Countries and Territories With Spanish as an Official Language.
Spanish is one of the most widely used languages in the world, and it has even more native speakers than English does. Learn more by exploring the countries listed below:
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Puerto Rico
Spain
Uruguay
Venezuela
Which of these countries speak Castilian Spanish and what if any are their main differences.
6 Answers
Which Spanish speaking country do you most want to visit?
Dear Daniela and Ray,
Spanish is one of the 3 most spoken languages by native speakers, besides English and Mandarin Chinese. And by number of countries with official status, Spanish is ranked fourth after English, French, and Arabic.
As you have listed, there are 18 countries in the Americas, a country in Europe, a country in Central Africa, and a dependent territory where Spanish has official status. The term "country" here is understood as "a sovereign state" under international law.
About Puerto Rico, I hope it will become a U.S. state after the upcoming referendum in June, under Donald Trump's presidency. Currently it is the only jurisdiction in the world where both Spanish and English are used.
There are 20 Spanish-speaking sovereign states, but I would say that originally there were only 3, Spain, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Viceroyalty of Peru. Later, the Viceroyalty of Peru was divided into 3 smaller viceroyalties, New Granada, Peru, and Río de la Plata, so we have 5. The current countries we see are the fragments of the 5 political entities.
I consider Mexico the successor of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica are the fragments of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, dependent on New Spain. Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic are the fragments of the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, dependent on New Spain.
Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela are the fragments of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Except for Venezuela that had been a part of the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo before the creation of New Granada, all the other countries are also fragments of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Peru, of course, is the successor of the Viceroyalty of Peru, while Chile is the successor of the Captaincy General of Chile, dependent on this viceroyalty.
I consider Argentina the successor of the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata, while Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia are the fragments of this Viceroyalty. All of them are also the fragments of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Uruguay gained independence after a war between Brazil and the post-Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. Bolivia voted to become an independent country when it had 3 choices, independence, integration into Argentina, or integration into Peru.
Equatorial Guinea had been a Portuguese territory before it was transferred to Spain. Later, it would depended on the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. And nowadays it is the only country in the world where 3 Romance languages, Spanish, French, and Portuguese have official status. French has this status, because this Central African country is surrounded by French-speaking neighbors, and most of Central Africa speaks French.
In the Philippines, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, and the Marshall Islands, which were once under the jurisdiction of New Spain, the role of Spanish has been eliminated.
Puerto Rico is a small island in the Caribbean Sea lying beyond Cuba , and just past Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is NOT a country. It is a territory of the United States. The people are United States Citizens, carry US Passports when travelling, and may move freely anywhere in the US or its territories without a passport. They are just as much Americans as someone from New Jersey.
In English, Puerto Rico is referred to as a "Commonwealth" In Spanish it is called un "estado libre asociado."
The money is the US Dollar. They do pay local taxes, but NO Federal Income tax. They may vote in any election but the Presidential. They have a marvelous culture, and the language is Spanish with a HUGE variety of regional expressions most of which are derived from the language of the previous tribal inhabitants.
It's a delightful place and I love it very much and always look forward to spending some time there.
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This is a scene from one of their parades.
This is a picture of downtown San Juan
One of my favorite beaches.
The United States has 50 million Spanish speakers, making it the 2nd largest population of Spanish speakers. Only Mexico exceeds the United States in the number of Spanish speakers with a total of over 121 Million.
En los Estados Unidos hay 50 millónes de hispanohablantes, que significa que los EEUU es el segundo país en número de hispanohablantes. El número uno es México con su población de más de 121 millónes.
The chart when dealing with the number of hispanohablantes in the US is only counting the native speakers. when you factor in the number of Gringos that speak fairly fluent Spanish, it brings the total to a little over 50 million.
We are again indebted to Daniela for her extensive and interesting information
about Puerto Rico . I did not know this and have never been there although my
mother did visit it 50 years ago.So thank you F Y S , another great post for us.
Puerto Rico ? More to come on this topic.
