Legacy
Seven of the former colonies of Portugal have Portuguese as their official language. Together with Portugal, they are now members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, which when combined total 10,742,000 km², or 7.2% of the Earth's landmass (148 939 063 km²). Equatorial Guinea, which adopted Portuguese as its third official language in 2007, is currently an associate observer of the CPLP, along with Mauritius and Senegal. Moreover, twelve candidate countries or regions have applied for membership to the CPLP and are awaiting approval.
Today, Portuguese is one of the world's major languages, ranked sixth overall with approximately 240 million speakers around the globe It is the third most spoken language in the Americas, mainly due to Brazil, although there are also significant communities of lusophones in nations such as Canada, the USA and Venezuela. In addition, there are numerous Portuguese-based creole languages, including the one utilized by the Kristang people in Malacca.
In cyberspace, Portuguese is estimated to be the seventh most widely used Internet language, and on Wikipedia it currently has the ninth largest number of articles published.
In light of its international importance, Portugal and Brazil are leading a movement to include Portuguese as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
| Region | States | Countries with Territories part of the Portuguese Empire |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 26 States | |
| North America | 3 States | |
| Central and South America | 4 States | |
| Asia and Oceania | 22 States |
The Portuguese empire spread over time throughout a vast number of Territories that are now part of 53 different Sovereign States.
Read more about this topic: Portuguese Empire
Famous quotes containing the word legacy:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)