Spanish is Also Spoken in These Countries - A Fact You Didn't Know

Spanish is the second largest language in the world. Spanish is the official language of many countries. In addition to those familiar with Spanish, there are several countries that are not familiar with Spanish but also speak Spanish. Some of them are in Africa, some in the Middle East, and some in Asia, but all because of historical reasons left a large number of Spanish successors, let's learn about it!

Equatorial Guinea

This small African country was originally a colony of Portugal. But thanks to the treaties of SAN Ildefonso and Pardo, which set the colonial boundary between Spain and Portugal, the area was ceded to Spain in exchange for Uruguay's Colonia del Sacramento. In 1926, the Spanish royal family ordered the amalgamation of parts of the island and the mainland to form guinea, with Spanish as the official language of the region. For many years equatorial Guineans lived under the yoke of Spanish rule. It wasn't until 1968 that equatorial guinea gained its independence, weakened by the Spanish civil war and United Nations pressure on Spain. Today, Spanish remains the country's official language.

Andorra

Although the official language is Catalan, a third of the population of this small country in south-eastern Europe speaks Spanish as their mother tongue. That's because most of the immigrants who arrived in the area in the 20th century were Hispanic. Castilian culture is so important that Andorra has been part of the Ibero-American organization of states since 2004. In addition, many Andorans learn Spanish as a second language because tourism from Spain is one of the country's main sources of income.

Aruba

This Caribbean country is part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and although its official languages are Dutch and Papiamento, it still has a large Hispanic heritage from the Spanish colonial period. Instituto Cervantes estimates that there are about 14,000 speakers of the language, with an overall population of 110,000 residents speaking Spanish as their mother tongue. Aruba's business links with its nearest neighbor, Venezuela, also explain why Spanish is widely spoken in the region.

Belize

Belize is located in Central America and its main official language is English. Today, however, more than 165,000 of the country's 355,000 residents speak Spanish. This makes Spanish the second official language of Belize. This is because although the Spanish colonists came first, the Scots and the English who came later were the first to exercise power in this neglected region. In 1798, the Spanish fleet seeking to reconquer Belize was repelled by the British. In any case, the cultural influence of Spanish rule still exists today.

Morocco

Although Spanish is not spoken by the majority of the population, it is not surprising to hear Spanish spoken in Morocco, especially in the Spanish Moroccan region, where the system continued until 1958. The protectorate is concentrated in Morocco's far north and south, but the Spanish presence has an earlier precedent. In 1491, they established a Jewish colony that was expelled from Spain. Morocco's northern and southern borders were later conquered by Spain until the Moroccans liberated the occupied part in 1958. Even so, Spanish is the mother tongue of an estimated 7,000 Moroccans.

Algeria

Similar to Morocco, Spanish was introduced to Algeria because of the deportation of Jews and Muslims living in Spain in 1492. Therefore the RACES from these two civilizations also took root in this region. It also set a precedent for exiles from the Spanish civil war between 1936 and 1939. Today, it is home to one of the largest concentrations of Spanish speakers and a place where Spanish is taught. Currently, more than 200,000 Algerians speak Spanish, including native speakers and citizens who learn it as a second language.

Israel

This is another country in the Middle East where large Numbers of people speak Spanish. The development of Spanish-speaking culture in Israel has a common origin with that in Morocco and Algeria. After the establishment of Christianity as the only official religion in Spain, many Spanish Jews who had been expelled also came to the region. Although Hebrew and Arabic have been the official languages since the creation of Israel in 1948, the spread of Spanish has surged due to the influence of immigrants from Latin America, particularly Argentina.

The Philippines

Thanks to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the country of many islands once made Spanish their main official language. The Castilian language gained important status through the promotion of the official education system. Then, as the ideas of the Filipino revolutionary movement spread through Spanish, the language exploded in popularity. Although there are more than 170 languages in the Philippines, it was not until 1973 that the national language institute was established to begin consolidating Filipino or Tagalog. Spanish is not only the main language of the Philippines, like English, but is also an important part of the citizenship of Filipinos (as of independence, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and Tagalog).