Plaza de Toros Bullfight and Folkloric Show Cancun, Mexico.

Bullfighting (also known as tauromachy, from ταυρομαχία – tavromachia, "bull-fight"; or as corrida de toros in Spanish) is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries (Mexico,Colombia,Venezuela,Peru and Ecuador [1]), in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment. It is often called a blood sport by its detractors but followers of the spectacle regard it as a fine art and not a sport as there are no elements of competition in the proceedings. In Portugal it is illegal to kill a bull in the arena, so it is removed and slaughtered in the pens as fighting bulls can only be used once. A nonlethal variant stemming from Portuguese influence is also practised on the Tanzanian island of Pemba.[2] The tradition, as it is practised today, involves professional toreros (toureiros in Portuguese; sometimes wrongly called toreadors in English, which is a word made up by George Bizet for his opera Carmen[citation needed]), who execute various formal moves which can be interpreted and innovated according to the bullfighter's style or school, toreros seek to elicit inspiration and art from their work and an emotional connection with the crowd transmitted through the bull . Such maneuvers are performed at close range, which places the bullfighter at risk of being gored or trampled. The bullfight usually concludes with the killing of the bull by a single sword thrust which is called estocada. In Portugal the finale consists of a tradition called the pega, where men (forcados) try to grab and hold the bull by its horns when it runs at them. Supporters of bullfighting argue that it is a culturally important tradition and a fully developed art form on par with painting, dancing and music, while animal rights advocates hold that it is a blood sport resulting in the suffering of bulls and horses. There are many historic fighting venues in the Iberian Peninsula, France and Latin America. The largest venue of its kind is the Plaza de toros México in central Mexico City, which seats 48,000 people,[3] and the oldest is the La Maestranza in Sevilla, Spain, which was first used for bullfighting in 1765.[4]