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95-548: The city was built by the Italian-Argentine Colonization Company ( Spanish : Compañía Italo-Argentina de Colonización ), which purchased 5,000 hectares for urban development from the estate of Manuel Zorrilla. The lands were divided into four zones of 1,300 hectares, 1,200 hectares, 1,300 hectares, and 1,200 hectares. These zones were then subdivided into lots, which were sold to families that immigrated to Argentina from Italy . The settlement

190-424: A cooperative financed by the bank loans was created. The cooperative distributed food and provided the settlers with seeds, plants and tools to work their lands. In December 1930, the government of Río Negro created the municipality of Villa Regina, dissolving the Italian-Argentine Colonization Company. During that same decade, the government-directed development committee was mostly composed of former employees of

285-504: A joint-stock company . In 1935, the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) of the fascist Italian government gained a controlling interest in the bank. In the 1930s, Neapolitan bank robbers attempting to dig into the underground vaults of the Bank accidentally discovered the skeletons of victims of an 1836 cholera epidemic, which after archeological excavation became known as

380-568: 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. Bank of

475-603: 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

570-522: 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

665-482: 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

760-478: 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

855-536: A major part of the population of Villa Regina, and by Acción Argentina , an organization favorable to the Allied Forces . After rival public demonstrations between the Patagonic Youth and Acción Argentina ended in riots in 1943 and 1944, triggering police repression, they were dismantled. The remaining members of these two groups founded other political parties that ultimately merged with Peronism ,

950-508: 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

1045-592: A province, causing the population to focus on European politics. The town was divided between the supporters of the Italian fascist regime and the supporters of the Italian socialists. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , 80% of the Italian population donated their gold to help the Italian war effort, while 20 settlers of the town departed to fight for Italy in the conflict. In 1937, an independent neo-fascist organization whose influence covered

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1140-617: 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

1235-531: 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

1330-428: A year. After president Alvear had rejected the company's plan to annex the ethnic enclave to Italy and had reminded the settlers that their land ultimately belonged to Argentina, the town was renamed Colonia Regina, removing "de Alvear". By 1928, the 5,000 hectares had been developed, including the addition of 1,200 new hectares that belonged to the former Zorrilla estancia . The area was subdivided into four zones, and

1425-416: 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

1520-480: Is around 8.5 °C (47.3 °F). The yearly precipitation rate ranges from 200 to 400 millimeters (7.9 to 15.7 in) The wind speeds range from 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 mph) to 4.4 kilometers per hour (8.9 mph), between October and February. Online meteorological data from a personal weather station In 1930, after the 5,000 hectares had been developed and colonized, Colonia Regina had an estimated population of 3,000. The population decreased during

1615-504: Is based largely on agriculture. The surrounding area produces 20% of Patagonia's apples and 28% of its pears . Additionally, the area has vineyards which are used to grow grapes that are then turned into sparkling wine . The city possesses the largest industrial park in the Río Negro province; its main industrial facilities are the canning and bottling plants. The companies in the area that produce concentrate apple juice are based in

1710-470: Is connected to the other cities in the orchard-rich Río Negro Valley via Highway 22 . The region's landscape is characterized by a plateau to the north, the Río Negro Valley, and a plateau to the south. The plateaus have an average height of 100 meters (330 feet). The town encompasses the territory between the northern plateau and the productive areas near the Río Negro's border, which runs along

1805-454: 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

1900-761: 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

1995-480: Is located on the site of the former headquarters of the Italian-Argentine Colonization Company. Considered a landmark of the town, the parish church Nuestra Señora del Rosario was built in downtown Villa Regina in 1928 and features a Renaissance style, while the Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús chapel, a bandstand -like structure, was built by the settlers in 1933. It is notable for being the first building on

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2090-732: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, 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

2185-844: 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

2280-813: 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

2375-629: The Bench of S. Spirit building (which became known as the Palazzo del Banco di S. Spirito ) on December 13, 1605. The construction of the building was started in 1513 by Pope Leo X , on what became known as the "Street of the Banks." The newly founded bank provided a new source of income for the Archhospital of Santo Spirito (founded 1201), whose financial difficulties had been increasing throughout

2470-541: The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Part of the population included Slovenians who were escaping from persecution in Fascist Italy, as well as Poles and Czechoslovaks who were admitted after Italy introduced a new policy that restricted their immigration to Italy from Poland and Czechoslovakia, respectively. The inhabitants initially paid a 10% deposit of the total value of the land they received, which

2565-568: 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)

