Latin Americans in the context of "La Isla Bonita"

In South America, Indigenous peoples comprise the Pre-Columbian peoples and their descendants, as contrasted with people of European ancestry and those of African descent. In Spanish, Indigenous peoples are referred to as pueblos indígenas (lit. 'Indigenous peoples'), or pueblos nativos (lit. 'native peoples'). The term aborigen (lit. 'aborigine') is used in Argentina, and pueblos aborígenes (lit. 'aboriginal peoples') is commonly used in Colombia. The English term Amerindian (short for "Indians of the Americas") is often used in the Guianas. Latin Americans of mixed European and Indigenous descent are usually referred to as mestizos (Spanish) and mestiços (Portuguese), while those of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry are referred to as zambos.

It is believed that the first human populations of South America either arrived from Asia into North America via the Bering Land Bridge and migrated southwards or alternatively from Polynesia across the Pacific. The earliest generally accepted archaeological evidence for human habitation in South America dates to 14,000 years ago, and is located at the Monte Verde site in southern Chile. The descendants of these first inhabitants would become the Indigenous populations of South America.

The Good Neighbor policy (Spanish: Política de buena vecindad; Portuguese: Política da Boa Vizinhança) was the foreign policy of the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt towards Latin America. The policy's main principle was that of non-intervention and non-interference in the domestic affairs of Latin America. It also reinforced the idea that the United States would be a "good neighbor" and engage in reciprocal exchanges with Latin American countries. Overall, the Roosevelt administration expected that this new policy would create new economic opportunities in the form of reciprocal trade agreements and reassert the influence of the United States in Latin America; however, many Latin American governments were not convinced.

Although the policy was implemented by the Roosevelt administration, President Woodrow Wilson had previously used the term, but subsequently went on to justify U.S. involvement in the Mexican Revolution and occupation of Haiti. Senator Henry Clay had coined the term Good Neighbor in the previous century. President Herbert Hoover turned against interventionism and developed policies that Roosevelt perfected.

White Latin Americans (Spanish: Latinoamericanos blancos) are Latin Americans of total or predominantly European or West Asian ancestry.

Individuals with near full — or full — European ancestry originate from European settlers who arrived in the Americas during the colonial and post-colonial period. These people are now found throughout Latin America.

The Latin American diaspora refers to the dispersion of Latin Americans out of their homelands in Latin America and the communities subsequently established by them across the world.