List of international organisations which have Portuguese as an official language
Table:
Organisation

Number of official languages

Portuguese name

Headquarters

Note

CPLP

1

Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa

Lisbon, Portugal

The community of Portuguese-speaking nations

PALOP

1

Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa

N/A

The community of Portuguese-speaking African nations

ACTO

4 (Dutch, English, Spanish)

Organização do Tratado de Cooperação Amazônica

Brasília, Brazil

ALADI

2 (Spanish)

Associação Latino-Americana de Integração

Montevideo, Uruguay

AU

5 (Languages of the AU)

União Africana

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Portuguese is an official language in 6 member states.

CELAC

5 (Dutch, English, French, Spanish)

Comunidade de Estados Latino-Americanos e Caribenhos

N/A

CEN-SAD

4 (Arabic, English, French)

Comunidade dos Estados de Sahel-Saharan

Tripoli, Libya

COMESA

3 (English, French)

Mercado Comum da África Oriental e Austral

Tripoli, Libya

CONMEBOL

2 (Spanish)

Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol

Luque, Paraguay

CONSANAT

2 (Spanish)

Confederação Sul-Americana de Natação

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

CONSUDATLE

2 (Spanish)

Confederação Sul-Americana de Atletismo

Manaus, Brazil

CONSUR

2 (Spanish)

Confederação Sul-Americana de Râguebi

Montevideo, Uruguay

CSV

2 (Spanish)

Confederação Sul-Americana de Voleibol

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ECCAS

2 (French)

Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Central

Libreville, Gabon

ECOWAS

3 (English, French)

Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental

Abuja, Nigeria

EU

24 (Languages of the EU)

União Europeia

Brussels, Belgium

The European Commission, conducts its internal business in three languages, English, French and German

FIFA

7 (Arabic, English, German, French, Russian, Spanish)

Federação Internacional de Futebol Associado

Zürich, Switzerland

Arabic, Portuguese and Russian are additional languages for the Congress.

IADB

4 (English, French, Spanish)

Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento

Washington, D.C., United States

Latin Union

6 (Catalan, French, Italian, Romanian, Spanish)

União Latina

Paris, France

Mercosur

3 (Spanish, Guarani)

Mercado Comum do Sul

Montevideo, Uruguay

Portuguese and Spanish are the main work languages

Drawing on the tabular data together with the supporting evidence below.

