"Latins" refers to different groups of people and the meaning of the word changes for where and when it is used.

The original Latins were an Italian tribe inhabiting central and south-central Italy. Through conquest by their most populous city-state, Rome, the original Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy. In this way the word "Latin" ceased to mean a particular people or ethnicity. Subsequently, other regions, particularly the European ones such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, became lastingly culturally "Latinized" by the Roman Empire. Thus, from an early stage in its history, when used as a label for various groups of people, the term "Latin" has had purely legal and cultural meanings, not ethnic.

A millennium after the fall of the Western Roman Empire of which they were part, these European nations began spreading their Latin-derived languages and cultures around the world through their own empires, especially in the Americas. The meaning of the term "Latin" has thus been broadened from its ancient meaning to refer to a number of different peoples in Europe and in Latin America.

Antiquity

[[File:Italie -800.png|thumb|200px|left|Groups within the Italian peninsula. ]] The Latins were an ancient Italic people of the Latium region in central Italy, (''Latium Vetus'' - Old Latium), in the first millennium BC. Although they lived in independent city-states, the Latins had a common language (Latin), common religious beliefs, and a close sense of kinship, expressed in the myth that they were all descendants of Latinus. Latinus was worshiped on Mons Albanus (Monte Albano) during an annual festival that was attended by all Latins, including those from Rome, one of the Latin states. The Latin cities extended common rights of residence and trade to one another. Rome's territorial ambitions united the rest of the Latins against it in 341 BC, but the final victory was on Rome's side in 338 BC. Consequently, some of the Latin states were incorporated within the Roman state, and their inhabitants were given full Roman citizenship. Others became Roman allies and enjoyed certain privileges.

Gradually, with the spread of Roman power throughout Italy and Western Europe, ''Latin'' ceased to be an ethnic term and became a legal category.

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire, many Europeans clung to the identity of the "Latins", more specifically, in the sense of the "Romans" as members of the Empire.

In the Byzantine Empire or East Roman Empire, "Latins" was a synonym for the peoples of Western Europe and Northern Europe. Its particular reference was to all people of the Latin Rite, as practised within the churches of the Roman Catholic faith and in contradistinction to those who practised the rites of the Orthodox and Eastern Christian churches. In the High Middle Ages this included the former Roman Empire areas of western and central Europe, as well as the Christianized areas that adhered to the Latin Rite but had not been under Roman rule; including Ireland and Scotland, the Scandinavian and Germanic regions, the areas around the Baltic Sea and what are now modern Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and some other adjacent areas, and the former Roman areas of England and Wales, the Low Countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. This notion of "Latins" is still used by the Orthodox church communities.

The Holy Roman Empire was founded after the fall of Rome but brandished the name of the Roman people and honoured the king with the title "King of the Romans". Despite this, the Holy Roman Empire was largely a Germanic affair with German kings, although its territory was considerably greater than present day Germany. At times, the Holy Roman Empire did not even include the city of Rome.

The term was later borrowed, in various variants, by several languages of the Middle East and southern Asia, sometimes referring to any European.

Modern uses

Latin Europeans

The term "Latin" is sometimes used in reference to European people whose cultures are particularly Roman-derived, generally including the use of Romance languages. Strong Roman legal and cultural traditions characterize these nations. Latin Europe is a major subdivision of Europe, along with Germanic Europe, Slavic Europe and Celtic Europe.

Latin Americans

The region of the Americas which received its strongest European cultural influence from "Latin Europe" came to be called "Latin America" in the 19th century. The French Emperor Napoleon III is often credited with this naming. The term is usually used to refer to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Hispanic America and Brazil, but French-speaking countries and regions are also sometimes included. Most Latin Americans have varying degrees of descent from Romance speaking Europeans, particularly from the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italians. However, being a Latin is not determined by biological descent from these people as the concept is cultural, not ethnic. Latin Americans are regarded as Latin due to the culture of their countries. Generally, then, people from Latin American countries are considered "Latin" but can be of any ethnicity. Latin America shares with Latin Europe other traits besides language, such as a predominance of the Roman Catholic religion and the Roman legal system.

Latin America is distinguishable from those parts of the Americas sometimes referred to as "Anglo America". There is no consensus on categorizing the largely English speaking state of Canada as an "Anglo" country, due to the importance of its Francophone provinces Quebec and New Brunswick (though New Brunswick is no longer majority-Francophone). Quebec, a former colony of France that is a province of confederal Canada, can be regarded a "Latin American" country, as its culture is largely derived from France but it is located in the Americas.

