Latin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture and popular culture as well as religion and other customary practices. Definitions of Latin America vary. From a cultural perspective, Latin America generally includes those parts of the Americas where Spanish, French, or Portuguese prevail: Mexico, most of Central America, and South America. There is also an important Latin American cultural presence in the United States . There is also increasing attention to the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. See further discussion of definitions at Latin America. The richness of Latin American culture is the product of many influences, including: Pre-Columbian cultures, whose importance is today particularly notable in countries such as dax mar Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. European colonial culture, owing to the region's history of colonization by Spain, Portugal, and France. European influence is particularly marked in so-called high culture, such as literature, painting, and music. Moreover, this imperial history left an enduring mark of their influence in their languages, which are spoken throughout Central , South and North America . The culture of Africa brought by Africans who survived the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which has influenced for instance dance, music, cuisine, and religion, especially in countries such as Dominican Republic, Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. 19th- and 20th-century immigration also transformed especially countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil , Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Mexico . Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, Filipino and Japanese immigration and indentured laborers who arrived from the coolie trade influenced the culture of Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru in areas such as food, art, and cultural trade.
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