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92-499: The Somoza family ( Spanish : Familia Somoza ) is a political family which ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years – from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship , founded by Anastasio Somoza García , was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza Debayle and Anastasio Somoza Debayle . Anastasio Somoza García served as the President of Nicaragua from 1937 until 1956. He was succeeded by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle, who held
184-648: A mixed economy , a nonaligned foreign policy and political pluralism . On 17 July 1979, Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned as President of Nicaragua and fled to Miami, marking the end of the Somoza family dictatorship. Senate President Pablo Rener fled with him. Somoza handed over power to President of the Chamber of Deputies Francisco Urcuyo who would in turn transfer the government to the junta. Anastasio Somoza Debayle lived in Paraguay until 17 September 1980 when he
276-801: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Juan Bautista Sacasa Juan Bautista Sacasa (21 December 1874 in León, Nicaragua – 17 April 1946 in Los Angeles, California )
368-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
460-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
552-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
644-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
736-696: A negotiated solution with the Somoza government, operating through strikes and mediation. The FSLN responded to FAO by establishing the United People's Movement. The United People's Movement had a different approach to reaching a solution, promoting warfare and nationwide insurrection as the means to overthrow the dictatorship. In August 1978, the FSLN took over the National Palace, holding government officials and members of congress hostage. Somoza had no choice but to meet their demands, further tarnishing
828-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
920-408: A reputation as a human rights violator and replaced his brother's skilled administrators with unqualified political allies. By the 1970s, the government was becoming corrupt and inefficient. While his first term was meant to expire in 1971, Anastasio Somoza Debayle amended the re-election ban in the constitution, allowing him to serve as president for an additional year. Somoza ruled through puppets in
1012-556: A result, the insurrection movement gained momentum and fighting increased. In February 1979, the FSLN seized the opportunity afforded by the collapse of negotiations to broaden its support base and form the National Patriotic Front which included Los Doce, the Independent Liberal Party and Popular Social Christian Party. Heavy fighting broke out all over Nicaragua and the FSLN's final offensive
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#17327655853221104-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
1196-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
1288-701: A wealthy coffee planter family as the son of senator Anastasio Somoza Reyes and Julia García. He was educated at the Instituto Nacional de Oriente and the Pierce School of Business Administration in Philadelphia. During his time in the United States, he learned the English language and met his wife Salvadora Debayle Sacasa, the daughter of a wealthy and politically connected family. After returning to Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza García joined
1380-546: Is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of
1472-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
1564-413: Is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including
1656-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
1748-705: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
1840-401: Is speculated to have reached approximately $ 533 million, which amounted to half of Nicaragua's debt and 33 percent of the country's 1979 GDP . Three of the Somoza family members served as President of Nicaragua . They were: Other members of the Somoza family include: Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1898 – 29 September 1956) was the founder of the Somoza dictatorship. He was born into
1932-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
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#17327655853222024-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
2116-498: Is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers
2208-578: Is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2300-511: The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in the late 1950s. By the early 1970s, the group had gained enough support to launch limited military initiatives. On 27 December 1974, a group of FSLN guerrillas seized the home of former government official, José Maria Castillo, and held a group of leading Nicaraguan officials hostage, many of whom were Somoza relatives. The FSLN made their demands known and an agreement
2392-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
2484-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
2576-820: The United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses
2668-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
2760-595: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
2852-654: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
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2944-542: The FSLN. In 1977, the Jimmy Carter administration made United States military assistance conditional on improvements to human rights. This, accompanied by condemnation, led Somoza to lift the state of siege and reinstated freedom of the press in September 1977. Reinstated freedoms allowed newspapers to cover opposition activities and the rights violations of the Somoza government. This led to rising discomfort with