Latin Asians

Latin Asia is a term used to designate the countries of Asia that are heavily influenced by nations whose languages are one of the modern-day Romance Languages. Unlike the rest of the Latin world, Spanish, Portuguese and French are not the prevalent languages in daily speech. Rather, in most cases, each of these is merely one of the official languages of a respective country or territory. Other countries have completely eliminated the official functions of the Romance languages, yet these languages remain in use by a strong minority of the population in each country.

Countries by Linguistic Affiliation

Spanish

The Philippines was the Spanish Empire's only major Asian colony. Hence, the Philippines is the only country in Asia that has a strong Spanish influence both in culture, religion, people and in language.

Today, the promotion of Spanish is mentioned in the constitution as to be of voluntary basis only. The Philippines also maintains an organization called the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language, which corresponds to the Royal Spanish Academy of Spain. It also maintains membership to the Latin Union because of its historical affiliation with Spain.

During the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, moves were done to re-introduce the language in the curriculum.

Today, the official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown. The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos (Asian, American, Hispanic, etc.) that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown. Although a study provided by Stanford University claimed that around 3.6% of the population have White or Caucasian ancestries from both Spanish and American colonization, it only genotyped 28 individuals from the Philippines, a sample size far too small to draw conclusions on but this thinly diluted genetic influence is expected given that the historical record shows that Caucasians generally, and Spaniards in particular, were only a small minority.

There are different estimates of how many have Spanish ancestry by either parents' side. Some calculations give figures of between 3,500,000 to 5,000,000 people. In other cases, some estimates go as high as 17,000,000 to 36,550,197 with Hispanic ancestry.

French

The French language remains important in the former French colony of Indochina. French is still spoken in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Portuguese

Unlike French, Portuguese remains an official language in most of the former colonial areas of the Portuguese Empire. Today, it is an official language of two states in Asia, specifically Timor Leste, Macau. It is also preserved in Goa, India and some part of Malaysia, especially in the state of Malacca. Portuguese also has a moderate influence in Japanese.

Hispanic and Latino Americans

In the United States, Hispanic and Latino Americans are sometimes referred to as "Latins."

See also

Latin Rights

Italo-Celtic

External links

Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans

References

Category:Ancient peoples of Italy Category:Indo-European peoples

az:Latınlar be:Лаціны bg:Латини ca:Llatins cs:Latinové de:Latiner et:Latiinid el:Λατίνοι es:Latinos eo:Latianoj fa:لاتین‌ها fr:Latins ko:라틴인 hr:Latini it:Latini he:לאטינים sw:Walatini la:Latini lt:Lotynai hu:Latinok mk:Латини nl:Latijnen ja:ラテン人 pl:Latynowie pt:Latinos ro:Latini ru:Латины sl:Latinci sr:Латини sh:Latini fi:Latinalaiset sv:Latinare tr:Latinler uk:Латини zh:拉丁民族

name	Katy Jurado
birth name	María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García
birth date	January 16, 1924
birth place	Mexico, D.F., Mexico
death date	July 05, 2002
death place	Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
years active	1943–2002
occupation	Actress
spouse	Víctor Velázquez (divorced) 2 childrenErnest Borgnine (1959–63) (divorced)
children	Victor Hugo Velázquez (d.1981) survived by her daughter }}

Katy Jurado (January 16, 1924 – July 5, 2002), born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García in Mexico, D.F., was a Mexican actress who had a successful film career both in Mexico and in Hollywood.

Jurado had already established herself as an actress in Mexico in the 1940s when she came to Hollywood becoming a regular in Western films of the 1950s and 1960s. She worked with many Hollywood legends, including Gary Cooper in ''High Noon'', Spencer Tracy in ''Broken Lance'', and Marlon Brando in ''One-Eyed Jacks'', and such respected directors as Fred Zinneman (''High Noon''), Sam Peckinpah (''The Wild Bunch'' and ''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'') and John Huston (''Under the Volcano'').

Jurado made seventy one films during her career. She became the first Latin American actress nominated for an Academy Award, as Best Supporting Actress for her work in 1954's ''Broken Lance'', and was the first to win a Golden Globe. Like many Latin actors, she was typecast to play ethnic roles in American films. By contrast, she had a greater variety of roles in Mexican films; sometimes she also sang and danced.

