Skip to content

6 South and Central America

Amerindian woman and child in the Sacred Valle...
Amerindian woman and child in the Sacred Valley, Andes, Peru. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Indigenous people make up the majority of the population in Bolivia and Peru, and are a significant element in most other former Spanish colonies. Exceptions to this include Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. At least three of the native American languages (Quechua in Peru and Bolivia; Aymara also in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, and Guaraní in Paraguay) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages (or Aymara in Chile, by regional basis).