Values of Altitude. Here again in Panama (and this is not less true of the Central American states) we find that even a moderate elevation mitigates the tropically oppressive conditions that are notorious in the lowlands. The importance of this consideration becomes apparent when we reflect that in much more than one-half of the entire landarea in the New World between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn nature assigns the control of temperatures to mere altitude or to the almost equally permanent influence of oceanic and aerial currents. But in the vast highlands of Latin America one learns by experience, if he has not learned through previous study, that the pure and rarefied air is bad for any weakness of the heart, and, even when there is no such weakness, produces what is commonly known as soroche (anoxæmia or mountain

sickness). It is worth while to note quite carefully the effects of the change from sea-level to these great altitudes, since the experience bears directly upon the question of the value of these uplands as regions where civilized men can live and work successfully. We observe, as first effects, that the skin becomes rather dry and the digestive processes are deranged with consequent pains and penalties. We must add the following symptoms: lassitude, loss of appetite, aversion to all forms of physical effort and drowsiness. The heart finds its steady job a bit harder than usual, and one gets out of breath too quickly, the air seeming to supply the lungs with innutritious food. After a long voyage a traveler in vigorous health suffers to this extent that is, slightly and for a few days at least on making a rapid and radical change. But in a week or so these symptoms disappear, the traveler gets acclimated and should find no trouble in making any physical effort that the situation calls for. Quite the contrary, in fact. We enjoyed mountain-climbing, long walks, long and hard riding, at altitudes of about 12,000 feet for several weeks and ranging from 10,000 to 16,000 feet during two months. The impression we receive in regard to the people living in Andean towns (for example) situated at altitudes of 7,000 to 14,000 feet is that they, as a rule, with some exceptions of irregular lives, are not injured by the climate.

Naturally healthful regions are the following: 1. The extensive region south of a line drawn from ocean to ocean through the cities of Paysandú and Valparaiso, including all of southern Argentina and Chile. 2. The uplands of southeastern Brazil. 3. The Andean habitable districts, including many valleys and cuencas, at altitudes ranging from 6,000 to 12,000 feet. 4. In Venezuela, Central America and Mexico, the districts, often fertile and extensive, at altitudes ranging from 2,500 or 3,000 to 7,000 feet, more or less. 5. Portions of the West Indies receiving the full benefit of the trade winds and ocean currents. Unfortunately it is necessary to note the prevalence of such diseases as typhoid fever in cities and towns whose favorable situation in temperate uplands does not safeguard them against the consequences of neglecting sanitary regulations. The tropical conditions in the low-lying parts of Central America and the northwest coast of South America (to and including the Gulf of Guayaquil) are unfavorable to health chiefly because enormous deposits of alluvion and excessive rainfall offer ideal conditions for the propagation of disease-bearing insects. Yellow fever and malarial fevers have therefore long been regarded as endemic. Similar conditions are found in the great Amazon Valley and on the tropical Brazilian coast between the Atlantic and the highlands of the interior. Successful efforts to combat and control these fevers have been made at focal points at Santos and Rio de Janeiro, at Panama, etc.- but much still remains to be done. Annual rainfall is most excessive in amount at Pernambuco and Iquitos in Brazil, at Greytown in Central America, and in the territory of Magellan, in southern Chile; it is least on the Peruvian littoral and in northern Chile (q.v.); it is as a rule moderate in the interior of Argentina. Dense fogs, called

garúas, supply the place of rain (but only to a slight extent) in the arid west coast regions just mentioned. Ever since the discovery of the New World the fact has been observed that the most vigorous races gained their development in the extreme south (region number 1) and in the temperate or relatively cold uplands (regions 3 and 4). It is not less interesting to observe that the most progressive and vigorous element of which we have any record in the early history of Brazil had its home in region number 2. For the exceptionally fine and temperate climate of Uruguay, see the article devoted to that country.

Fauna and Flora.- The highlands of the northern and central portions of Mexico are included in the Nearctic Region and their fauna is classed with that of all temperate and Arctic North America; but naturalists, grouping together all other parts of Latin America, in the wider sense of that term, distinguish the group (thus composed of Central America and Panama, the Mexican lowlands, the West Indies and South America) as the Neotropical Region. A valuable study entitled 'A Zoölogical Expedition to South America,' by W. E. Agar (in Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow Proceedings, Vol. XL, pp. 53-65, 1909), contains an expression of its author's opinion to the effect that the Neotropical is, of all those regions into which zoologists divided the world in accordance with their fauna, by far the most interesting. And this is true although only four families of the ungulates are represented: the pigs by the peccary, the cervidæ by a few species of deer, the camels by the llama, and finally there is the tapir; while the beasts which we may call characteristic of the country are such forms as the opossum, armadillo, anteater and sloth, all very lowly organized animals.

