Spanish (español) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. It was taken most notably to the Americas, and also to Africa and Asia Pacific with the expansion of the Spanish Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Today, about 350 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the world's third most spoken language. Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers.

Spanish is growing increasingly popular as a second or third language in a number of countries due to logistical, economic, and touristic interest towards the many nations which chiefly use Spanish as the primary language. This phenomenon is most notable in Brazil, the United States, Italy, France, Portugal, and much of the Anglosphere in general.

Naming and origin

main: Names given to the Spanish language

Spaniards tend to call this language lang: español (Spanish) when contrasting it with languages such as French and English, but call it lang: castellano (Castilian), that is, the language of the Castile region, when contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan. This reasoning also holds true for the language's preferred name in some Latin American countries. In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term lang: castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, as opposed to lang: las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the other Spanish languages). Article III reads as follows:

Cquote: lang: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (…) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas…
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (…) The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities…

However, to some in other linguistic regions, this is considered as demeaning to them and they will therefore use the term castellano exclusively.

The name Castellano (Castilian), which refers directly to the origins of the Language and the sociopolitical context in which it was introduced in the Americas, is preferred in Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Chile, instead of lang: español, which is more commonly used to refer to the language as a whole in the rest of Latin America.

Some Spanish speakers consider lang: castellano a generic term with no political or ideological links, much as "Spanish" is in English.

Geographic distribution

main: Hispanophone

Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Nations, the Latin Union, the Caricom, the North American Free Trade Agreement.