Jurado was one of the Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. The others are Dolores del Río, Lupe Vélez and now, Salma Hayek.

Early life (1924–1943)

Katy Jurado was born Maria Christina Jurado Garcia on January 16, 1924, in Mexico City. One of three children, Jurado had a privileged childhood. Both her maternal and paternal families were wealthy, six generations earlier, they had owned much of the land that became the state of Texas. Both families lost much of their wealth during the Mexican revolution. Family's lands were confiscated by the federal government for redistribution to the landless peasantry. However, Jurado still lived well. Her father was a cattle baron and orange farmer, and her mother was a well-known opera singer who gave up the stage to marry and raise a family. Jurado's cousin, Emilio Portes Gil, was president of Mexico beginning in 1928. Despite the loss of property, the matriarch of the family, her grandmother, continued to live by her aristocratic ideals.

Jurado moved with her family to Mexico City in 1927 and studied journalism. Discovered by Director Emilio Fernández when she was sixteen, Jurado went against family wishes and began pursuing a career in acting. Emilio Fernández wanted to cast her in one of his films, Jurado's grandmother objected to her wish to become a movie actress. To get around the ban, Katy slipped from the grasp of her family's control by marrying the Mexican actor and writer Víctor Velázquez against her parents' wishes.

In 1954 Jurado replaced Dolores del Río in the film ''Broken Lance'' for which she received an Academy Award nomination, playing Spencer Tracy's Comanche wife and the mother of Robert Wagner's character. Only two other Mexican actresses have been nominated since then: Salma Hayek as Best Actress in 2002 for ''Frida'' and Adriana Barraza as Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for ''Babel''.

The same year she starred in ''Arrowhead'' with Charlton Heston and Jack Palance, playing a Comanche woman and Heston's love interest. In a 1955 interview with Louella Parsons, Jurado commented on the mostly Indian roles she was given: " I don't mind dramatic roles. I love to act, any character at all. But just once I would like to be my Mexican self in an American motion picture". Eventually she participated in a series of westerns like ''Man from Del Rio'', with Anthony Quinn and ''Dragoon Wells Massacre'' with Barry Sullivan.

Early in her career in Hollywood, Jurado had an affair with John Wayne; she later claimed that he wanted to marry her. Marlon Brando was smitten with Katy Jurado after seeing her in ''High Noon''. He was involved at the time with Movita Castaneda and was having a parallel relationship with Rita Moreno. Brando told Joseph L. Mankiewicz that he was attracted to "her enigmatic eyes, black as hell, pointing at you like fiery arrows". They struck up a close friendship when Brando filmed ''Viva Zapata!'' in Mexico. Jurado recalled years later in an interview that " Marlon called me one night for a date, and I accepted. I knew all about Movita. I knew he had a thing for Rita Moreno. Hell, it was just a date. I didn't plan to marry him ".

"Marlon asked me to marry him many times, but for me my children were first", she said. "Our friendship pact was sealed with an Indian ritual for the rest of our lives." However, her true love was the western novelist Louis L'Amour. Jurado said: "I have love letters that wrote me until the last day of his life. For our work, we could never match, but was the man of my life and i, the woman of his life. I should have married that man". She also maintained a close friendship with stars like Anthony Quinn, Burt Lancaster, Sam Peckinpah, Frank Sinatra, Dolores del Río, John Wayne and many others.

On the set of ''The Badlanders'' ( a western version of ''The Asphalt Jungle''), Jurado met her costar Ernest Borgnine, who became her second husband on December 31, 1959. The couple founded the movie production company ''SANVIO CORP''.

Jurado debuted in European films in 1954 with the film ''The Racers'' with Kirk Douglas and Cesar Romero, and filmed in France, Italy and Spain. The film was directed by Henry Hathaway. In 1955, Katy filmed in Italy the film ''Trapeze'', directed by Carol Reed, with Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida. With her husband's support, she starred in Dino de Laurentis Italian productions like ''Barabbas'' with Borgnine, Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance and the italian actors Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman. Her next film in Italy was ''I braganti italiani'', directed by Mario Camerini. Vittorio de Sica directed the film ''Il Judizio Finale'' with Katy, Ernest Borgnine, Vittorio Gassman, Silvana Mangano and Melina Mercouri. In 1967 she filmed ''A Man Alone'', a coproduction between Germany, Spain and United Kingdom.

