French historian Fernand Braudel in 1865 coined the expression "Latinamerica" for political purposes to thwart Iberian influence in the area.
Hispanoamerica: refers to countries with roots in Spain and speak Spanish only
Iberoamerica: refers to countries with roots in Spain and Portugal (Iberian peninsula) including Brasil
Latinamerica: refers to countries with Spanish, Portuguese and French roots. Does not include Canada or Quebeque.
South americans don't feel insulted when we refer to it as Iberoamérica. In fact in some countries such as Colombia their Spanish is so correct that it seems almost archaical to us Spaniards used to our modern slang.
Iberoamerica comprehends not only the language (let's be realistic, Spanish is spoken overwhelmingly followed by Portuguese) but the culture, the common roots, the traditions, the religion, the common names, etc... No country in South America speaks Italian, and French is a minority language that is spoken in Haiti, Les Martiniques etc...French influence remains in Canada. Hence the most appropiate term would be Iberoamérica which comprehends the two countries with the strongest historical, cultural, language, religious, kinship ties to South America: Spain and Portugal.
Iberoamérica truly depicts the Modern History of the Southern Hemisphere. Naturally, i'm not proud of many things Spaniards did there, OTH Americans cannot be too proud with what they did to the native americans and Britain, well the list could just go on. So no point in trashing each other. Lovers of History know who and for what purpose was Latinamerica coined, as a means of French propaganda.
The thread starts by asking the question why is Latinamerica called that way ? Now we know. And the correct term ought to be Iberoamerica or Hispanoamerica, whichever. People are free to choose to call it Latinamerica if they please, but to try to undermine the importance and significance of Spain and Portugal in the area is ludicrous and tantamount to being ignorant.
South american friends I have joke about calling Spain la Madre Patria, the mother homeland. So all in all South America for the worst or for the best has a very strong link to Spain and Portugal, and hence the term Iberoamerica is the appropiate one IMHO. All ambassadors to his Majesty refer to it as Iberoamérica, none as Latinamerica because there's subtle game being played by French nineteenth century propaganda trying to undermine the Iberian influence and at the same time empower the non-existant French influence in the Southern hemisphere.
Chileans thoughts on the above:
http://www.utem.cl/trilogia/Volumen_1/p_1_2.htm
You don't see northern America called "English* America" or similar now do you?
I dont care how you call north-america.
) But they dont use latin neither, maybe 500 years ago in some official or religious document ... 
Neverthless you say we should call it latin america. OTOH they speak spanish and portuguesse ----> iberia and Hispania.
Not really, neither Spain or Portugal own any of the countries any more, as I said, it's illogical to link it to a country simply on the basis of former ownership and language that not everyone there even speaks, and the equivalent of referring to the rest as "english" america. Not logical in the slightest 
Personally, it doesn't bother me to be reminded of catastrophic English defeats even though I'm British. I don't know why that is - it's inexplicable.