Our interest in this fauna is deepened when, at the suggestion of the same writer, we examine its history in past geological ages. "The past history of the mammals [in general, i.e., in all regions] shows us that, broadly speaking, most new forms arose in the North Polar regions (which we know were much warmer then than now) and spread thence southwards, exterminating to a large extent the more primitive earlier forms, and being sometimes ousted in their turn by new forms migrating southwards. Now, the primitive mammals which arose in the Northern Hemisphere seem to have reached South America, not across the Isthmus of Panama - for we known that the whole south portion of North America was submerged at this period- but probably by means of a land connection across the Atlantic with Africa. Whatever may have been the exact nature of this connection between South America and the other land-masses of the globe toward the end of the secondary geological epoch, it is certain that it was soon broken through and that South America was completely isolated during the whole of that period in which the most active evolution of mammalia was taking place in other parts of the world. The few low mammals which had reached South America before it became isolated evolved a very peculiar mammalian fauna, including such forms as the giant sloth or Megatherium, and Glyptodonts like gigantic armadillos, which,

however, never reached a very high grade of development, such as the mammals in the more desperate struggle for existence that was going on in other parts of the world were attaining." But finally a new path of approach to this completely isolated continent was constructed. During the end of the Miocene period the emergence of the Isthmus of Darien or Panama allowed the influx of more highly specialized forms from the Northern Hemisphere; and accordingly we find that fossiliferous beds dating from this period hold the remains of lions, the sabre-toothed tiger, dogs, bears, llama, deer, horses, tapirs and peccaries - animals that had been abundant in other parts of the globe for ages before, but had been unable to reach South America for the reason mentioned. These invaders "established themselves to a great extent at the expense of the old typical South American fauna. Remains of this original fauna, however, still survive in the opossum, armadillo, ant-eater and sloths, while the new forms, which are now far more abundant, both in numbers and species, include such forms as the deer, tapir, peccary, puma, jaguar, wildcats, dogs, etc." Ex-President Roosevelt invites our attention particularly to the fact that South America has the most extensive and most varied avifauna of all the continents. The rhea, or American ostrich, and the fur seal were studied with true interest by Dr. John Augustine Zahm in Uruguay. For the distinctive fauna and flora of an important part of the west coast, see CHILE. On the other hand the countries of Central America, forming. borderlands between the greater North and South, naturally show some results of the proximity of the former; nevertheless the influence of the latter has been in these respects so much the more potent that Central America is with good reason assigned to the Neotropical Region, as we have said above.

Near the heart of South America, the region called the Chaco is interpolated between the region of great forests and the sabanas and pampas the last being poor in vegetation while the first is in the same respect almost beyond belief richly endowed: since in that vast Amazonian valley the vegetable kingdom long ago fairly conquered the animal kingdom by expelling or subordinating the most important terrestrial mammals. (Consult Putnam's Magazine, Vol. VII, pp. 194–199, New York, Oct. 1909-April 1910). Of course it is still impossible to say what addition will be made to recognized lists of plants by these equatorial South American forests: they have never been more than partially explored; a civilizing reconquest of the fertile areas they usurp has never been attempted systematically. Taken all together they make the Great Forest of the world, sharing primacy in the list of this world's natural features with the Andes, the greatest of mountain masses, and with the Amazon's wholly incomparable torrents. We mention here only a few of the best-known natives of widely separated parts of Latin America: Cinchona, maté (Ilex paraguayensis), coca, various rubber-producing forest growths, victoria regia, maize and Agave americana (both presumably Mexican), tobacco (a product of the islands of the West Indies), and potato, claimed as a native by both Chile and Peru. A very early association ex