In 1956 Jurado debuted on Broadway, playing ''Filomena Marturano'' with Raf Vallone, who would later filmed in Italy as ''Marriage Italian Style'' with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

Jurado returned to Hollywood in 1965, with the film ''Smoky'' directed by George Sherman with Davy Crockett. In 1966, she played the mother of George Maharis in ''A Covenant with Death''. As her career in the U.S. began to wind down, she was reduced to appearing in the movie ''Stay Away, Joe'' (1968), playing the half-Apache stepmother of Elvis Presley. In 1976, filming the movie ''Captain Pantoja and the Special Service'' (''Pantaleon y las Visitadoras'') directed by Mario Vargas Llosa, author of the novel.

Jurado again appeared on television and in films during the 1970s. In the following years she worked on television both in The United States and in Mexico. She did guest appearances on ''Playhouse Drama'' and ''The Rifleman''. She also co-starred in the short-lived television series ''a.k.a. Pablo'' in 1984, a situation comedy series for ABC, with Paul Rodriguez.

In 1973 Jurados starred in Broadway again in the Tennessee Williams stage play ''The Red Devil Battery Sign'', with Anthony Quinn and Claire Bloom (who replaced Faye Dunaway). In the 1970's she starred a serie of Mexican critical films like ''Los albañiles'' (1975), ''The Children of Sanchez'' (1978, with Anthony Quinn and Dolores del Río) and ''La Seducción'' (1980), directed by Arturo Ripstein. Tragedy stuck when her son died in an automobile accident in 1981 at the age of 35.

In 1984, she acted in the Mexican-American production ''Under the Volcano'', directed by John Huston. In 1985, Jurado was named film promotion commissioner for the Mexican state of Morelos. In that position, she issued filming permits, found locations for movies, and arranged accommodations for film crews. The position provided her with the opportunity to arrange and develop national and international motion pictures in her beloved Mexico. In the 1990's Katy reappeared in the Mexican Telenovelas. In 1998 she returned to the cinema. Her last American film appearance was in Stephen Frears's Western ''The Hi-Lo Country'', capping a half-century-long American movie career. In 1998, she completed a timely Spanish-language film for director Arturo Ripstein called El Evangelio de las Maravillas about a millennium sect. She won the best supporting Actress silver Ariel for this role. Katy had a cameo in the film ''The Hi-Lo Country'' by the filmmaker Stephen Frears, who called for his first Western as his "lucky charm"

In 2002 she appeared in her last movie ''Un secreto de Esperanza''. In 1992 Jurado was honored with the Golden Boot Award for her notable contribution to the western movies.

Towards the end of her life, Jurado suffered from heart and lung ailments. She died of kidney failure and pulmonary disease on July 5, 2002, at the age of 78 at her home in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. She was buried in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the Panteón de la Páz cemetery. She was survived by her daughter.

Katy Jurado has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the 7065 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion pictures.

Filmography

Notes

Bibliography

García Riera, Emilio. ''El cine de Katy Jurado''. Universidad de Guadalajara (CIEC), Patronato de la Muestra de Cine Mexicano en Guadalajara, A. C. e Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE), 1999. ISBN 968-895-854-9.

Porter, Darwin. ''Brando Unzipped: A revisionist and very private look at America's greatest actor''. Blood Moon Productions Ltd, 2006, ISBN 0974811823

Rodríguez, Clara.

Ruiz, Vicki and Sánchez Korrrol, Virginia. ''Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia ''. Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0253346819

Revista Somos: Katy Jurado:Estrella de Hollywood orgullosamente mexicana, (1999) Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V.

External links

Category:1924 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Golden Ariel Award winners Category:Ariel Award winners Category:Mexican actors Category:Mexican film actors Category:Mexican television actors Category:Mexican telenovela actors Category:Mexican stage actors Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American women Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors Category:People from Guadalajara, Jalisco

de:Katy Jurado es:Katy Jurado fr:Katy Jurado it:Katy Jurado ja:ケティ・フラド pl:Katy Jurado pt:Katy Jurado ru:Хурадо, Кэти sv:Katy Jurado tl:Katy Jurado tr:Katy Jurado

Max Amini (born in Tucson, Arizona) is an American comedian of Iranian descent. He graduated from UCLA Acting Program in 2004. He speaks fluent Persian and conversational Arabic.

