Fun Cultural Trivia

Filed in archive Latin Culture on February 16, 2008

Latin America is a wonderfully varied region. What are your favorite bits of trivia? Here are some of mine.

* There are 56 language families and 73 isolated languages in Latin America-Spanish is but one. (Kaufman 1994)

* There are 40 million indigenous people in Latin America who make up 10% of the population. (AILLA)

* 43% of the 249 independent language groupings in the world are in South America. (Nichols 1992)

* There are Chinatowns in Mexico City, Havana, Santo Domingo, Buenos Aires, Lima, Panama City, and Caracas.

* Smallest Latin American Country: el salvador. Largest: Brazil (also the one with the highest population density).

* In relation to its size, Ecuador (home of the Galapagos Islands) has the greatest biodiversity in the world.

* Costa Rica has the lowest unemployment rate in Latin America. (U.N.'s OIT report)

* Argentina has the most Nobel Prize winners in Latin America (5 total to their credit).

* Chile is the Latin American country with the greatest penetration of Internet, meaning it has the most homes with Internet access.