Spanish is the native language of about 332
million people in the world. In addition to Spain,
Spanish is the official language of several other
countries. These countries include the following:
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial
Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In addition, it
is widely spoken in other nations, but not as the official
language. Some of which are Canada, Morocco, the
Philippines, and the United States.
Spanish is an example of the Romance languages in
the Indo-European language family. Within Spain, the
Spanish language has two major dialects: Andalusian and
Castilian. Many other dialects exist in other
geographical areas, such as the different dialects in
North America and South America.
The Spanish language originated in the Iberian
Peninsula, located in the Southwest region of Europe.
Before or during the 6th century BC, the Iberians, the
regions first inhabitants, mingled with the Celts, nomadic
people from central Europe.
Abduction of Europe
Europe Simulator
Montage of languages. Prototype header for the lan...Both the Iberians and the
Celts combined to form a group called the Celtiberians.
The Celtiberians spoke a form of Celtic.
In 19 BC, the region was under Roman rule. The
region became to be known as Hispania. Its inhabitants
learned Latin from different Romans. When the classical
Latin mixed with the pre-Roman languages of the Iberians,
Celts, and Carthatginians, Vulgar Latin appeared. It
followed basic Latin but also borrowed words of other
languages.
Germanic tribes of Eastern Europe, Visigoths,
invaded Hispania in AD 400s. However, Latin remained the
official language of government and culture until about AD
719. This is when Moors, Arabic-speaking Islamic groups
from Northern Africa, completed the conquest of the region
of Hispania. Arabic and Mozarabic was widely spoken in
Islamic Spain after this conquest. However, Vulgar Latin
survived in...