Community of Portuguese Language Countries Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa; abbreviated as CPLP), occasionally known in English as the Lusophone Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language, mostly of former colonies of the Portuguese Empire. The CPLP operates as a privileged multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments of its members, on both executive and ministerial levels, non-governmental organizations, and the various branches of the CPLP itself. CPLP is a multilateral forum created to deepen mutual friendship and cooperation among
Portuguese language third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers, and the most spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the most spoken language in South America and the second-most spoken in Latin America after Spanish, one of the 10 most spoken languages in Africa and is an official language of the European Union, Mercosur, OAS, ECOWAS and the African Union. When the Romans arrived at the Iberian Peninsula in 216 B.C., they brought the Latin language with them, from which all Romance languages descend. The language was spread by Roman soldiers, settlers, and merchants, who