It's always confused me. Why are there these tiny little nations in North America that are called "Latin America"?. They are all Spanish, and linguistically speaking they all speak Spanish. Why do these specific nations exist, and why are they not part of Mexico? I don't know much about the history of New Spain & Spain's colonization, but all I do know is that Mexico got independence from Spain. Were these Latin American states part of Mexico and broke free or were they a separate colonial region? I'm honestly interested as to why Latin America is what it is, and not part of Mexico or Colombia or some unified nation.