Stand-up Comedy

Primarily a stand-up comedian, Max regularly performs at Comedy Store and Laugh Factor in Los Angeles when not performing shows around the world. He started a stand-up comedy show, named "Exotic Imports", featuring second-generation Americans coming from diverse cultural backgrounds. He was recently chosen as one of the finalists for NBC's Diversity Showcase, and finished taping his first special on Showtime on December 12, 2009. In 2012 he was chosen for the CBS Diversity Comedy Showcase, a known career launching point for many of the shows alum. Max currently tours throughout the world doing Comedy shows, recently performing in Canada, the UK, Dubai, Germany,Australia and throughout the United States.

Acting

He’s an actor with numerous film and TV credits including NBC’s ''Heroes'', Comedy Central's ''Mind of Mencia'', and his leading role in the upcoming movie ''How Beer Pong Saved my Life'', released in 2010.

References

External links

Official site

Category:Iranian stand-up comedians Category:Living people Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American people of Iranian descent Category:Iranian comedians Category:American television actors Category:American film actors

name	Dimitri from Paris
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Dimitris Yerasimos
alias	Dimitri From Tokyo
birth date	October 01, 1963
origin	Istanbul, Turkey
genre	LoungeElectronicaDowntempoHouse
occupation	composer, remixer, producer, DJ
years active	1993–present
label	Yellow ProductionsITH Records
website	http://www.dimitrifromparis.com
notable instruments	}}

Dimitri from Paris (born Dimitris Yerasimos in October 1963) is a French music producer and DJ of Greek origins. His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contemporary house music, as well as original soundtracks from 50s and 60s cult movies such as ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', ''La Dolce Vita'' and ''The Party'', which were sampled in his album ''Sacrebleu''. Dimitri fused these sounds with electro and block party hip hop he discovered in the 80s.

Biography

Contrary to his musical pseudonym, Dimitri was born not in Paris but in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Dimitri grew up in France where he discovered DJing at home, using whatever he could find to "cut and paste" samples from disco hits heard on the radio, blending them together to make tapes. This early experimentation helped him launch his DJ career.

Early career

He started out by DJ'ing at the French station Radio 7, before moving on to Skyrock and finally to Radio NRJ, Europe's largest FM radio network, in 1986. There, he introduced the first ever house music show to be broadcast in France, while simultaneously producing runway soundtracks for fashion houses such as Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès and Yves Saint-Laurent. He also released two solo EPs from 1993 to 1994, and contributed to the Yellow Productions compilation ''La Yellow 357''.

Recording career

In 1996 Dimitri gained worldwide recognition with the release of his first full album, ''Sacrebleu'', released on Yellow Productions. A blend of diverse influences including jazz, original film soundtracks, samba, and organic house, ''Sacrebleu'' sold 300,000 copies worldwide and was named Album of the Year by UK's Mixmag magazine.

In 2000, Dimitri followed ''Sacrebleu'' up with ''A Night at the Playboy Mansion'' (Virgin) and ''Disco Forever'' (BBE), followed by ''My Salsoul'' in 2001, ''After the Playboy Mansion'' in 2002. In 2003, ''Cruising Attitude'' was released, to be closely followed by his first outing on UK's premier dance music label Defected: Dimitri from Paris In the House.

He has followed a somewhat glamorous musical path by recording soundtracks and advertising campaigns for fashion houses Chanel, Jean-Paul Gautier and Yves Saint Laurent and remixing hundreds of artists as diverse as Björk, The Cardigans, James Brown, New Order and Quincy Jones. He also did the music for the anime ''Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-'' and mixed the soundtrack for the French luxury dessin animé Jet Groove produced by Method Films.

Recent developments

There was a rumour that he worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on her third album, as she said she worked with "a French guy called Dimitri", but this was later proved false.

2005 saw Dimitri go back to his Funk and Disco roots, with Japanese hip hop producer and über collector DJ Muro for Super Disco Friends a double CD mixdown. In 2006 he offered his House of Love outing to Valentine's Day's lovers. Later on Dimitri produced Los Amigos Invisibles "Super Pop Venezuela" album which grabbed a nomination for a grammy award.

2007 saw the release of the Cocktail Disco project with longtime partner BBE, a handful of Disco classics remixes and other surprises down the line.