2660-508: 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

2755-700: The Upper Río Negro valley area , called the Patagonic Nationalist Youth (Spanish: Juventud Nacionalista Patagónica) appeared in Villa Regina. The Patagonic Youth was mostly composed of descendants of the fascist enthusiasts that were part of the former Colonization Company. The organization aimed to support Argentine nationalism and gained a sizable membership because of its aversion toward the United Kingdom ; this aversion

2850-696: 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 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 ;

2945-608: 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 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

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3040-671: The 16th century, and in 1607 the bank began supervising the finances of the hospital, which owned the bank. From February 20, 1606, to 1923, the Bank of the Holy Spirit provided capital for churches and hospitals constructed in Rome, and other commercial purposes. The bank lent funds to several public works projects, including the Trajan aqueduct project (Begun 1608). In 1750, Pope Benedict XIV , known for his condemnation of usury : Vix pervenit (promulgated November 1, 1745), reorganized

3135-491: The 1991 census. The census of 2001 registered a total of 27,516, which increased to 33,089 by the 2010 census. As the largest city in the area, Villa Regina is considered the capital of the Eastern Upper Río Negro Valley micro-region, which includes the rural municipalities of Chichinales , General Enrique Godoy , Ingeniero Luis A. Huergo and Mainqué . The economy of the area around Villa Regina

3230-404: 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,

3325-595: 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

3420-606: The 40th anniversary of the founding of Villa Regina. The fair was organized by Bartolo Pasin and Rogelio Chimenti, two local businessmen. During the Argentine transition from the military junta of the National Reorganization Process to a democratic government, the first constitutional municipal convention took place on May 15, 1987. The convention wrote the Carta Orgánica de Villa Regina ,

3515-465: 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 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

3610-603: The Bank and restricted its lending activities. In 1786, the bank became one of the first to issue paper money during the pontificate of Pope Pius VI . By the late 19th century, the bank was controlled by the state. The records of the Bank are extant in the Vatican Secret Archives , but not in Introitus et Exitus , the records of the Apostolic Camera . In 1923, the Bank was reorganized as

3705-683: The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Production of Villa Regina was created, replacing the role of the CAIC. The chamber was created to mediate between the different trade unions of the city and to unite their representatives on a board. In 1964, the First National Comahue Fair was held. The 45-day event, organized by the Chamber, was intended to showcase the economical potential of the Comahue Region, as well as to commemorate

3800-654: 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

3895-612: The Holy Spirit The Bank of the Holy Spirit ( Italian : Il Banco di Santo Spirito ) was a bank founded by Pope Paul V on December 13, 1605. The bank was the first central bank in Europe (as the bank of the Papal States ) at a level above city-states, the first public deposit bank in Rome, and the oldest continuously operating bank in Rome until its merger in 1992. The Bank was founded by Pope Paul V in

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3990-705: 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

4085-540: 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

4180-509: The Río Negro is popular with the locals during the summer. Its landscape includes a large variety of trees, including cypress , eucalypt , poplar trees and willows . It also has a camping ground, which is open the entire year. Spanish language This is an accepted version of this page Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from

4275-543: 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 the term castellano to define the official language of

4370-502: 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

4465-457: 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

4560-401: The administration of the lands, pointing out the progress that the company had already made with the urban development, and stated that if a committee was formed the company could "consider its mission accomplished" and that the current settlers could suffer a "lamentable delay" in the construction of the projected developments. He requested that the governor halt the creation of the committee for

4655-617: The city. A campus of the National University of Comahue was established in the town in 1977. It serves as the university's department of food sciences and technologies. In 2010, it was inaugurated as a campus of the National University of Río Negro, which is focused on careers related to business management, technology and engineering. The city is the seat of the eastern Upper Río Negro Valley "Zone II" of elementary education. The local Teacher Formation Institute

4750-684: 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

4845-475: The company. Bonoli and his helper, Emilio Bignami, planned the organization and development of the area. The company spent most of its starting capital of US$ 1.4 million buying the 5,000 hectares. During the first year, they worked 1,300 hectares, which were divided into lots of 5, 10 and 15 hectares. To settle this area, the company gave preference to the Italian immigrants that already lived in Argentina. During

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4940-503: The company. By 1939, the development of the four zones was completed. Primary and secondary irrigation channels were built and were complemented by the construction of acequias , which are community-operated watercourses. The irrigation made the arid lands fertile, increasing the amount of land that could be cultivated. The town remained distant from national politics until the Rio Negro National Territory became

