Spanish (Español in Spanish or Espagnol in French) is the second most spoken native language of the world (with Mandarin Chine being the first).

It is the preferred language of over 360 million people worldwide, with a further 60 million or so individuals speaking it as their second language.  Mexico holds the largest population of Spanish speakers and it is one of the official languages used by the UN (United Nations).

Like English and French, Spanish evolved from spoken Latin.  It arose in the Kingdom of Castile (now North Spain) and spread into Iberia and notably to America, as well as Africa and Asia Pacific, as the Spanish Empire expanded from the 15th to 19th Century, becoming widely used for trade and legal matters.

In Spain and some other Spanish speaking countries, Spanish is called Castellano (Castilian) as well as español (Spanish), that is, the language of the region of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan. Speakers of these regional languages prefer the term castellano, as they consider their own languages equally "Spanish". The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the rest of the Spanish languages).

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