Latin America

Due to shared linguistic, historical, cultural, and geographical characteristics, Latin America and the Caribbean are frequently perceived as a single region. The primary factor is linguistic: most nations speak languages derived from Latin, such as Spanish, Portuguese and French. Furthermore, the countries in the region underwent a shared colonisation process from the 15^th century onwards.

Economically, the region is very diverse: while countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina have large, developed economies, other nations remain primarily dependent on agriculture, tourism, and exports of raw material. Economic inequality and poverty remain key challenges.

Socially, the region is characterised by great ethnic and cultural diversity.  This is not limited to the official colonisers, indigenous inhabitants and enslaved Africans. Other European groups – especially Germans – as well as people from East Asia, Arab countries and Jewish people also migrated to the region and continue to shape the composition of the population, economy and culture to this day. It is no coincidence that Germany maintains strong political, economic, cultural, academic and scientific relations in the region, which creates favourable conditions for cooperation between the UA Ruhr and Latin American partners.

Politically, it has experienced a complex history characterized by different governance systems - from democracies to dictatorships and military regimes. While democracy is well established in some countries, authoritarian structures continue to persist in others.