3036-705: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
3128-537: The Liberal rebels, under the command of General José María Moncada , nearly succeeded in capturing Managua . However, the U.S. forced the two warring parties to enter into negotiations, resulting in the Pact of Espino Negro , which required that both sides would disarm and Díaz would be allowed to finish his term. Sacasa reluctantly agreed to accept the agreement and withdraw his claim to the presidency, but refused to sign
3220-652: The Liberal revolt in 1926. He worked as an interpreter during peace talks between the United States and the Nicaraguan factions, improving his reputation among United States officials. When José María Moncada assumed the presidency in 1929, Somoza served as the governor of León, the Consul to Costa Rica, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Moncada's personal aide. When the United States Marines organized
3312-518: The National Guard to purge local officials loyal to the president and replace them with his associates. On June 9, he forced Sacasa to resign, appointing a puppet president before assuming the presidency himself the following year. Afterwards, Sacasa fled into exile in the U.S., living in Los Angeles until his death ten years later. He married María Argüello Manning, a cousin of Leonardo Argüello , 66th President of Nicaragua; together, they had
3404-508: The National Guard. He was later re-elected as president in 1974. The downfall of the Somoza dictatorship coincided with Anastasio Somoza Debayle's second presidential term. He resigned as president in July 1979 and was assassinated in September 1980. On 23 December 1972, an earthquake devastated the Nicaraguan capital city of Managua . The earthquake killed 10,000 people, left many homeless and caused widespread infrastructural damage. Although he
3496-592: The National University in León, and was a supporter of the Liberal regime of José Santos Zelaya . In 1924, Sacasa became a member of a political coalition headed by moderate Conservative Carlos Solórzano . Shortly afterwards, the detachment of U.S. Marines which had remained in Nicaragua for thirteen years withdrew, believing that the political situation was stable. In October 1925, Solórzano's government
3588-627: The Nicaraguan National Guard, Somoza became an officer and later an assistant to the Commander. Following the departure of the U.S. Marines in 1933, Somoza became the Head of the National Guard. In 1936, Anastasio Somoza García executed a military coup. Leveraging his control of the National Guard, he overthrew President Juan Bautista Sacasa and replaced him with his own candidate for Acting President, Carlos Brenes Jarquín. Somoza
3680-593: The Nicaraguan economy. Luis maintained his father's favourability to the United States. Luis' government condemned the Cuban Revolution and played a leading role in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. He put in place numerous socio-economic reforms in public housing, education, social security and agrarian reform, closely coinciding with the United States’ Alliance for Progress initiative. While these policies created jobs, they further enriched
3772-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
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3864-589: The Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn,
3956-518: The Somoza family accumulated wealth through corporate bribes, land-grabbing and foreign-aid siphoning. The family received support from the government of the United States, and the leadership styles of each Somoza president was different from one another. Ultimately, the Somoza family was overthrown by the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) during the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1961–1990. Widespread discontent with
4048-500: The Somoza government and strengthened support of the opposition. The FSLN attacked National Guard outposts across the country and gained support from Los Doce , an opposition group composed of Nicaragua's elite calling for the inclusion of the FSLN in any post-Somoza government. On 10 January 1978, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro , the owner of La Prensa and founder of the Democratic Liberation Union opposition group,
4140-484: The Somoza government's international, political and military isolation. On 17 July 1979, Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned as President of Nicaragua, marking the end of the Somoza-family dictatorship. The family accumulated wealth through corporate bribes, industrial monopolies, land grabbing , and foreign aid siphoning. By the 1970s, the family owned around 23 percent of the land in Nicaragua. The Somoza's wealth
4232-513: The Somoza image and undermining the regime's power. By late 1978, FAO's failure to obtain a negotiated solution led to the increasing strength of the insurrection movement. Los Doce withdrew from FAO in October and many FAO members resigned. The mediation effort officially collapsed in January 1979, when Somoza refused to hold a national plebiscite and insisted on remaining in power until 1981. As
4324-720: The Somoza regime emerged following the Managua earthquake of 1972 . Anastasio Somoza Debayle declared himself the Head of the National Emergency Committee and used his power to participate in looting and in the mismanagement of international-aid funding. Discomfort increased in the light of the rise of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and in response to the Somoza government's human-rights violations . Various opposition groups emerged, and two key approaches to overthrow
