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Latin Europe, also known as the Romance-speaking nations of Europe, is a region of Europe which is said to have several cultural aspects in common including the use of a Romance language officially, co-officially, or unofficially.^{citation needed} Romance languages share a common background, all being descendants of Vulgar Latin. The countries not only have a sense of community^{citation needed} with regards to Latin Languages, but share Roman Catholicism as the prevalent religion, with the exceptions of the eastern division of the region, including Romania and the Republic of Moldova, where Eastern Orthodoxy is dominant. Also, the majority of all countries of Latin Europe have status within the Latin Union (which also includes non-European countries in the Americas, Asia, and Africa).

Language

Distribution of major Romance languages:

Spanish      French

Portuguese      Italian

Romanian

Latin languages (often referred to as Romance languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. They have more than 700 million native speakers worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and Africa, as well as in many smaller regions scattered through the world.

All Romance languages descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of soldiers, settlers and merchants of the Roman Empire, which was somewhat different from the Classical Latin of the Roman literati. As a result, the group shares several linguistic features that set it apart from other Indo-European branches.

Latin European peoples are those who speak Romance languages, descended from Vulgar Latin, spread during the time of the Roman Empire. They are otherwise ethnically and culturally diverse. The Latin European peoples include:

European countries with a Romance language.
Blue: Official language.
Green: Co-official or regionally official language.
Red: "Unofficial whole" language usage.
Yellow: Significant unofficial regional language.

Romance languages, 20th c.

Eastern and Western Romania spilt by the La Spezia-Rimini Line

• French people
  • Walloons
  • French Swiss
• Italian people
  • Swiss Italians
  • Corsican Italian
• Andorran people
• Gibraltarian people
• Spanish people (see: Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain)
  • Andalusian people
  • Asturian people
  • Aragonese people
  • Canarian people
  • Cantabrian people
  • Castilian people
  • Catalan people
  • Galician people
  • Leonese people
  • Valencian people
• Portuguese people
• Romanian people
  • Aromanians
  • Istro-Romanians
  • Megleno-Romanians
  • Dacoromanians
    • Transylvanians¹

Main article: Latin European

The Latin Europeans are the people who inhabit all the areas covered by Latin Europe.^{citation needed} They are termed as the Latins of Europe.^{citation needed} However, it is sometimes only those in the Latin Arch who are seen as Latin European.^{citation needed}

Religion

Of the entire region of Latin Europe Roman Catholicism represents 80% of the population. In Romania and Moldova, the dominant religion is Eastern Orthodoxy.

• Andorra, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Andorra.
• Belgium, Wallonia is predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Belgium.
• France, 51% identified as Catholics - see Religion in France.
• Italy, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Italy.
• Luxembourg, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Luxembourg.
• Malta, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Malta.
• Moldova, predominantly Eastern Orthodox - see Religion in Moldova.
• Monaco, Roman Catholicism is the official religion - see Religion in Monaco.
• Romania, predominantly Eastern Orthodox - see Religion in Romania.
• Portugal, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Portugal.
• San Marino, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in San Marino.
• Spain, predominantly Roman Catholic - see Religion in Spain.
• Switzerland, Catholicism and Protestantism - see Religion in Switzerland.
• Vatican City, 100% Roman Catholic - see Religion in the Vatican City.

