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,
Equatorial Guinea,
East Timor,
Macau and others in various parts of the world, as well as
India's
Goa state. 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.
See also
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Anglophone
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Francophone
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Hispanic
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Language adjectives
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Lusitanic
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Lusophone music
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Lusophobia
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Lusophilia
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External links
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Flavours of Lusophony - in Portuguese.