I have a couple of questions about Latin America...

1) Where exactly is it? Is it mainly South America, and some of Central America, or are other countries included?

2) Why 'Latin'? Surely that implies more Italian than Spanish?

here's a couple of interesting articles:

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Latin America: The Name

David Crow writes; "The meaning of "Latin American" is a subject of debate even among specialists in the region. It should be noted that, of course, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the protectorate of Puerto Rico are incontestably Latin American. On the other hand, the consensus excludes the English-speaking Caribbean countries. Most contested is the status of the French-speaking Caribbean nations. The argument for including them as part of Latin America is the origin of the term itself, an early 19th coinage of the Bonaparte regime, which dreamed of expanding into the Americas and saw all Latinate language countries as its rightful sphere of influence". RH: It is well-known that the French invented the term "Latin America", so the French-speaking Caribbean territories should be incuded. However, it is wrong to call them nations. They are French departments, and therefore France may regard them as part of France. Could David expand his reference to Napoleon? Napoleon III sponsored the empire of Maximilian in Mexico, and this may have been a continuation of Napoleon's plans. I repeat my inquiry about a study of Napoleon and Latin America. The Spaniards resented th term Latin America, and recently have been pushing the term IberoAmerica. The English-speaking countries were slow to adopt the expression "Latin America". The OED says "Until the early 20th cent. Spanish American was the preferred term. 1890 B. Harrison,Reciprocity Treaties with Latin America "Our tariff laws offered an insurmountable barrier to a large exchange of products with the Latin American nations". In popular usage, "Spanish America" included Brazil.
http://wais.stanford.edu/LatinAmerica/latinamerica_latinamerica03102004.htm



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Latin America describes the American countries south of the United States, comprising all of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Nations of this region where the English Language predominates (eg Jamaica, Belize, Guyana) are often excluded from this term. Most usually it only refers to the nations where the Spanish and Portuguese languages predominate.

A Latino is a person of Latin American heritage, or of the Latin-American culture.

Etymological note: 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, as well as Haiti, are not 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. That Mexican citizens eventually expelled the French while retaining the term "Latino" is perhaps one of history's more charming ironies.

The alternative term Iberoamerica is sometimes used to refer to the nations that were formerly colonies of Spain and Portugal, as these two countries are located on the peninsula of Iberia.

The Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) takes this defintion a step further, by including Spain and Portugal (often termed the Mother Countries of Latin America) among its member states, in addition to their Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking former colonies in America.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Latin-America



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Now I know why the expresion 'clear as mud' came into being... It makes as much sense as looking for ham in a hamburger!