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rfmcdonaldBrowsing Wikipedia, I discovered this accurate description of the origins of the term "Latin America."
Much could be said about the ways in which identifying a particular region, or an ideology, constitutes a first step towards the identified subject's mastery. Compare, say, the use of the term "Menshevik" to describe the non-Leninist faction in the nascent Soviet Communist Party despite their majority, or prescriptive definitions of national identity, or, well, the uses of the term idolatry
Treating the term literally, one might expect the term to apply to cultures and regions in the Americas deriving from cultures speaking Romance languages (those descended from Latin). However, French-speaking areas of the Americas, such as Quebec and Acadia in Canada, are not generally considered part of Latin America. Yet this was the original intention of the term. "Latin America" was first proposed during the French occupation of Mexico (1862-1867), when Napoleon III supported Archduke Maximilian's pretensions to be emperor of Mexico. The French hoped that an inclusive notion of "Latin" America would support their cause. Mexican citizens eventually expelled the French while retaining the term "Latino"; this is one of history's more charming ironies.
Much could be said about the ways in which identifying a particular region, or an ideology, constitutes a first step towards the identified subject's mastery. Compare, say, the use of the term "Menshevik" to describe the non-Leninist faction in the nascent Soviet Communist Party despite their majority, or prescriptive definitions of national identity, or, well, the uses of the term idolatry