Respond to the question below: How many official languages does the organisation from the seventh-largest city in Brazil have ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries ( Portuguese : Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa ; abbreviated as the CPLP ) , also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth ( Comunidade Lusófona ) , is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents , where Portuguese is an official language . The CPLP operates as a privileged , multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments , economies , non-governmental organizations , and peoples of the Lusofonia . The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 19 associate observers , located in Europe , the Americas , Asia , and Africa . The history of the CPLP began when it was founded in 1996 , in Lisbon , by Angola , Brazil , Cabo Verde , Guinea Bissau , Mozambique , Portugal , and São Tomé e Príncipe , nearly two decades after the beginning of the decolonization of the Portuguese Empire . Following the independence of Timor-Leste in 2002 and the application by Equatorial Guinea in 2014 , both of those countries became members of the CPLP . Macau ( a Special Administrative Region of China ) , Galicia ( an Autonomous Community of Spain ) , and Uruguay are formally interested in full membership and another 17 countries across the world are formally interested in associate observer status .
Lisbon ( /ˈlɪzbən/ ; Portuguese : Lisboa [ liʒˈboɐ ] ( listen ) ) is the capital and the largest city of Portugal , with an estimated population of 505,526 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2 . Lisbon 's urban area extends beyond the city 's administrative limits with a population of around 2.8 million people , being the 10th-most populous urban area in the European Union . About 3 million people live in the Lisbon metropolitan area , which represents approximately 27% of the country 's population . It is mainland Europe 's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast . Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the River Tagus . The westernmost portions of its metro area form the westernmost point of Continental Europe , which is known as Cabo da Roca , located in the Sintra Mountains . Lisbon is recognised as an alpha-level global city because of its importance in finance , commerce , media , entertainment , arts , international trade , education and tourism . Lisbon is one of two Portuguese cities ( alongside Porto ) to be recognised as a global city . It is one of the major economic centres on the continent , with a growing financial sector and one of the largest container ports on Europe 's Atlantic coast . Additionally , Humberto Delgado Airport served 29 million passengers in 2018 , being the busiest airport in Portugal , the 3rd busiest in the Iberian Peninsula and the 20th busiest in Europe . The motorway network and the high-speed rail system of Alfa Pendular links the main cities of Portugal to Lisbon . The city is the 9th-most-visited city in Southern Europe , after Rome , Istanbul , Barcelona , Milan , Venice , Madrid , Florence and Athens , with 3,320,300 tourists in 2017 .
Portugal ( Portuguese : [ puɾtuˈɣal ] ) , officially the Portuguese Republic ( Portuguese : República Portuguesa [ ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ ] ) , [ note 5 ] is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula , in southwestern Europe . It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe , being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain . Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira , both autonomous regions with their own regional governments . Portugal is the oldest nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe and the world , its territory having been continuously settled , invaded and fought over since prehistoric times . The pre-Celtic people , Iberians , Celts , Carthaginians and Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigoths and Suebi Germanic peoples . After the Muslim conquests of the Iberian Peninsula , most of the territory was part of Al-Andalus until their expulsion . Portugal as a country was established during the early Christian Reconquista . Founded in 868 , the County of Portugal gained prominence after the Battle of São Mamede in 1128 . The Kingdom of Portugal was later proclaimed following the Battle of Ourique in 1139 , and independence from León was recognised by the Treaty of Zamora in 1143 . On 12 December 2017 , the Portuguese Navy commemorated the 700th anniversary of its official creation by King Denis of Portugal . Tracing its origins back to the 12th century , it is the oldest continuously serving navy in the world . In the 15th and 16th centuries , Portugal established the first global empire , becoming one of the world 's major economic , political and military powers .
The Portuguese-speaking African countries ( Portuguese : Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa ; PALOP ) , also known as Lusophone Africa , consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language : Angola , Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau , Mozambique , São Tomé and Príncipe and , since 2011 , Equatorial Guinea . The six countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire . From 1778 until independence , Equatorial Guinea was also a colony of the Spanish Empire . In 1992 , the five Lusophone African countries formed an interstate organisation called PALOP , a colloquial acronym that translates to African Countries of Portuguese Official Language ( Portuguese : Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa ) . The PALOP countries have signed official agreements with Portugal , the European Union and the United Nations , and they work together to promote the development of culture and education and the preservation of the Portuguese language . Together with Portugal and Brazil in 1996 , the Portuguese-speaking African countries established the Community of Portuguese Language Countries ( Portuguese : Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa , abbreviated to CPLP ) , which East Timor later joined in 2002 and Equatorial Guinea in 2014 .
N/A
Dutch ( Nederlands ( help·info ) ) is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people as a first language and 5 million people as a second language , constituting the majority of people in the Netherlands ( where it is the sole official language countrywide ) and Belgium ( as one of three official languages ) . It is the third-most-widely spoken Germanic language , after its close relatives English and German . Outside the Low Countries , it is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname where it also holds an official status , as it does in Aruba , Curaçao and Sint Maarten , which are constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean . Historical linguistic minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany , and in Indonesia , [ n 1 ] while up to half a million native speakers may reside in the United States , Canada and Australia combined . [ n 2 ] The Cape Dutch dialects of Southern Africa have evolved into Afrikaans , a mutually intelligible daughter language [ n 3 ] which is spoken to some degree by at least 16 million people , mainly in South Africa and Namibia . [ n 4 ] Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English [ n 5 ] and is colloquially said to be roughly in between them . [ n 6 ] Dutch , like English , has not undergone the High German consonant shift , does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker , has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive , and has levelled much of its morphology , including most of its case system . [ n 7 ] Features shared with German include the survival of two to three grammatical genders - albeit with few grammatical consequences [ n 8 ] - as well as the use of modal particles , final-obstruent devoicing , and a similar word order . [ n 9 ] Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates slightly more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English . [ n 10 ] As with German , the vocabulary of Dutch also has strong similarities with the continental Scandinavian languages , but is not mutually intelligible in text or speech with any of them .
English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca . It is named after the Angles , one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name , as England . Both names derive from Anglia , a peninsula in the Baltic Sea . The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon , and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages , particularly Norse ( a North Germanic language ) , and to a greater extent by Latin and French . English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years . The earliest forms of English , a group of West Germanic ( Ingvaeonic ) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century , are collectively called Old English . Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England ; this was a period in which the language was influenced by French . Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London , the printing of the King James Bible and the start of the Great Vowel Shift . Modern English has been spreading around the world since the 17th century by the worldwide influence of the British Empire and the United States . Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries , English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science , navigation and law . English is the largest language by number of speakers , and the third most-spoken native language in the world , after Standard Chinese and Spanish . It is the most widely learned second language and is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states .