4416-422: The Somoza regime. Anastasio Somoza Debayle responded to the increasing opposition brought about by the FSLN by imposing a state of siege and censoring the press. During this time, the National Guard engaged in widespread torture, rape, arbitrary imprisonment and execution of opponents and peasants. These human rights violations led to national and international condemnation of the Somoza regime and built support for
4508-452: The State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by
4600-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
4692-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
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#17327655853224784-725: The age of eighteen and entered Congress by 1950. By 1956 he became the President of Congress, constitutionally empowering him to fill the Presidency in the instance of an unexpected vacancy. Upon his father's assassination in 1956, Luis Somoza Debayle became the Acting President of Nicaragua. He was formally elected to the presidency through fraudulent elections in 1957, making him the 26th President of Nicaragua. Luis Somoza Debayle's presidential term made attempts at modernisation and political liberalisation. In 1959, he restored
4876-751: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
4968-500: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
5060-400: The constitutional ban on immediate re-election and presidential succession by relatives. This prevented his younger brother, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, from running in the 1963 presidential election. In 1960, Nicaragua established the Central American Common Market alongside El Salvador , Guatemala and Honduras . This improved Nicaragua's Central American relations and led to rapid growth of
5152-514: The construction of luxury housing for National Guard officers, with the homeless provided hastily constructed wooden shacks. Furthermore, as Head of the National Guard, Somoza allowed the National Guard to participate in the looting of the remaining business establishments, purchasing land and industries that would figure lucratively in the reconstruction. The promised reconstruction of the city never took place with reconstruction of roads, drainage systems and public transportation grossly mishandled. It
5244-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
5336-425: The dictatorship became clear. While the Broad Opposition Front ( Spanish : Frente Amplio Opositor , FAO) attempted to reach a solution via negotiation, the FSLN pushed insurrection . When negotiations failed, the insurrection movement, with military support from the Soviet Union through Cuba , launched a successful offensive into the cities, with human rights violations committed by the National Guard resulting in
5428-450: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
5520-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
5612-454: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
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#17327655853225704-424: The insistence of the U.S. Ambassador, he named Anastasio Somoza García , who was married to one of his nieces, as director of the Guardia Nacional (National Guard). The following month, Sacasa met with Sandino, during which Sandino pledged his loyalty to the new government in exchange for amnesty and land for his followers. Sandino continued to call for the disbanding of the National Guard and, in February 1934, he
5796-448: The language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it
5888-423: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
5980-628: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
6072-498: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
6164-408: The pact and left the country; leaving Moncada to sign the pact on Sacasa's behalf. Over the next six years, a formerly obscure Liberal general named Augusto Sandino would lead a guerilla war against the Marines, who had remained in the country to enforce the agreement. In 1932, Sacasa was elected president. He took office on January 1, 1933, the day before the scheduled departure of the Marines. At
6256-400: The period between his first and second presidential terms. He organised a pact with Fernando Agüero , the leader of the Conservative party, whereby he would transfer power to a triumvirate . Under the arrangement, the triumvirate would rule temporarily while an election was held, and a new constitution was written. When the transfer took place in 1972, Somoza returned to his role as the Head of
6348-481: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
6440-443: The presidency from 1957 to 1963. The younger Somoza son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, had two presidential terms: 1967–1972 and 1974–1979. Although the Somozas did not hold the presidency for the full forty-three years, they continued to rule through puppet presidents and via their control of the National Guard . While the Somoza family moved towards modernizing Nicaragua, their rule featured repression and inequality. Over four decades,
6532-429: The privileged and had limited benefit for impoverished Nicaraguans. Luis Somoza Debayle's presidential term ended in 1963. Between 1963 and 1967, he ruled through puppet presidents. René Schick won the 1963 presidential election and ruled until his death in 1966. He was succeeded by Lorenzo Guerrero . Luis Somoza Debayle died of a heart attack in 1967. Anastasio Somoza Debayle (5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980)
6624-412: The support of the United States, with his regime backing U.S. foreign policy. He pursued economic developmentalism and sought to modernize Nicaragua. Somoza's policies focused on growing exports, as well as creating economic infrastructure and public agencies. These policies did little for the common citizen, but benefited Somoza's fortune significantly. Anastasio Somoza García was assassinated in 1956. He