2009 saw the release of the ''Night Dubbin''', a post-disco R&B; compilation remix album.

Discography

Studio albums

''Sacrebleu'', 1996

''Cruising Attitude'', 2003

Compilation albums

''Monsieur Dimitri's De-Luxe House of Funk'', 1997

''A Night at the Playboy Mansion'', 2000

''Disco Forever'', 2000

''My Salsoul'', 2001

''After the Playboy Mansion'', 2002

''In the House'', 2004

''Neko Mimi Mode'', 2004

''The Kings of Disco'', 2004 compiled by Dimitri from Paris and Joey Negro

''TV Tokyo Animation Tsukuyomi–Moon Phase– Best Collection "Zenbu, Kikitakunacchatta…"'', 2005

''Super Disco Friends'', 2005 compiled by Dimitri from Paris and DJ Muro

''Southport Weekender'', 2005 compiled by Dimitri from Paris, Jazzie B, and Quentin Harris

''In the House of Love'', 2006

''Cocktail Disco'', 2007

''Return to the Playboy Mansion'', 2008

''Night Dubbin''', 2009 compiled by Dimitri from Paris & The Idjut Boys

''Get Down With The Philly Sound'', 2010

''Knights of the Playboy Mansion'', 2011

References

External links

[ Allmusic entry for Dimitri from Paris]

DJ Dimitri from Paris club-night of note at Queen

Resident Advisor entry for Dimitri From Paris

Category:French musicians Category:French house musicians Category:French people of Greek descent Category:French DJs Category:Greek DJs Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:People from Istanbul Category:Musicians from Paris

de:Dimitri From Paris es:Dimitri from Paris fr:Dimitri from Paris it:Dimitri From Paris pl:Dimitri from Paris ru:Димитри фром Пэрис fi:Dimitri from Paris sv:Dimitri From Paris uk:Дімітрі фром Періс

"Latins" refers to different groups of people and the meaning of the word changes for where and when it is used.

The original Latins were an Italian tribe inhabiting central and south-central Italy. Through conquest by their most populous city-state, Rome, the original Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy. In this way the word "Latin" ceased to mean a particular people or ethnicity. Subsequently, other regions, particularly the European ones such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, became lastingly culturally "Latinized" by the Roman Empire. Thus, from an early stage in its history, when used as a label for various groups of people, the term "Latin" has had purely legal and cultural meanings, not ethnic.

A millennium after the fall of the Western Roman Empire of which they were part, these European nations began spreading their Latin-derived languages and cultures around the world through their own empires, especially in the Americas. The meaning of the term "Latin" has thus been broadened from its ancient meaning to refer to a number of different peoples in Europe and in Latin America.

Antiquity

[[File:Italie -800.png|thumb|200px|left|Groups within the Italian peninsula. ]] The Latins were an ancient Italic people of the Latium region in central Italy, (''Latium Vetus'' - Old Latium), in the first millennium BC. Although they lived in independent city-states, the Latins had a common language (Latin), common religious beliefs, and a close sense of kinship, expressed in the myth that they were all descendants of Latinus. Latinus was worshiped on Mons Albanus (Monte Albano) during an annual festival that was attended by all Latins, including those from Rome, one of the Latin states. The Latin cities extended common rights of residence and trade to one another. Rome's territorial ambitions united the rest of the Latins against it in 341 BC, but the final victory was on Rome's side in 338 BC. Consequently, some of the Latin states were incorporated within the Roman state, and their inhabitants were given full Roman citizenship. Others became Roman allies and enjoyed certain privileges.

Gradually, with the spread of Roman power throughout Italy and Western Europe, ''Latin'' ceased to be an ethnic term and became a legal category.

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire, many Europeans clung to the identity of the "Latins", more specifically, in the sense of the "Romans" as members of the Empire.

In the Byzantine Empire or East Roman Empire, "Latins" was a synonym for the peoples of Western Europe and Northern Europe. Its particular reference was to all people of the Latin Rite, as practised within the churches of the Roman Catholic faith and in contradistinction to those who practised the rites of the Orthodox and Eastern Christian churches. In the High Middle Ages this included the former Roman Empire areas of western and central Europe, as well as the Christianized areas that adhered to the Latin Rite but had not been under Roman rule; including Ireland and Scotland, the Scandinavian and Germanic regions, the areas around the Baltic Sea and what are now modern Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and some other adjacent areas, and the former Roman areas of England and Wales, the Low Countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. This notion of "Latins" is still used by the Orthodox church communities.