Spanish ( /ˈspænɪʃ/ ( listen ) ; español ( help·info ) ) , or Castilian ( /kæˈstɪliən/ ( listen ) , castellano ( help·info ) ) , is a Romance language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula and today has over 483 million native speakers , mainly in Spain and the Americas . It is a global language , the world 's second-most spoken native language , after Mandarin Chinese , and the world 's fourth-most spoken language , after Mandarin Chinese , English and Hindi . Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages , which 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 the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century . Beginning in 1492 , the Spanish language was taken to the viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire , most notably to the Americas , as well as territories in Africa , Oceania and the Philippines . A 1949 study by Italian-American linguist Mario Pei , analyzing the degree of difference from a language 's parent ( Latin , in the case of Romance languages ) by comparing phonology , inflection , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation , indicated the following percentages ( the higher the percentage , the greater the distance from Latin ) : In the case of Spanish , it is one of the closest Romance languages to Latin ( 20% distance ) , only behind Sardinian ( 8% distance ) and Italian ( 12% distance ) . Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin , including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek . Spanish vocabulary has been in contact with Arabic from an early date , having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula . With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin , this language makes up the second greatest vocabulary source after Latin itself . It has also been influenced by Basque , Iberian , Celtiberian , Visigothic , and by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages . Additionally , it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages , particularly other Romance languages - French , Italian , Andalusi Romance , Portuguese , Galician , Catalan , Occitan , and Sardinian - as well as from Quechua , Nahuatl , and other indigenous languages of the Americas . Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations .
Brasília ( /brəˈzɪliə/ , Portuguese : [ bɾaˈziljɐ ] ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District . The city is located atop the Brazilian highlands in the country 's center-western region . It was founded on April 21 , 1960 , to serve as the new national capital . Brasília is estimated to be Brazil 's third-most populous city . Among major Latin American cities , it has the highest GDP per capita . Brasília was planned and developed by Lúcio Costa , Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location . The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx . The city 's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities , such as the Hotel Sector , the Banking Sector , and the Embassy Sector . Brasília was chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning . It was named City of Design by UNESCO in October 2017 and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then . All three branches of Brazil 's federal government are centered in the city : executive , legislative and judiciary . Brasília also hosts 124 foreign embassies .
Brazil ( Portuguese : Brasil ; Portuguese pronunciation : [ bɾaˈziw ] ) , [ nt 1 ] officially the Federative Republic of Brazil ( Portuguese : República Federativa do Brasil , listen ( help·info ) ) , is the largest country in both South America and Latin America . At 8.5 million square kilometers ( 3.2 million square miles ) and with over 211 million people , Brazil is the world 's fifth-largest country by area and the sixth most populous . Its capital is Brasília , and its most populous city is São Paulo . The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states , the Federal District , and the 5,570 municipalities . It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas ; it is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations , due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world . Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east , Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers ( 4,655 mi ) . It borders all other countries in South America except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3% of the continent 's land area . Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest , home to diverse wildlife , a variety of ecological systems , and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats . This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries , and is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection . Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral , who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire . Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808 , when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro . In 1815 , the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal , Brazil and the Algarves .
The Latin American Integration Association / Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración / Associação Latino-Americana de Integração ( LAIA / ALADI ) is an international and regional scope organization . It was created on 12 August 1980 by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty , replacing the Latin American Free Trade Association ( LAFTA/ALALC ) . Currently , it has 13 member countries , and any of the Latin American States may apply for accession .
Montevideo ( Spanish pronunciation : [ monteβiˈðeo ] ) is the capital and largest city of Uruguay . According to the 2011 census , the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 ( about one-third of the country 's total population ) in an area of 201 square kilometres ( 78 sq mi ) . The southernmost capital city in the Americas , Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country , on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata . The city was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier , Bruno Mauricio de Zabala , as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region . It was also under brief British rule in 1807 . Montevideo is the seat of the administrative headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI , Latin America 's leading trade blocs , a position that entailed comparisons to the role of Brussels in Europe . The 2017 Mercer 's report on quality of life , rated Montevideo first in Latin America , a rank the city has consistently held since 2005 . As of 2010 [ update ] , Montevideo was the 19th largest city economy in the continent and 9th highest income earner among major cities . In 2019 , it has a projected GDP of $ 47.7 billion , with a per capita of $ 27,542 . In 2018 , it was classified as a beta global city ranking eighth in Latin America and 84th in the world . Montevideo hosted every match during the first FIFA World Cup , in 1930 . Described as a vibrant , eclectic place with a rich cultural life , and a thriving tech center and entrepreneurial culture , Montevideo ranked eighth in Latin America on the 2013 MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index .
Uruguay ( /ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/ ( listen ) ; Spanish : [ uɾuˈɣwai ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( Spanish : República Oriental del Uruguay ; Portuguese : República Oriental do Uruguai ) , is a country in the southeastern region of South America . It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east , with the Río de la Plata ( River of Silver ) to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast . Uruguay is home to an estimated 3.45 million people , of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city , Montevideo . With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometers ( 68,000 sq mi ) , Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America , after Suriname . Uruguay was inhabited by the Charrúa people for approximately 4,000 years before the Portuguese established Colónia do Sacramento in 1680 ; Uruguay was colonized by Europeans relatively late compared with neighboring countries . Montevideo was founded as a military stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century , signifying the competing claims over the region . Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828 , following a four-way struggle between Portugal and Spain , and later Argentina and Brazil . It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the 19th century , with the military playing a recurring role in domestic politics . A series of economic crises put an end to a democratic period that had begun in the early 20th century , culminating in a 1973 coup , which established a civic-military dictatorship . The military government persecuted leftists , socialists , and political opponents , resulting in several deaths and numerous instances of torture by the military ; the military relinquished power to a civilian government in 1985 . Uruguay is today a democratic constitutional republic , with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government . Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy , peace , low perception of corruption , e-government , and is first in South America when it comes to press freedom , size of the middle class and prosperity .