5035-500: 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

5130-735: The construction of the channels in 1907. To attract Italian investors, he shared his ideas that same year at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome , but he died in 1908 while returning to Argentina. In 1923, Felipe Bonoli, an engineer who had accompanied him during the construction of the channels, purchased 5,000 hectares of land from the estate of Manuel Zorrilla on behalf of the Italian-Argentine Colonization Company ( Spanish : Compañía Italo-Argentina de Colonización ); he then dedicated this land to urban development. The next year, President Marcelo T. de Alvear approved

5225-404: 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

5320-683: 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

5415-461: The following years, as some settlers decided to move because they could not pay the installments on their lands and others were evicted because they could not pay these installments but refused to move. The 1947 census, the first Argentine census that surveyed Villa Regina, registered 2,154 inhabitants. The census registered 11,360 residents in 1960 and 10,975 in 1970. The Argentine census of 1980 recorded 18,375 inhabitants, which increased to 24,472 by

5510-466: 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

5605-401: The four zones was completed. In 1987 the town wrote its first constitution, doing away with the position of municipal president and replacing it with the position of mayor. Villa Regina is considered the capital of the Eastern Upper Valley micro-region. The surrounding area produces a large portion of the apple and pear harvests of Patagonia and also has a sizable grape harvest. The economy of

5700-454: 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

5795-450: 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 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

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5890-423: 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,

5985-628: 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

6080-448: The municipal government; while it was complemented with additional ARS$ 2.5 million of the Argentinian government. The road, named after former Governor of Río Negro "Gobernador Don Marío José Franco", opened the access to 4,500 hectares of land to be urbanized by the municipal government. Further development of the road is scheduled for a span of two years, including the addition of pavement, construction of sidewalks and streetlights. Next to

6175-477: The northern hill. The Provincial Grape Harvest Festival (Spanish: Fiesta Provincial de La Vendímia), which started in 1973, is celebrated in March in the Cono Randazzo amphitheater. The Comahue National Fair was relaunched in 2004 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first one and currently is celebrated every two years. The fair features the exposition of products and demonstrations by companies, as well as regional cultural events. The city beach on island 58 of

6270-498: 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

6365-508: 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 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

6460-415: The political movement that ruled the town during the mid-1940s and the 1950s. The local branch of Rotary International was established on November 22, 1955, and was subsequently recognized by the international organization in 1957. The fires in the town were controlled by the General Roca fire department until the creation of the volunteer fire department of Villa Regina on June 18, 1960. The department

6555-481: 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 ,

6650-420: The purchase and colonization of the area. The purchased land received irrigation from a branch of the main channel of the Nequén levee and was near Chichinales and the station Km. 1120 of the Ferrocarril del Sur. The colony was established on November 7, 1924, and was initially named Colonia Regina de Alvear, in honor of the first lady, Regina Pacini de Alvear . Héctor Valsecchi was named the first president of

6745-544: The road, the "Via Cristi" pedestrian path is set to be inaugurated during Easter in 2014, including the unveiling of a 20 metres (66 ft) statue of Christ on top of the northern hill. Villa Regina lies 250 meters (820 feet) above sea level and is located along the Upper Río Negro (Black River) valley. It is within the limits of the General Roca department in the eastern Rio Negro province of northern Patagonia . Situated nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Neuquén and 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Viedma , it

6840-572: The second stage, the company cultivated 1,200 hectares; these were given to Italian families that wanted to immigrate to Argentina. Those in this second wave of settlement were selected by the officials of the company. By 1927, 1,000 people had settled in the town. Soon a hospital, a church, a school, a library and a sports club were built. The Bank of Rome gave the settlement a loan of 5 million lire , in spite of Benito Mussolini 's plan to use that money to support Italian workers in Italy. Further loans to

6935-700: The settlement were leveraged by Bonoli's connection to Ottavio Dinale . Dinale, a collaborator of Mussolini, had influence with the General Commissariat of Emigration (Italian: Commissariato Generale dell'Emigrazione). The loans were given by the Banca Commerciale Italiana , through the Francés y Italiano para América del Sur bank and the Italia y Río de la Plata bank. Most of the settlers were from northern Italy, particularly from

7030-438: The settlers worked every Sunday for a month to build a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) path; they later built a church and a graveyard at the end of it. The next year, the train station of Villa Regina was inaugurated. In 1927, the governor of Río Negro , León Quaglia, wrote a letter to Bonoli, requesting the creation of a government-directed development committee for the colony. Bonoli opposed the government's decision to intervene in