The Holy Roman Empire was founded after the fall of Rome but brandished the name of the Roman people and honoured the king with the title "King of the Romans". Despite this, the Holy Roman Empire was largely a Germanic affair with German kings, although its territory was considerably greater than present day Germany. At times, the Holy Roman Empire did not even include the city of Rome.

The term was later borrowed, in various variants, by several languages of the Middle East and southern Asia, sometimes referring to any European.

Modern uses

Latin Europeans

The term "Latin" is sometimes used in reference to European people whose cultures are particularly Roman-derived, generally including the use of Romance languages. Strong Roman legal and cultural traditions characterize these nations. Latin Europe is a major subdivision of Europe, along with Germanic Europe, Slavic Europe and Celtic Europe.

Latin Americans

The region of the Americas which received its strongest European cultural influence from "Latin Europe" came to be called "Latin America" in the 19th century. The French Emperor Napoleon III is often credited with this naming. The term is usually used to refer to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Hispanic America and Brazil, but French-speaking countries and regions are also sometimes included. Most Latin Americans have varying degrees of descent from Romance speaking Europeans, particularly from the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italians. However, being a Latin is not determined by biological descent from these people as the concept is cultural, not ethnic. Latin Americans are regarded as Latin due to the culture of their countries. Generally, then, people from Latin American countries are considered "Latin" but can be of any ethnicity. Latin America shares with Latin Europe other traits besides language, such as a predominance of the Roman Catholic religion and the Roman legal system.

Latin America is distinguishable from those parts of the Americas sometimes referred to as "Anglo America". There is no consensus on categorizing the largely English speaking state of Canada as an "Anglo" country, due to the importance of its Francophone provinces Quebec and New Brunswick (though New Brunswick is no longer majority-Francophone). Quebec, a former colony of France that is a province of confederal Canada, can be regarded a "Latin American" country, as its culture is largely derived from France but it is located in the Americas.

Latin Asians

Latin Asia is a term used to designate the countries of Asia that are heavily influenced by nations whose languages are one of the modern-day Romance Languages. Unlike the rest of the Latin world, Spanish, Portuguese and French are not the prevalent languages in daily speech. Rather, in most cases, each of these is merely one of the official languages of a respective country or territory. Other countries have completely eliminated the official functions of the Romance languages, yet these languages remain in use by a strong minority of the population in each country.

Countries by Linguistic Affiliation

Spanish

The Philippines was the Spanish Empire's only major Asian colony. Hence, the Philippines is the only country in Asia that has a strong Spanish influence both in culture, religion, people and in language.

Today, the promotion of Spanish is mentioned in the constitution as to be of voluntary basis only. The Philippines also maintains an organization called the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language, which corresponds to the Royal Spanish Academy of Spain. It also maintains membership to the Latin Union because of its historical affiliation with Spain.

During the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, moves were done to re-introduce the language in the curriculum.

Today, the official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown. The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos (Asian, American, Hispanic, etc.) that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown. Although a study provided by Stanford University claimed that around 3.6% of the population have White or Caucasian ancestries from both Spanish and American colonization, it only genotyped 28 individuals from the Philippines, a sample size far too small to draw conclusions on but this thinly diluted genetic influence is expected given that the historical record shows that Caucasians generally, and Spaniards in particular, were only a small minority.

There are different estimates of how many have Spanish ancestry by either parents' side. Some calculations give figures of between 3,500,000 to 5,000,000 people. In other cases, some estimates go as high as 17,000,000 to 36,550,197 with Hispanic ancestry.

French

The French language remains important in the former French colony of Indochina. French is still spoken in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Portuguese

Unlike French, Portuguese remains an official language in most of the former colonial areas of the Portuguese Empire. Today, it is an official language of two states in Asia, specifically Timor Leste, Macau. It is also preserved in Goa, India and some part of Malaysia, especially in the state of Malacca. Portuguese also has a moderate influence in Japanese.

Hispanic and Latino Americans

In the United States, Hispanic and Latino Americans are sometimes referred to as "Latins."

See also

Latin Rights

Italo-Celtic

External links

Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans

References

Category:Ancient peoples of Italy Category:Indo-European peoples

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