The African Union ( AU ) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa . The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte , Libya , on 9 September 1999 , calling for the establishment of the African Union . The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban , South Africa . The intention of the AU was to replace the Organisation of African Unity ( OAU ) , established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments ; the OAU was disbanded on 9 July 2002 . The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union , a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states . The AU 's secretariat , the African Union Commission , is based in Addis Ababa . The largest city in the AU is Lagos , Nigeria , while the largest urban agglomeration is Cairo , Egypt . The African Union has just over 1 billion people and an area of around 29 million km2 ( 11 million sq mi ) and includes popular world landmarks , including the Sahara and the Nile . The primary languages spoken include Arabic , English , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Swahili , and other languages of Africa . Within the African Union , there are official bodies such as the Peace and Security Council and the Pan-African Parliament .
The languages of the African Union are languages used by citizens within the member states of the African Union ( AU ) . For languages of the institution , see African Union : Languages .
Addis Ababa ( Amharic : አዲስ አበባ , Addis Abäba IPA : [ adˈdis ˈabəba ] ( listen ) , new flower ) or Addis Abeba , also known as Finfinne ( Oromo : Finfinne natural spring ) , is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia . According to the 2007 census , the city has a population of 2,739,551 inhabitants . As a chartered city , Addis Ababa also serves as the capital city of Oromia . It is where the African Union is headquartered and where its predecessor the Organisation of African Unity ( OAU ) was based . It also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( ECA ) , as well as various other continental and international organizations . Addis Ababa is therefore often referred to as the political capital of Africa for its historical , diplomatic and political significance for the continent . The city lies a few miles west of the East African Rift which splits Ethiopia into two , through the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate . The city is populated by people from different regions of Ethiopia . It is home to Addis Ababa University .
Ethiopia ( /ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/ ; Amharic : ኢትዮጵያ , ʾĪtyōṗṗyā , listen ( help·info ) , Tigrinya : ኢትዮጵያ , Oromo : Itiyoophiyaa , Somali : Itoobiya , Afar : Itiyoophiyaa ) , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa . It shares borders with Eritrea to the north , Djibouti to the northeast , Somalia , and the de facto state of Somaliland to the east , Kenya to the south , South Sudan to the west and Sudan to the northwest . With over 109 million inhabitants , Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent with a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres ( 420,000 sq mi ) . Its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa , which lies a few miles west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the Nubian and Somali tectonic plates . Some of the oldest skeletal evidence for anatomically modern humans has been found in Ethiopia . It is widely considered as the region from which modern humans first set out for the Middle East and places beyond . According to linguists , the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era . Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BCE , Ethiopia 's governmental system was a monarchy for most of its history . Oral literature tells that the monarchy was founded by the Solomonic dynasty of the Queen of Sheba , under its first king , Menelik I . In the first centuries , the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region , followed by the Ethiopian Empire circa 1137 . During the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa , Ethiopia and Liberia were two nations that preserved their sovereignty from long-term colonisation by a European colonial power and many newly-independent nations on the continent subsequently adopted its flag colours . However , the country was later occupied by Italy in 1936 and became Italian Ethiopia ( part of Italian East Africa ) until it was liberated during World War II .
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( Spanish : Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños ; Portuguese : Comunidade de Estados Latino-Americanos e Caribenhos ; French : Communauté des États latino-américains et caribéens ; Dutch : Gemeenschap van Latijns-Amerikaanse en Caraïbische Staten ; CELAC ) is a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states thought out on February 23 , 2010 , at the Rio Group-Caribbean Community Unity Summit , and created on December 3 , 2011 , in Caracas , Venezuela , with the signature of The Declaration of Caracas . It consists of 32 sovereign countries in the Americas . Due to the focus of the organization on Latin American and Caribbean countries , other countries and territories in the Americas , Brazil , Canada and the United States , as well as the overseas territories in the Americas of France ( Overseas departments and territories of France ) , the Netherlands ( Dutch Caribbean ) , Denmark ( Greenland ) and the United Kingdom ( British Overseas Territories ) are not included . CELAC is an example of a decade-long push for deeper integration within Latin America . CELAC was created to deepen Latin American integration and by some to reduce the significant influence of the United States on the politics and economics of Latin America . It is seen as an alternative to the Organization of American States ( OAS ) , the regional body that was founded by United States and 21 other Latin American nations originally as a countermeasure to potential Soviet influence in the region . CELAC is the successor of the Rio Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development ( CALC ) . In July 2010 , CELAC selected President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and President of Chile Sebastián Piñera , as co-chairs of the forum to draft statutes for the organization .
The Community of Sahel-Saharan States ( CEN-SAD ; Arabic : تجمع دول الساحل والصحراء ; French : Communauté des Etats Sahélo-Sahariens ; Portuguese : Comunidade dos Estados Sahelo-Saarianos ) aims to create a free trade area within Africa . There are questions with regard to whether its level of economic integration qualifies it under the enabling clause of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT ) .
Arabic ( Arabic : اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , al-ʿarabiyyah , [ al ʕaraˈbijːa ] ( listen ) or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , [ ˈʕarabiː ] ( listen ) or [ ʕaraˈbij ] ) is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE . It is now the lingua franca of the Arab world . It is named after the Arabs , a term initially used to describe peoples living in the area bounded by Mesopotamia in the east and the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west , in Northwestern Arabia and in the Sinai Peninsula . The ISO assigns language codes to thirty varieties of Arabic , including its standard form , Modern Standard Arabic , also referred to as Literary Arabic , which is modernized Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists ; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic , but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ , the purest Arabic ) or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ) . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities and is used to varying degrees in workplaces , government and the media . Arabic , in its standard form , is the official language of 26 states , as well as the liturgical language of the religion of Islam , since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic . During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe , especially in science , mathematics and philosophy . As a result , many European languages have also borrowed many words from it . Arabic influence , mainly in vocabulary , is seen in European languages - mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese and Catalan - owing to both the proximity of Christian European and Muslim Arab civilizations and almost 800 years of Arabic culture and language presence in the Iberian Peninsula , referred to in Arabic as al-Andalus . Sicilian has about 500 Arabic words , many of which relate to agriculture and related activities , [ full citation needed ] as a legacy of the Emirate of Sicily from the mid-9th to mid-10th centuries , while Maltese language is a Semitic language developed from a dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages , including Greek and Bulgarian , have also acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish .
