Lusitania the other provinces to form the "Diocesis Hispaniarum" ("Diocese of the Hispanias"). As with the Roman names of many European countries, "Lusitania" was and is often used as an alternative name for Portugal, especially in formal or literary and poetic contexts. The 16th-century colony that would eventually become Brazil was initially founded as "New Lusitania". In common use are such terms as Lusophone, meaning Portuguese-speaking, and Lusitanic, referring to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries—once Portugal's colonies and presently independent countries still sharing some common heritage. Prior to his invasion in 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte proposed the establishment of a French-backed
Sinking of the RMS Lusitania American citizens aboard. He referred to the ammunition and military goods declared on "Lusitania"s manifest and said that "vessels of that kind" could be seized and destroyed under the Hague rules without any respect to a war zone. The following day the German government issued an official communication regarding the sinking in which it said that the Cunard liner "Lusitania" "was yesterday torpedoed by a German submarine and sank", that "Lusitania" "was naturally armed with guns, as were recently most of the English mercantile steamers" and that "as is well known here, she had large quantities of war material in