6716-415: The term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: 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
6808-597: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
6900-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
6992-640: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
7084-579: Was assassinated by Argentine guerrillas. Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish
7176-581: Was assassinated under orders from Somoza. Despite Sacasa's disapproval, he proved unable to contain the growing power of Somoza and the National Guard. His popularity continued to diminish as Nicaragua's fragile economy suffered the collapse of coffee prices due to the Great Depression and allegations of widespread fraud surfaced in the 1934 congressional elections. Meanwhile, Somoza's power continued to grow, and he cultivated ties with former presidents Moncada and Chamorro . Early in 1936, Somoza used
7268-645: Was assassinated. Somoza's son and the National Guard were held responsible, provoking mass demonstrations against the Somoza government. During the Somoza regime, numerous opposition groups emerged in addition to the FSLN. In May 1978, the Conservative Party joined the Democratic Liberation Union, Los Doce and the Nicaraguan Democratic Movement in creating the Broad Opposition Front (FAO). FAO aimed to achieve
7360-537: Was at this point that open expressions of discontent with the Somoza regime began to surface. In particular, the Somoza government began to lose the support from Nicaragua's economic elite. As a result, the business community began financially supporting the FSLN, an opposition group. In 1961, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was formally organised. The FSLN began as a group of Marxist, antigovernment student activists at
7452-689: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
7544-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
7636-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
7728-525: Was launched in May 1979. These efforts saw the National Guard lose control over many areas of the country. By the end of June, most of Nicaragua was under FSLN control. The Somoza regime's political, international and military isolation forced Anastasio Somoza Debayle to consider resignation. A provisional Nicaraguan government in exile was organised in Costa Rica on 18 June 1979. The five-member junta promised
7820-482: Was made between the Somoza government and the guerrillas on 30 December 1974. As a result, the guerrillas received a US$ 1 million ransom and had a FSLN declaration read over the radio and printed in La Prensa . Furthermore, the guerrillas negotiated the release and transportation of fourteen FSLN prisoners to Cuba along with themselves. The success of the operation saw the FSLN's prestige soar and damaged perceptions of
7912-451: Was nominated for the presidency a week later at a Liberal Party convention on 16 June 1936 and was inaugurated into office on 1 January 1937. Anastasio Somoza García was the President of Nicaragua for the next nineteen years. He occupied the presidency directly for most of this period, only occasionally ruling through puppets. To maintain support from the National Guard, he put family members and close friends in positions of power. He fostered
8004-508: Was not president at the time, Anastasio Somoza Debayle quickly established the National Emergency Committee of which he was the head. This put him in the position to allocate relief funds, which he did in a corrupt and self-serving manner. International aid enriched the Somoza family instead of reaching victims. Emergency housing funds received from the United States Agency for International Development went disproportionately into
8096-564: Was overthrown by former President General Emiliano Chamorro , who failed to gain U.S. recognition and subsequently resigned in favor of Adolfo Díaz . In the meantime, Sacasa fled to Mexico. Following an uprising by Liberal soldiers in Puerto Cabezas , Sacasa returned to Nicaragua in 1926. Asserting his claim as constitutional president, he established a government in Puerto Cabezas. Supplied by Mexico with arms and munitions,
8188-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
8280-405: Was shot by poet Rigoberto López Pérez and died several days later on 29 September 1956. Luis Somoza Debayle (18 November 1922 – 13 April 1967) was the eldest son of Anastasio Somoza García. He was born in León , Nicaragua and received an American education at Saint Leo College Prep School, La Salle Military Academy and Louisiana State University . He became a captain in the National Guard by
8372-400: Was the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1933 to 9 June 1936. He was the eldest son of Roberto Sacasa and Ángela Sacasa Cuadra, the former's cousin twice removed. He was a relative of Benjamín Lacayo Sacasa . Born in the town of León , Sacasa studied in the United States from 1889 to 1901, earning an M.D. from Columbia University . He served as a professor and dean of faculty at
8464-540: Was the youngest son of Anastasio Somoza García. He received an American education at West Point and was the Head of the National Guard from 1955. Anastasio Somoza Debayle's first presidential term was from 1967 to 1972. His leadership differed from his older brother's and marked a return to his father's harsher style of personalist dictatorship . He relied on military power and exercised no restraint in using public office for personal enrichment. He encouraged corruption and protected his officers from prosecution. He developed
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