French ( le français [ lə fʁɑ̃sɛ ] or la langue française [ la lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire , as did all Romance languages . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the spoken Latin in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul . Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl - languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium , which French ( Francien ) has largely supplanted . French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders . Today , owing to France 's past overseas expansion , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French . French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents , most of which are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie ( OIF ) , the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French . It is spoken as a first language ( in descending order of the number of speakers ) in France , the Canadian provinces of Quebec , Ontario and New Brunswick as well as other Francophone regions , Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ) , western Switzerland ( cantons of Bern , Fribourg , Geneva , Jura , Neuchâtel , Vaud , Valais ) , Monaco , partly in Luxembourg , the states of Louisiana , Maine , New Hampshire and Vermont in the United States , and in northwestern Italy ( region of Aosta Valley ) , and by various communities elsewhere . In 2015 , approximately 40% of the francophone population ( including L2 and partial speakers ) lived in Europe , 35% in sub-Saharan Africa , 15% in North Africa and the Middle East , 8% in the Americas , and 1% in Asia and Oceania . French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively , approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language .
Tripoli ( /ˈtrɪpəli/ ; Arabic : طرابلس , Ṭarābulus ) is the capital city and the largest city of Libya , with a population of about 2.358 million people in 2018 . It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert , on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay . It includes the port of Tripoli and the country 's largest commercial and manufacturing centre . It is also the site of the University of Tripoli . The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks , which includes the former family estate of Muammar Gaddafi , is also located in the city . Colonel Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks . Tripoli was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians , who gave it the Libyco-Berber name Oyat ( Punic : 𐤅𐤉‬‬𐤏‬𐤕‬ , Wyʿt ) before passing into the hands of the Greek rulers of Cyrenaica as Oea ( Greek : Ὀία , Oía ) . Due to the city 's long history , there are many sites of archaeological significance in Tripoli . Tripoli may also refer to the sha'biyah ( top-level administrative division in the current Libyan system ) , the Tripoli District . Tripoli is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West ( Arabic : طرابلس الغرب Ṭarābulus al-Gharb ) , to distinguish it from its Phoenician sister city Tripoli , Lebanon , known in Arabic as Ṭarābulus al-Sham ( طرابلس الشام ) , meaning 'Levantine Tripoli ' . It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean ( عروسة البحر ʿArūsat al-Baḥr ; lit : 'bride of the sea ' ) , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings . Tripoli is a Greek name that means 'Three Cities ' , introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli .
Libya ( /ˈlɪbiə/ ( listen ) ; Arabic : ليبيا , romanized : Lībiyā ) , officially the State of Libya ( Arabic : دولة ليبيا , romanized : Dawlat Lībiyā ) , [ dubious - discuss ] is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa , bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north , Egypt to the east , Sudan to the southeast , Chad to the south , Niger to the southwest , Algeria to the west , and Tunisia to the northwest . The sovereign state is made of three historical regions : Tripolitania , Fezzan and Cyrenaica . With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres ( 700,000 sq mi ) , Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa , and is the 16th largest country in the world . Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world . The largest city and capital , Tripoli , is located in western Libya and contains over one million of Libya 's six million people . The second-largest city is Benghazi , which is located in eastern Libya . The Latin name Libya is based on the name the region west of the Nile ( Λιβύη ) used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans for all of North Africa , and was first adopted during the Italian colonization since 1911 . Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures . The Phoenicians established trading posts in western Libya , and ancient Greek colonists established city-states in eastern Libya . Libya was variously ruled by Carthaginians , Persians , Egyptians and Greeks before becoming a part of the Roman Empire . Libya was an early centre of Christianity . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century , when invasions brought Islam to the region .
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ) is a free trade area with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini . COMESA was formed in December 1994 , replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981 . Nine of the member states formed a free trade area in 2000 ( Djibouti , Egypt , Kenya , Madagascar , Malawi , Mauritius , Sudan , Zambia and Zimbabwe ) , with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004 , the Comoros and Libya in 2006 , Seychelles in 2009 and Tunisia and Somalia in 2018 . COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community . In 2008 , COMESA agreed to an expanded free-trade zone including members of two other African trade blocs , the East African Community ( EAC ) and the Southern Africa Development Community ( SADC ) . COMESA is also considering a common visa scheme to boost tourism .
The South American Football Confederation ( CONMEBOL , /ˈkɒnmɪbɒl/ ; Spanish : Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol ; Portuguese : Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol or CSF ) is the continental governing body of football in South America ( apart from Guyana , Suriname , and French Guiana ) , and it is one of FIFA 's six continental confederations . The oldest continental confederation in the world , its headquarters are located in Luque , Paraguay , near Asunción . CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football 's major international tournaments . With 10 member football associations , it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA . CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups ( Brazil five , Uruguay two , and Argentina two ) , and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups . Argentina and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each , and Brazil has won one Olympic gold medal . It is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world . The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the toughest qualifiers in the world for their simple round-robin system , entry of some of the top national teams in the world , leveling of the weaker national teams , climate conditions , geographic conditions , strong home stands , and passionate supporters . Currently , [ when ? ] the Confederation is planning to create the first women 's qualification to the FIFA Women 's World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina . Juan Ángel Napout ( Paraguay ) was the president of CONMEBOL until 3 December 2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U.S. Justice Department 's bribery case involving FIFA . Wilmar Valdez ( Uruguay ) was interim president until 26 January 2016 when Alejandro Domínguez ( Paraguay ) was elected president .
