"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[link]

Groups within the Italian peninsula.

  Ligures

  Veneti

  Etruscans

  Piceni

  Umbrians

  Latins

  Osci

  Messapii

  Greeks

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[link]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Modern uses[link]

Latin Europeans[link]

The term "Latin" is sometimes used in reference to European people whose cultures are particularly Roman-derived, generally including the use of Romance languages.^[1] 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[link]

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.^[2] 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^{[citation needed]} 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[link]

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[link]

Spanish[link]

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^[3] 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.^[4]

French[link]

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

Portuguese[link]

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[link]

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

See also[link]

• Latin Rights
• Italo-Celtic

External links[link]

• Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans

References[link]