How "Latin America" Got Its Name: 19th-Century French Origins

The term "Latin America" (Amérique latine) was coined in the 1850s–60s by French intellectuals and politicians—not by Latin Americans themselves.

Key Figures

• Michel Chevalier (economist) – contrasted "Latin" vs. "Anglo-Saxon" Americas (1850s).
• Félix Belly – used "Amérique latine" in Revue des Deux Mondes (1861).
• Napoleon III – promoted it to justify French intervention in Mexico (1862–67), framing it as protecting "Latin" cousins against "Anglo-Saxon" (U.S.) expansion.

What It Highlighted

• Shared Romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French.
• Shared Catholic heritage (vs. Protestant North).
• Shared civil law tradition (vs. common law).
• Implicitly: French cultural leadership claim.

Adoption

• Latin American elites embraced it (1860s–1900s) as anti-imperialist identity vs. U.S. "Manifest Destiny."
• Replaced earlier terms: "Spanish America," "Indies," "New World."
• Excludes: English-speaking (Guyana, Belize, Jamaica), Dutch (Suriname), French (Guiana – technically, but often included).

A geopolitical label born in Paris, adopted in Buenos Aires and Mexico City.