Luque ( Spanish pronunciation : [ ˈlu.ke ] ) is a city in Central Department of Paraguay , part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area . Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding . It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War before relocation to San Estanislao . It is located at around 25°16′12″S 57°29′14″W / 25.27000°S 57.48722°W / -25.27000 ; -57.48722 . Luque is one of the most important cities in the country . The city counts as home of Paraguay 's main international airport , Silvio Pettirossi International Airport and the Ñu Guasú Park , which is where the Paraguayan Olympic Committee is also located . The continental governing body of association football in South America , CONMEBOL , has its headquarters approximately 3 minutes from the Airport , consisting of the South American Football Museum and walking distance from the Bourbon CONMEBOL Asunción Convention Hotel . When it existed , ARPA - Aerolíneas Paraguayas had its headquarters in the ARPA Terminal on the grounds of the airport . It is a center of production of Guitars and Paraguayan harps as well as Filigranas , gold and silver filigree jewelry including the seven-band ring Carretón de Siete Ramales . On 27 January 2016 , Paraguayan Newspaper La Nación had reported that Carlos Echeverría Estigarribia , the elected intendent of the city of Luque , states his intention of wanting Luque to be one of the most important cities .
Paraguay ( /ˈpærəɡwaɪ/ ; Spanish pronunciation : [ paɾaˈɣwaj ] ( listen ) ; Guarani : Paraguái , [ paɾaˈɰwaj ] ) , officially the Republic of Paraguay ( Spanish : República del Paraguay ; Guarani : Tetã Paraguái ) , is a country in South America . It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest , Brazil to the east and northeast , and Bolivia to the northwest . Although it is one of only two landlocked countries in South America ( the other is Bolivia ) , the country has coasts , beaches and ports on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers that give exit to the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway . Due to its central location in South America , it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de Sudamérica ( Heart of South America ) . Spanish conquistadores arrived in 1524 after navigating northwards from the Río de la Plata to the Paraná River , and finally up the Paraguay River . In 1537 , they established the city of Asunción , which was the first capital of the Governorate of Paraguay and Río de la Plata . Paraguay was the epicenter of the Jesuit Missions , where the Guaraní people were educated and introduced to Christianity and European culture under the direction of the Society of Jesus in Jesuit reductions , mainly during the 17th century . However , after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1767 , Paraguay increasingly became a peripheral colony , with few urban centers and settlers . Following independence from Spain at the beginning of the 19th century , Paraguay was ruled by a series of authoritarian governments who generally implemented nationalist , isolationist and protectionist policies . This period ended with the disastrous Paraguayan War , during which Paraguay lost at least 50% of its prewar population and around 25-33% of its territory to the Triple Alliance of Argentina , Brazil and Uruguay . In the 20th century , Paraguay faced another major international conflict - the Chaco War - against Bolivia , from which the Paraguayans emerged victorious . Afterwards , the country entered a period of military dictatorships , ending with the 35 year regime of Alfredo Stroessner that lasted until he was toppled in 1989 by an internal military coup .
Confederación Sudamericana de Natación ( CONSANAT ) is the South American Swimming Confederation , which oversees international aquatics competitions among South American countries . It is affiliated to FINA , the international federation for swimming , via ASUA , the swimming continental association for the Americas . CONSANAT formed on March 16 , 1929 in Santiago , Chile . Its office is currently located in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . CONSANAT organizes South American aquatics championships in diving , swimming , open water swimming , synchronized swimming , and water polo . It also maintains the South American Records and South American Junior Records .
Rio de Janeiro ( /ˈriːoʊ di ʒəˈnɛəroʊ , - deɪ - , - də -/ ; Portuguese : [ ˈhi.u d ( ʒi ) ʒɐˈne ( j ) ɾu ] ( listen ) ; River of January ) , or simply Rio , is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area and the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas . Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro , Brazil 's third-most populous state . Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site , named Rio de Janeiro : Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea , by UNESCO on 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape . Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese , the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro , a domain of the Portuguese Empire . Later , in 1763 , it became the capital of the State of Brazil , a state of the Portuguese Empire . In 1808 , when the Portuguese Royal Court transferred itself from Portugal to Brazil , Rio de Janeiro became the chosen seat of the court of Queen Maria I of Portugal , who subsequently , in 1815 , under the leadership of her son , the Prince Regent , and future King João VI of Portugal , raised Brazil to the dignity of a kingdom , within the United Kingdom of Portugal , Brazil , and Algarves . Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822 , when the War of Brazilian Independence began . This is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies . Rio de Janeiro subsequently served as the capital of the independent monarchy , the Empire of Brazil , until 1889 , and then the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 when the capital was transferred to Brasília . Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country , and 30th largest in the world in 2008 , estimated at about R $ 343 billion ( nearly US $ 201 billion ) . It is headquarters to Brazilian oil , mining , and telecommunications companies , including two of the country 's major corporations - Petrobras and Vale - and Latin America 's largest telemedia conglomerate , Grupo Globo . The home of many universities and institutes , it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil , accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data .
CONSUDATLE ( Spanish : Confederación Sudamericana de Atletismo ; South American Athletics Confederation ) is the continental confederation governing body of athletics for national governing bodies and multi-national federations within South America . CONSUDATLE is one of six area associations of the International Association of Athletics Federations ( IAAF ) . CONSUDATLE was founded on May 24 , 1918 , in Buenos Aires , Argentina . Therefore , the ConSudAtle claims to be the oldest athletics area federation of the world . The founder members were Argentina , Chile , and Uruguay . Successively , the other nations joined : Brazil in 1922 , Ecuador and Perú in 1925 , Bolivia in 1930 , and Colombia in 1937 . Venezuela and Paraguay followed later , and Panamá , Guyana and Suriname joined within the last decades .
Manaus ( /mɑːˈnaʊs/ ; Portuguese : [ mɐˈnaws , mɐˈnawʃ ] ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas . It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil , with an estimated 2019 population of 2,182,763 distributed over a land area of about 4,401.97 square miles ( 11,401 km2 ) . Located at the east center of the state , the city is the center of the Manaus metropolitan area and the largest metropolitan area in the North Region of Brazil by urban landmass . It is situated near the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers . The city was founded in 1669 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro . It was elevated to a town in 1832 with the name of Manaus , an altered spelling of the indigenous Manaós peoples , and legally transformed into a city on October 24 , 1848 , with the name of Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro , Portuguese for The City of the Margins of the Black River . On September 4 , 1856 it returned to its original name . Manaus is located in the center of the world 's largest rainforest , and home to the National Institute of Amazonian Research , being the most important center for scientific studies in the Amazon region and for international sustainability issues . It was known at the beginning of the century , as Heart of the Amazon and City of the Forest . Currently its main economic engine is the Industrial Park of Manaus , a Free Economic Zone . The city has a free port and an international airport . Its manufactures include electronics , chemical products , and soap ; there are distilling and ship construction industries .
Sudamérica Rugby ( previously known as Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby ( abbrevriated CONSUR ) between 1988 and 2015 ) , is the governing body for rugby union within South America and most of Central America . It was created on 14 October 1989 in Montevideo on the initiative of Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Paraguay , and Uruguay , counting with a total of 16 unions . The confederation currently has nine full World Rugby member nations , with one associate member , and is responsible for running various rugby tournaments within South America , especially the South American Rugby Championship .