isted with the flora of the Eastern Hemisphere; a much more recent connection was established with the North American flora. (See above). Botanic geography will, we think, establish the facts that Latin America's most distinctive and distinguishing possession is its flora and that in this respect, even more -or much more. than in respect to its fauna, its claims will reward our attention; and although this is "by far the most interesting region" to the botanist as well as to the zoologist, we shall find both botanists and zoologists as one in asserting that the primitive geologic union of the South American continent with Africa and Australia explains many phenomena which could not be understood otherwise. Briefly, then, Latin American flora and fauna, both of surpassing interest, have indeed enjoyed independent development, yet in most ancient times they undoubtedly influenced and in turn were influenced by the flora and fauna of equatorial, tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Languages. Interesting variations are observed in the Spanish, spoken and written, which, as we have said, is the language of the ruling classes in 18 of the republics. Thus, in Mexico its characteristics are those of the tongue of southern Spain, but in Costa Rica those of northern regions in the mother country; in distant Chile the Castilian linguistic standards are flouted (the substitution of j in place of g being a single example of literary and popular revolt), while Cuba has held fast to the good old Spanish linguistic traditions through all the years of political insurrections and armed rebellion. Ecuador, Colombia and Peru deserve their fame as, in this respect, conservative centres of an inherited culture, where the best usages are appreciated by writers and speakers. The literature of that great country, Brazil, in which Portuguese is spoken, seems to all loyal Brazilians a priceless treasure, even as the manuscript of the 'Lusiad' seemed to Camões: they cherish their language in corresponding degree - somewhat too exclusively.

Governments of Latin America.- The Latin American countries are constitutionally either federal states, resembling most nearly in this respect the United States of America, or are unitary and centralized. The United States of Brazil, the United States of Mexico and the United States of Venezuela more obviously stand in the class first mentioned; Argentina's governmental plan embraces some of the features characterizing each class; the other countries (Republic of Bolivia, Republic of Colombia, etc.) in the main illustrate by their organization the growing unitarian or centralizing tendency: "Republic of Colombia" was formerly "United States of Colombia"; the variations are, however, so complex that we convey only an approximately correct idea of them when we say that the federal form of government in Latin America resembles that of the United States and the centralized that of France. The readers who wish to study this subject closely will find paragraphs on government and constitution in the articles devoted to these countries separately, with careful bibliographic reference to such special works as are available. Frequent constitutional changes are there recorded; but these must not

be regarded as indications of weak vacillation. It is only fair to say that they are to a somewhat greater extent than we commonly realize paralleled in our own experience, particularly in the matter of State governments (consult Holcombe, A. N., State Government in the United States,' pp. 119-120, New York 1916); that by the middle of the 19th century "the constitutions of most of the States of the United States had been revised or were in process of revision"; and that, "beginning in 1870, the constitutions of most of the leading States in the north outside of New England [and in the South after the overthrow of negro domination] were revised, the culmination of the movement being reached in New York in 1894. Some of the most interesting constitutional changes in South America (for example, in Paraguay) were designed simply - and wisely to prevent the recurrence of dictatorships and so to safeguard orderly development in the future. The dangers in that quarter have often been bravely met and will surely be overcome; their magnitude, and the importance of these phenomena in every study of this branch of our subject must be admitted.

But the people who possess the splendid central and southern regions in the New World have determined that whatever impedes true progress or conflicts with the stability of republican institutions shall have no place in the third great period of national development, which is at hand.

MARRION WILCOX.

2. CIVILIZATION OF LATIN AMERICA. Latin-American civilization from an Anglo-Saxon point of view may be found wanting in many respects, but the life and happiness of nations, the ideals and hopes of their peoples, their legislation and institutions, are not to be found ready made, but have to be worked out to meet peculiar wants, and in accordance with the racial, mental, moral, climatic and material resources and necessities of each.

Latin America must be dealt with as a whole if one wishes to cast a rapid glance at its civilization. Some of the 20 free and independent states which in their aggregate make up Latin America have developed more than others, and a few to a remarkable degree, but whether north or south of the Panama Canal, east or west, on the Atlantic or the Pacific, on the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico, the countries of Latin America sprang from the same race the brave, hardy, adventurous, romantic and warlike Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, who fought their way through unknown territories, whether in quest of “El Dorado" or in warfare against whole nations of Indians, as in the case of Mexico and Peru, where the native Indians had a wonderful civilization of their own.

On the other hand, the men who founded the United States, the Pilgrims who first set foot on this new land of promise, and those who followed in the wake of the first settlers, came to the country already prepared, through years of training, to govern themselves. They came to the friendly shores of the New World in quest of freedom. They wanted a home in a new land not yet contaminated with the spirit of the Old World. They brought with them

their creed, their habits of order and discipline, their experience in self-government, their love of freedom, their respect for the established principles of law. Hence from its inception Anglo-American civilization was built upon solid ground. Its subsequent development the mar

vel of the last half of the 19th and of this 20th century-is due to the solidity of their institutions, their steadfastness of purpose, their practical view of life, and a territorial expanse where all the soils, all the wealth, all the climatic conditions of the cold, the temperate and the tropical zone can be found.

