page_title: Latin America
section_title: Environment
hierarchical_section_title: Latin America / Economy / Environment
caption_attribution_description: Macaws (Glaucous, Hyacinthine, Sever, - Scarlet Macaw, Green-winged Macaw, Illger's, and Golden-naped.) From Dr Anton Reichenow (1847 - 1941) work 'Vogelbilder aus fernen Zonen' Illustrated by Gustav Mützel (1839-1893).
context_page_description: Latin America is a group of countries and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere where Romance languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French are predominantly spoken. However, it is often used as a synonym for Ibero-America or Hispanic America in categorizing the New World, thus excluding Latin-language speaking territories such as Quebec. The term is recent in origin and comes from the fact that the predominant languages of the countries originated with the Latin language.
  The term "Latin America" was first used in an 1856 conference with the title "Initiative of the Americas. Idea for a Federal Congress of the Republics", by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao. The term was used also by Napoleon III's French government in the 1860s as Amérique latine to justify France's military expedition into Mexico and consider French-speaking territories in the Americas, along with the larger group of countries where Spanish and Portuguese languages prevailed, including the Spanish-speaking portions of the United States.
caption: Glaucous macaw (behind hyacinth macaw) and other macaws. Macaws are long-tailed, often colorful New World parrots.[206]
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