7125-461: The southern plateau. It has an irregular street system, with a mixture of old and modern buildings in its center. The flora is typical of the Patagonian steppe and includes small bushes with scarce spiny foliage like larrea , alpataco and atriplex lampa . The area has a semi-arid climate. The average temperature in summer is 20 °C (68.0 °F), while the average temperature in winter

7220-610: 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

7315-444: 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,

7410-640: 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

7505-745: The town is complemented by its canning and bottling plants, which compose the local industrial park. The city celebrates the Provincial Grape Harvest Festival annually and also hosts the National Comahue Fair biennially. The first known mention of the area was an entry in the diary of Colonel Manuel José Olascoaga, an officer in the Argentine army. On June 4, 1879, during the Conquest of the Desert , Olascoaga described it while camping with his troops: "Two hours on

7600-419: The town's first constitution. The new government system had a mayor instead of a municipal president. The first mayor of Villa Regina was Alfredo Innamorati; he was elected on December 12, 1987. In September 2013, a 700-metre road that connects the town with the northern hill was pre-innagured, upon the end of the first stage of its construction. The budget for the works was composed by ARS$ 500,000, invested by

7695-567: The way up from Chichinal , we camped on a place a bit far from the river, close to a water reservoir. [...] The ground is plain with ligere landforms. The canyons to the north increase their altitude westbound." During the expansion of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway ( Spanish : Ferrocarril del Sur ) to the lands conquered during the Desert Campaign, the new route passed by the area because it

7790-585: 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 the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on

7885-506: 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 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

7980-508: Was constructed; it began operating as the fire department headquarters in 1962. Up until the 1960s, the economic activities of Villa Regina were regulated by the Chamber of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce of the Upper Valley (Spanish: Cámara de Agricultura, Industria y Comercio del Alto Valle), or the CAIC, the organization that had also focused on the rest of the cities of the Upper Valley of Río Negro since 1931. On February 20, 1962,

8075-474: Was delivered fenced and ploughed. The extensions included a house with a porch, bathroom and well. The houses built on the 10 and 15 hectare extensions came with four bedrooms, while the ones built on the 5 hectare lots had two. The development plan of the Colonization Company encouraged crop diversification and promoted the cultivation of alfalfa , vineyards, pear trees, and apple trees. In 1925,

8170-634: 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

8265-622: 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

8360-409: Was established by Antonio Pirri, who used his house as its headquarters; however, he was not the first chief of the fire department. The firemen started with a Jeep donated by the province of Río Negro and a fire engine donated by Pirri. In 1961, the department requested that the government cede lands to construct a building to house the operation. In May 1961, the donation was approved and the building

8455-402: Was established on November 7, 1924. It was originally named Colonia Regina de Alvear, after the wife of then-president Marcelo T. de Alvear , who had approved the project. The company developed the town with the help of Italian investors. In 1930, the government of Rio Negro created the municipality of Villa Regina, dissolving the Italian-Argentine Colonization Company. By 1939, the development of

8550-461: Was flat. Manuel Marcos Zorilla, the private secretary of president Julio Argentino Roca , was given 15,000 hectares there, which he called Zorilla Field (Spanish: Campo Zorilla). Zorrilla officially received the lands in 1895, with the condition that he would have to cede, free of charge, the sections where the tracks of the Ferrocarril del Sur would be built. In 1898 engineer César Cipolletti

8645-713: 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")

8740-422: Was founded in 1976; it educates teachers of the area between the municipalities of Maniqué and Chelforó . The Indio Comahue Monument , erected on an overlook on the northern hill, is considered the symbol of the town and is also depicted in the municipal coat of arms. The monument is the finish line for the annual trekking trail competition, "Trekking al Indio Comahue." The local museum, the "Museo Comunitario,"

8835-515: Was hired by the Argentine government to analyze the Neuquén , Limay , Negro and Colorado rivers, to construct reservoirs to prevent floods, and to study the feasibility of building irrigation systems. Cipolletti concluded that the construction of irrigation channels from the rivers would turn the arid lands that surrounded the Upper Valley of the Negro river into cultivable land. Cipolletti started

8930-462: 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

9025-746: Was the reason most of Villa Regina supported the Axis powers during World War II . Relations between Argentina and the United Kingdom (UK) had been tense ever since the UK had seized the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) in 1833, causing most Argentines to sympathize with the UK's enemies, the Axis powers. Meanwhile, the Patagonic Youth were opposed by the Democráticos, who represented

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