Countries

Latin Europe

		Romance Languages Used	Religion	Area	Population	GDP (PPP) of whole country	Comments
Andorra		Catalan (Official)	Roman Catholic	468 km²	71,822	$2,770,000,000	-
Belgium	Total (out of included areas)	French (Regionally Official) (Regionally Co-Official)	Roman Catholic	17,005 km²	4,407,705	$316,200,000,000	-
	Wallonia	French (Official)	-	16,844 km²	3,376,490	-	-
	Brussels	French (Co-Official)	-	161 km²	1,031,215	-	-
Croatia	Total (out of included areas)	Italian (Regionally Official)	Roman Catholic (85%)	2.82 km²	206,344	$69,440,000,000	-
	Istria county	Italian (Official) Istriot (Regional) Istroromanian (Regional)	-	2.82 km²	206,344	-	-
France		French (Official)	Roman Catholic	551,695 km²	61,875,822	$1,871,000,000,000	Exceptions: Alsace-Moselle and French Flanders have mostly Germanic roots; their languages are still used by the frontier workers (more than 40% for some places2). Brittany is considered as a "Celtic nation", but in Eastern Brittany only French is spoken today. Pays Basque shows a Basque identity, even if Basque language is spoken by few.
Gibraltar		Spanish (Unofficial)	Roman Catholic	6.8 km²	28,875	$769,000,000	As a British overseas territory, it has a sole official language of English even though the vast majority of the population is bilingual together with Spanish. In addition to this the majority of Gibraltarians speak Llanito (an Andalusian Spanish-based creole unique to Gibraltar) as their vernacular.
Guernsey		French (Unofficial)	-	78 km²	65,573	$2,590,000,000	Guernsey and Jersey both have various use of French and Norman language, although admittedly in decline.
Italy		Italian (Official)	Roman Catholic	301,318 km²	59,337,888	$1,888,000,000,000	Exceptions: Bolzano-Bozen (7,400.43 km²) has German as a co-official language with Italian. Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in some parts is Slovenian-speaking, with Slovenian having the status of official language alongside Italian and Friulian
Jersey		French (Co-official)	-	116 km²	89,300	$5,100,000,000	Jersey and Guernsey both have various use of French and Norman language, although admittedly in decline. In the case of Jersey, this includes Jersey Law French, and Jerriais, and in the case of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, there is also law French there, in addition to Guernesais and Sercquais. French was an official language of Alderney of Guernsey until the late 1960s.
Luxembourg		French (Co-Official)	Roman Catholic (87%)	2,586.4 km²	480,222	$32,600,000,000	-
Macedonia		Aromanian (Unofficial)	Eastern Orthodox (64.7%)	25,713 km²	2,055,915	$16,940,000,000	-
Malta		Italian (Unofficial) (Previously Official)	Roman Catholic (98%)	316 km²	401,880	$9,342,000,000	Although Maltese is a Semitic Language, a good portion of Maltese vocabulary is Romance, having been imported from Italian, Sicilian, and French.34
Moldova		Moldovan (Romanian) (Official)	Eastern Orthodox (95.5%)	33,843 km²	4,320,490	$9,999,000,000	-
Monaco		French (Official)	-	1.95 km²	32,671	$976,000,000	-
Portugal including the archipelagos: Madeira Azores		Portuguese (Official)	Roman Catholic (84%)	92,345 km²	10,642,836	$232,000,000,000	-
Romania		Romanian (Official)	Eastern Orthodox (86.7%)	238,392 km²	22,276,056	$256,900,000,000	Exceptions: Transylvania's Eastern side, in addition to its Romanian-speaking majority, is also home to a substantial Hungarian minority. In fact, Transylvania's Székely Land has a Hungarian majority.
San Marino		Italian (Official)	-	61 km²	29,615	$904,000,000	-
Serbia	Total (out of included areas)	Romanian (Regionally Co-Official) (Regionally Unofficial)	-	28636 km²	60,000 (est.)	$64,000,000,000	-
	Vojvodina	Romanian (Co-Official)	Eastern Orthodox	21,506 km²	29,512	-	-
	Timočka Krajina	Romanian (Unofficial)	Eastern Orthodox	7,130 km²	25,000 (est.)	-	-
Slovenia	Total (out of included areas)	Italian (Regionally Official)	-	384.4 km²	78,846	$47,841,000,000	-
	Piran	Italian (Official)	-	44.6 km²	16,758	-	-
	Izola	Italian (Official)	-	28.6 km²	14,549	-	-
	Koper	Italian (Official)	-	311.2 km²	47,539	-	-
Spain including: Canary Islands Balearic Islands Image:Flag of Ceuta.svg Ceuta Melilla	Total (out of included areas)	Spanish (Official) Catalan (Regionally Co-Official) Galician (Regionally Co-Official)	-	504,030 km²	46,087,191	$1,362,000,000,000	Exceptions: Basque Country (7,234 km²) and Navarre (10,391 km²) have Basque as a co-official language along with Spanish.
	Catalonia	Catalan (Co-Official)
	Valencia	Catalan (officially called Valencian) (Co-Official)
	Balearic Islands	Catalan (Co-Official)
	Galicia	Galician (Co-Official)
Switzerland	Total (out of included areas)	Italian (Regionally Official) (Regionally Co-Official) French (Regionally Official Reginally Co-Official) Romansh (Regionally Co-Official)	-	27906 km²	3,353,597	$296,200,000,000	-
	Graubünden	Italian (Co-Official) Romansh (Co-Official)	-	7,105 km²	187,920	-
	Berne	French (Co-Official)	-	5,959 km²	958,897	-	-
	Fribourg	French (Co-Official)	-	1,671 km²	258252	-	-
	Valais	French (Co-Official)	-	5,224 km²	294,608	-	-
	Vaud	French (Official)	-	3212 km²	657,700	-	-
	Neuchâtel	French (Official)	-	803 km²	168,912	-	-
	Geneva	French (Official)	-	282 km²	433,235	-	-
	Jura	French (Official)	-	838 km²	69,222	-	-
	Ticino	Italian (Official)	-	2,812 km²	324,851	-	-
Ukraine	Total (out of included areas)	Romanian (Regionally Unofficial)	-	54,184 km²	4,533,853	$364,300,000,000
	Odessa Oblast	Romanian (Unofficial)	Eastern Orthodox	33,310 km²	2,387,543	-	-
	Zakarpattia Oblast	Romanian (Unofficial)	Eastern Orthodox	12,777 km²	1,241,887	-	-
	Chernivtsi Oblast	Romanian (Unofficial)	Eastern Orthodox	8,097 km²	904,423	-	-
Vatican City		Italian (de facto)	-	0.44 km²	821	-	-

See also

• Latin America
• Latin Arch
• Latin Union
• Mediterranean Union
• Romance-speaking African countries

References

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 28 November 2008, at 01:00.

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