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol ( CSV ) or Portuguese Confederação Sul-americana de Voleibol is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in South America . Its headquarters is located in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil .
The Economic Community of Central African States ( ECCAS ; French : Communauté Économique des États de l'Afrique Centrale , CEEAC ; Spanish : Comunidad Económica de los Estados de África Central , CEEAC ; Portuguese : Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Central , CEEAC ) is an Economic Community of the African Union for promotion of regional economic co-operation in Central Africa . It aims to achieve collective autonomy , raise the standard of living of its populations and maintain economic stability through harmonious cooperation .
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon , in western central Africa . The city is a port on the Komo River , near the Gulf of Guinea , and a trade center for a timber region . As of the 2013 census [ update ] , its population was 703,904 .
Gabon ( /ɡəˈbɒn/ ; French pronunciation : ​ [ ɡabɔ̃ ] ) , officially the Gabonese Republic ( French : République gabonaise ) , is a country on the west coast of Central Africa . Located on the equator , Gabon is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest , Cameroon to the north , the Republic of the Congo on the east and south , and the Gulf of Guinea to the west . It has an area of nearly 270,000 square kilometres ( 100,000 sq mi ) and its population is estimated at 2.1 million people . Its capital and largest city is Libreville . Since its independence from France in 1960 , the sovereign state of Gabon has had three presidents . In the early 1990s , Gabon introduced a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions . Abundant petroleum and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa , with the 7th highest HDI and the fourth highest GDP per capita ( PPP ) ( after Mauritius , Equatorial Guinea and Seychelles ) in the region . GDP grew by more than 6% per year from 2010 to 2012 . However , because of inequality in income distribution , a significant proportion of the population remains poor .
The Economic Community of West African States , also known as ECOWAS , is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa . Collectively , these countries comprise an area of 5,114,162 km2 ( 1,974,589 sq mi ) , and in 2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million . The union was established on 28 May 1975 , with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos , with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region . A revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou . Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent-wide African Economic Community ( AEC ) , the stated goal of ECOWAS is to achieve collective self-sufficiency for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union . ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region , with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene in the bloc 's member countries at times of political instability and unrest . In recent years these included interventions in Ivory Coast in 2003 , Liberia in 2003 , Guinea-Bissau in 2012 , Mali in 2013 , and The Gambia in 2017 . ECOWAS includes two sub-regional blocs :
Abuja ( /əˈbuːdʒə/ ) is the capital city of Nigeria located in the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT ) . It is a planned city and was built mainly in the 1980s , replacing the country 's most populous city of Lagos as the capital on 12 December 1991 . Abuja 's geography is defined by Aso Rock , a 400-metre ( 1,300 ft ) monolith left by water erosion . The Presidential Complex , National Assembly , Supreme Court and much of the city extend to the south of the rock . Zuma Rock , a 792-metre ( 2,598 ft ) monolith , lies just north of the city on the expressway to Kaduna . At the 2006 census , the city of Abuja had a population of 776,298 , making it one of the ten most populous cities in Nigeria . According to the United Nations , Abuja grew by 139.7% between 2000 and 2010 , making it the fastest growing city in the world . As of 2015 [ update ] , the city is experiencing an annual growth of at least 35% , retaining its position as the fastest-growing city on the African continent and one of the fastest-growing in the world . As at 2016 , the metropolitan area of Abuja is estimated at six million persons , placing it behind only Lagos , as the most populous metro area in Nigeria . Major religious sites include the Nigerian National Mosque and the Nigerian National Christian Centre . The city is served by the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport . Abuja is known for being one of the few purpose-built capital cities in Africa , as well as being one of the wealthiest .
Nigeria ( /naɪˈdʒɪəriə/ ( listen ) ) , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria , is a country in West Africa , bordering Niger in the north , Chad in the northeast , Cameroon in the east , and Benin in the west . Its coast in the south is located on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean . The federation comprises 36 states and 1 Federal Capital Territory , where the capital , Abuja , is located . The constitution defines Nigeria as a democratic secular state. , Nigeria has been home to a number of ancient and indigenous kingdoms and states over the millennia . The modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century , and took its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914 by Lord Fredrick Lugard . The British set up administrative and legal structures while practicing indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms , Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960 . It experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970 . It thereafter alternated between democratically elected civilian governments and military dictatorships until it achieved a stable democracy in 1999 , with the 2011 presidential election considered the first to be reasonably free and fair . Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa , owing to its large population and economy . With 206 million inhabitants , Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world . Nigeria has the third-largest youth population in the world , after India and China , with more than 90 million of its population under the age of eighteen . Nigeria is the world 's 20th largest economy as of 2015 [ update ] , worth more than $ 500 billion and $ 1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity , respectively .
The European Union ( EU ) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe . Its members have a combined area of 4,233,255.3 km2 ( 1,634,469.0 sq mi ) and an estimated total population of about 447 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters , and only those matters , where members have agreed to act as one . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries and regional development . For travel within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 , coming into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . The EU and European citizenship were established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993 . The EU traces its origins to the European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC ) and the European Economic Community ( EEC ) , established , respectively , by the 1951 Treaty of Paris and 1957 Treaty of Rome . The original members of what came to be known as the European Communities were the Inner Six : Belgium , France , Italy , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and West Germany . The Communities and their successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to their remit . The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU , the Treaty of Lisbon , came into force in 2009 . In January 2020 , the United Kingdom became the first member state ever to leave the EU .
The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union ( EU ) . The EU has 24 official languages , of which three ( English , French and German ) have the higher status of procedural languages of the European Commission ( whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working languages ) . One language ( Irish ) previously had the lower status of treaty language before being upgraded to an official and working language in 2007 , although it has been temporarily derogated as a working language until 2021 due to difficulty finding qualified translators . The three procedural languages are those used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU . The designation of Irish as a treaty language meant that only the treaties of the European Union were translated into Irish , whereas Legal Acts of the European Union adopted under the treaties ( like Directives and Regulations ) did not have to be . Luxembourgish and Turkish ( which have official status in Luxembourg and Cyprus , respectively ) are the only two national languages in the EU that are not official languages of the EU . The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity . This principle is enshrined in the EU Charter of fundamental rights ( art . 22 ) and in the Treaty on European Union ( art . 3 ( 3 ) TEU ) . In the European Union , language policy is the responsibility of member states and EU does not have a common language policy ; European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field , based on the principle of subsidiarity , they promote a European dimension in the member states ' language policies . The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual ; specifically , it encourages them to be able to speak two languages in addition to their native language .
