Portuguese is a Romance language predominately spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and East Timor. With more than 200 million native speakers, Portuguese is one of the few languages spoken all over the world. In terms of speakers, Portuguese is the fifth or sixth mother tongue language in the world. The language was spread worldwide in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Portugal created the first and the longest lived modern-world colonial and commercial empire (1415-1975), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China and Japan. As a result, Portuguese is now the official language of several independent countries and is widely spoken or studied as a second language in many others. There are still more than 20 Portuguese Creole languages. It is an important minority language in Andorra, Luxembourg and Namibia. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, including Paris in France and Boston, New Bedford, and Newark in the United States.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language

Today's selected anniversaries:

1795 The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation, which established the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinckney%27s_Treaty)

1904 The first section of the New York Subway opens, running between City Hall and the Bronx. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Subway)

1958 General Ayub Khan deposed Iskander Mirza in a bloodless coup d'état to become the second President of Pakistan, less than 3 weeks after Mirza had appointed him the enforcer of martial law. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayub_Khan)

1998 Gerhard Schröder became the Chancellor of Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%F6der)

Wikiquote of the day:

"I'm not against God. I'm against the misuse of God." ~ Marilyn Manson (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson)