Hispanic America

The region known as Hispanic America (in Spanish called "Hispanoamérica" or "América Hispana") and historically as Spanish America ("América Española") during the Spanish colonization, is the part of the Americas that includes the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of North and South America. (It does not include the Portuguese-speaking country of Brazil and the French-speaking countries and territories of Haiti, French Guiana and of the Caribbean, which along with Hispanic America, make up Latin America.) In all of these countries, Spanish is the official language, sometimes sharing official status with one or more indigenous languages (such as Guaraní, Quechua, Aymara, or Mayan) or English (in Puerto Rico), and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion.