Lusophone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language natively or by adoption. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking." The word itself is derived from the name of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which covered an area that is today Portugal. The notion of "Lusophone" reaches beyond the dictionary definition of "Portuguese speaker". The term specifically refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with Portuguese language, regardless of ethnic and geographical differences. The Lusophone culture is the legacy of the Portuguese colonial empire. Even after the empire's collapse, the corresponding countries continue to exhibit cultural and political affinity, expressed in the existence of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, created in 1996.

Lusophone countries include Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Macau and others in various parts of the world. The Community of Portuguese Language Countries is an international organization consisting of the eight independent countries where Portuguese is an official language. These countries are also referred to as the "Lusosphere".

Sometimes Galicia, in Spain, where the Galician language is spoken, is also included.