The Evolution of the Concept “Latin America”

From the Late 19th Century to the Second World War

Abstract

The concept “América latina”, first used in the mid 19th century, referred to Spanish America alone. Brazil was for the most part excluded. From the late 19th century, US government officials began to describe the region south of the Rio Grande, including Brazil, as “Latin America”. Scholars in US universities studied “Hispanic America”, which did not always include Brazil, but increasingly “Latin America”, which did. After the Second World War, the US concept “Latin America”, to encompass both Spanish America and Brazil, was adopted by the rest of the world, but not universally in Spanish America, and least of all in Brazil.