Exploring Portuguese

Portuguese is a romance language that originated in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula about a thousand years ago. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the language took root worldwide as Portugal established colonies in the new world and Africa. The world’s sixth most widely spoken language, Portuguese has a growing presence worldwide as one of the world’s fast-spreading languages. It is now the most widely spoken language South America, is a major lingua franca in Africa, and is an official language of eight countries spanning each of the earth’s inhabited continents.

Concordia Language Villages received a generous donation of  $300,000 from the Luso-American Foundation  to be used toward the start-up costs of Mar e Floresta, the Portuguese Language Village—our fifteenth Language Village. The funding will also support curriculum development, staff training and community outreach for the new Village.

"Whenever Concordia Language Villages adds a new language, we carefully consider the global impact of that language," says Patricia Thornton, director of summer youth programs.  Portuguese is a growing language in the world economy and is being taught in more U.S. schools, particularly in the Northeast, California and Florida. We feel it is strategically a good opportunity for our villagers to pursue.”

Spoken by 186 million people in South America alone, Portuguese is a strategic language for global communication as well as economic and political development.

Portuguese is the official language for the following countries:

Angola : Angola is located in south-central Africa. It borders Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east. A former Portuguese colony founded in 1575, it declared its independence from Portugal on November 11, 1975.

Brazil : Officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, Brazil is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, the fifth largest in the world. Colonized by Portugal in 1500, Brazil has been a sovereign, independent nation since 1822.

Cape Verde : The Republic of Cape Verde is located on an archipelago in the Macaronesia ecoregion of the North Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Africa. The Portuguese discovered the uninhabited lands In the fifteenth century. The region won its independence in 1975 and has named Portuguese the language of activities and order.

East Timor : Located in Southeast Asia, East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16 th century. It won its independence from Portugal on November 28, 1975, and from Indonesia on May 20, 2002 and was recognized as the first independent state of the 21st century. East Timor is the only Portuguese-speaking independent nation in Asia.

Guinea Bissau : The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is located in West Africa, and is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It is a slightly larger than Maryland. A former Portuguese colony, it gained its independence on September 24, 1973.

Mozambique : The Republic of Mozambique is located in Southeastern Africa and is a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Commonwealth of Nations. Mozambique won its independence from Portugal on June 25, 1975.

Portugal : Officially the Portuguese Republic, it is located in Southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is a member of the European Union and is a founding member of the community of Portuguese Language countries. It was recognized as a nation on October 5, 1143.                                           

Sao Tome and Principe : The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe is an island nation on the Gulf of Guinea off the western equatorial coast of Africa. It is also the smallest African country in terms of population and the smallest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

Macau : The oldest European colony in East Asia, Chinese S.A.R of Macau was founded by the Chinese in the fifth century and became an official Portuguese colony in 1557. Portugal retained administrative authority until 1999 when that authority was transferred to China. Today Macau and Honk Kong share the classification of administrative units of the People’s Republic of China. Macau lists both Chinese and Portuguese as its official  

                                        languages.