Romance-speaking African countries

Latin Africa, historically those countries in North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, which were part of the Roman Empire. Some exclude Egypt, as there the dominant language of administration and business was Greek rather than Latin. The region between Tunisia and Morocco was later called the Maghreb (West) by the Arabs who conquered it in the seventh century.

In modern times the expression has been used by the French to refer to their former colonial territories in the African continent.

Currently, the expression is used to refer to those African countries that are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) or "International Organization of La Francophonie" and the members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries whose official languages are either French, Portuguese or Spanish, or have a significant population that speak any of these languages.

Note that not all the Latin Africa countries are members of the Latin Union.

French language

Sub-Saharan African countries where French or African French is spoken. The countries colored dark blue in the map had a population of 321 million in 2007.cite web|url=http://www.prb.org/pdf07/07WPDS_Eng.pdf| title=2007 World Population Data Sheet| author=Population Reference Bureau| format=PDF|accessdate=2007-08-16] Their population is forecast to reach 733 million in 2050.
*BEN, French language in Benin
*BDI, French language in Burundi
*BFA, French language in Burkina-Faso
*CAF, French language in Central Africa
*TCD, French language in Chad
*CMR, French language in Comoros
*CIV, French language in Cote de Ivoire
*COD, French language in Democratic Congo
*COG, French language in the Republic of Congo
*DJI, French language in Djibouti
*GAB, French language in Gabon
*GHA, French language in Ghana
*GIN, French language in Guinea
*MDG, French language in Madagascar
*MLI, French language in Mali
*MRT, French language in Mauritania
*NER, French language in Niger
*RWA, French language in Rwanda
*SEN, French language in Senegal
*SYC, French language in Seychelles
*TGO, French language in Togo

Portuguese language

African countries where Portuguese and African Portuguese is spoken
*AGO, Angolan Portuguese
*CPV, Cape Verdean Portuguese
*GNB, Guinean Portuguese
*MOZ, Mozambican Portuguese
*STP, São Tomean Portuguese

panish language

Sub-Saharan African countries where Spanish or African Spanish is spoken
*GNQ, Spanish language in Equatorial Guinea (French and Portuguese are also official)

French and Spanish in North Africa

In North Africa there are countries where Maghreb French or Spanish are spoken.
*ALG, French language in Algeria.
*MAR, certain areas conserve Moroccan Spanish from the Spanish protectorate, but the the French protectorate was wider.
*TUN, French language in Tunisia.
*ESH, Spanish language in Western Sahara.
*Note that Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands are parts of Spain in Africa, but they are not usually comprised in this concept.

Italian language

Some population in ERI, ETH, LBY and SOM conserve Italian as a colonial legacy.

Catholicism

Due to the fact that France, Portugal and Spain are tradicionally Roman Catholic countries, many of the African countries they colonised also have important Catholic populations.

ee also

* United States of Latin Africa
* Latin Union
* Community of Portuguese Language Countries
* Lusophone
* Francophonie
* Hispanicity
* List of Latin place names in Africa
*African Romance

References