History of French and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (Southeast Asia), while the language has changed to creoles, dialects or pidgins in the French departments in the West Indies, even though people there are still educated in standard French. On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers has increased, especially in Africa. In the Canadian province of Quebec, different laws have promoted the
Origin of the name Khuzestan Origin of the name Khuzestan Although Herodotus and Xenophon referred to the entire region as Susiana, the name Khuzestan is what has been referred to the southwestern most province of Persia (Iran) from antiquity. In some instances, sugar and sugar cane have been given as the meaning of Khuz. The fertile soil of Khuzestan has a splendid potential for growing this plant, making excellent harvests for sugar cane possible here. However, most experts believe the name Khuzestan to be derived from "Ķūzī", the name of the original non-Semitic people of the province, whose distinctive language reportedly survived until Sassanid times.