Research on Ethnic Issues in Latin America

Author: Wu Deming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Latin America (hereinafter referred to as LA) is a geographic concept defined from an ethnic and cultural perspective. It generally refers to parts of countries and regions in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean (for the completeness of the research field, all countries and regions in the Caribbean are included in this paper). It covers a total area of 20.7 million square kilometers, accounting for approximately 13.8% of the world's total area, with a population of 520 million (2000), accounting for about 8% of the world's total population. Latin America is a multi-ethnic and multi-ethnic society, with diversity in language, culture, religious beliefs, customs, and other aspects. According to the statement on racial issues published by UNESCO in 1950, modern humans can be divided into three major races (or races): Mongoloid (i.e., yellow race), Caucasoid (i.e., white race, also known as Europoid), and Negro (i.e., black race, also known as equatorial race). Currently, these three major races all exist in Latin America.