The discussion of Latin-American civilization is of vast importance, since it deals with the history and development of 20 republics lying beyond the Mexican border, and covering an aggregate area of about 8,200,000 square miles, with a total population of nearly 80.000,000, of whom 54,000,000 speak the Spanish language, 24,000,000 Portuguese in Brazil, and 2000,000 French in Haiti. This general division brings us at once to deal, under the same classification, with peoples and civilizations springing from different sources, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Even among the Spanish-speaking countries there are conditions,

- depending on the province of origin of the first Spanish colonizers and settlers, who came mainly from Biscay, Andalusia, Castile, Aragon and Estremadura which tend to establish slight differences and peculiarities just as the various States of the United States show dissimilarity due to the sources of their population.

Geographically, Latin America begins beyond the Rio Grande, with Mexico, at the southern boundary of which extends what is called Central America, consisting of Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the historic five Central American states; Panama, the gateway to the Pacific on the west and to the Caribbean and the Atlantic on the east; South America proper, embracing Venezuela on the Caribbean, Colombia on the sea and partly on the Pacific; Ecuador, Peru and Chile, bordering on the Pacific; Bolivia and Paraguay, inland states in the heart of South America; Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil on the Atlantic; and, lastly, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, islands in the Caribbean Sea. Thus Latin America extends from the north temperate zone to Cape Horn, near the Antarctic Ocean, which means that all climatic conditions are found in that enormous area from the cool regions of northern Mexico to the tropical heat of the torrid zone and again to the cold lands of Patagonia. This is indeed a world of wealth where all the products of the globe can be successfully cultivated, where all races of mankind can live and thrive, because the Mexican and Central American cordilleras, and farther south the mighty Andean range, offer an unbroken chain of lofty peaks, wide valleys and extensive tablelands, affording all climates and zones, all kinds of soils and minerals, the only limitation to the development of these lands being human endurance. The water supply is plentiful in most parts of Mexico and the Central American republics, and there is nothing which can be compared to the hydrographic areas of northern and central South America, consisting of the Orinoco Basin with its 400 affluents, offering a total navigable

length of about 4,000 miles; the mighty Amazon, having three times the volume of the Mississippi and navigable for over 2,000 miles, and the network of great rivers emptying into it; the Paraná and the river Plata, with twice the volume of the Mississippi, and a thousand other streams too numerous to mention in detail, but which can be found on any fairly good map, showing a feasible water route from the mouth. of the Orinoco in Venezuela to the Amazon and the very heart of South America, and thence to the Paraná and finally down to the river Plata.

It is well known how Columbus discovered this New World which to-day bears the name of America (although the application of that name is quite restricted in this country to the United States)- what hardships that undaunted sailor and his followers had to endure, their sufferings, their hopes and their faith in some supernatural fate, a trait which is due in part to the influence of Moorish ancestors in Spain through the mingling of both races during the occupation wars which lasted over eight centuries. The discovery of America has a tinge of romance, such as inspires the soul of the adventurer and the buccaneer. It was a romance that began at the Rábida, grew in the presence and with the help of good Queen Isabella, developed into a mad desire for adventure at Palos, and ended with the planting of the Spanish standard on the shores of Guanahani, now called Watling's Island. From here Columbus went to what is to-day called Cuba, thence to Hispaniola - now divided into Haiti and Dominican Republic and in this latter island founded the first white settlement in the New World. It is not necessary to follow Columbus' voyages or his adventures step by step, but the discovery of America is an epic worthy of the mettle of the great explorer and his men.

And so the civilization of what is called Latin America began with the first Spanish settlement, the first Indian blood shed by the greed of the white conqueror and the first attempt to Christianize the inhabitants of the new-found land. The inevitable features of conquest war, treachery, destruction, fire, sword, deeds of valor but little known and endurance almost superhuman-marked along the trail of the discoverers the birth and first steps of the nations of the New World. And in the midst of this turmoil, bravely battling against unknown odds, the Spanish missionary fathers worked unceasingly, founding hamlets and towns, thus planting in the wilderness the seeds of many a large city to-day, building their temples of worship, going from place to place struggling with disease and hunger, teaching the Indians the Spanish language and with it their religious faith, and laying the foundation of what is known to-day as Latin America.

The second stage of Latin-American civilization began when the Crown of Spain finally took an active interest in its new possessions and men of a better class than the soldiery which landed with the discoverers and conquerors began to come to the New World, bringing their wives and daughters, and surrounding themselves with whatever comforts could be had in their new home. They were in many cases scions of noble families, who came either as viceroys, governors or in some