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)