Brussels ( French : Bruxelles [ bʁysɛl ] ( listen ) or [ bʁyksɛl ] ; Dutch : Brussel [ ˈbrʏsəl ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Brussels-Capital Region ( French : Région de Bruxelles-Capitale ; [ a ] Dutch : Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest ) , [ b ] is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities , including the City of Brussels , which is the capital of Belgium . The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community , but is separate from the Flemish Region ( which forms an enclave ) and the Walloon Region . Brussels is the most densely populated and the richest region in Belgium in terms of GDP per capita . It covers 162 km2 ( 63 sq mi ) , a relatively small area compared to the two other regions , and has a population of over 1.2 million . The metropolitan area of Brussels comprises over 2.5 million people , which makes it the largest in Belgium . It is also part of a large conurbation extending towards Ghent , Antwerp , Leuven and Walloon Brabant , home to over 5 million people . Brussels grew from a small rural settlement on the river Senne to become an important city-region in Europe . Since the end of the Second World War , it has been a major centre for international politics and home to numerous international organisations , politicians , diplomats and civil servants . Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union , as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions , including its administrative-legislative , executive-political , and legislative branches ( though the judicial branch is located in Luxembourg , and the European Parliament meets for a minority of the year in Strasbourg ) [ c ] . Its name is sometimes used metonymically to describe the EU and its institutions . The secretariat of the Benelux and headquarters of NATO are also located in Brussels . As the economic capital of Belgium and one of the top financial centres of Western Europe with Euronext Brussels , it is classified as an Alpha global city .
Belgium , [ A ] officially the Kingdom of Belgium , is a country in Western Europe . It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north , Germany to the east , Luxembourg to the southeast , France to the southwest , and the North Sea to the northwest . It covers an area of 30,689 km2 ( 11,849 sq mi ) and has a population of more than 11.5 million , making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe , with a density of 376 per square kilometre ( 970/sq mi ) . The capital and largest city is Brussels ; other major cities are Antwerp , Ghent , Charleroi and Liège . The sovereign state is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system . Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds . It is divided into three highly autonomous regions : the Flemish Region in the north , Wallonia in the south , and the Brussels-Capital Region . Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region , as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita . Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities : the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community , which constitutes about 60 percent of the population , and the French-speaking Community , which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians . A small German-speaking Community , numbering around one percent , exists in the East Cantons . The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual ( French and Dutch ) , although French is the dominant language . Belgium 's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance , made up of six different governments .
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association [ a ] ( FIFA /ˈfiːfə/ FEE-fə ; French for International Federation of Association Football ; Spanish : Federación Internacional de Fútbol Asociación ; German : Internationaler Verband des Association Football ) is a non-profit organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football , fútsal , beach soccer , and efootball . It is the highest governing body of football . FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium , Denmark , France , Germany , the Netherlands , Spain , Sweden , and Switzerland . Headquartered in Zürich , its membership now comprises 211 national associations . Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided : Africa , Asia , Europe , North & Central America and the Caribbean , Oceania , and South America . Today , FIFA outlines a number of objectives in the organizational Statues , including growing football internationally , providing efforts to ensure football is accessible to everyone , and advocating for integrity and fair play . FIFA is responsible for the organization and promotion of football 's major international tournaments , notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women 's World Cup which commenced in 1991 . Although FIFA does not solely set the rules of football , that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board of which FIFA is a member , it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions . All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorship ; in 2018 , FIFA had revenues of over US $ 4.6 billion , ending the 2015-2018 cycle with a net positive of US $ 1.2 billion , and had cash reserves of over US $ 2.7 billion . Reports by investigative journalists have linked FIFA leadership with corruption , bribery , and vote-rigging related to the election of FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the organization 's decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar , respectively . These allegations led to the indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate executives by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges including racketeering , wire fraud , and money laundering . On 27 May 2015 , several of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities , who were launching a simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the organization awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups .
Russian ( русский язык , tr . rússky yazýk ) is an East Slavic language , which is an official language in Russia , Belarus , Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan , as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe , the Baltic states , the Caucasus and Central Asia . It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991 . Although nearly three decades have passed since the breakup of the Soviet Union , Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states , as well as in Israel and Mongolia . Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages , one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages , and part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch . Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onward . Russian is the largest native language in Europe and the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia . It is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages , with 144 million speakers in Russia , Ukraine and Belarus . Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the seventh by total number of speakers . The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet , after English . Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without , the so-called soft and hard sounds .
Zürich ( German : Zürich ; French : Zurich ; Italian : Zurigo ; Romansh : Turitg ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich . It is located in north-central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich . The municipality has approximately 430,000 inhabitants , the urban area ( agglomeration ) 1.315 million and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million . Zürich is a hub for railways , roads , and air traffic . Both Zurich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country . Permanently settled for over 2,000 years , Zürich was founded by the Romans , who , in 15 BC , called it Turicum . However , early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years ( although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early ) . During the Middle Ages , Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and , in 1519 , became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli . The official language of Zürich is German , [ a ] but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect , Zürich German . Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city , including the Swiss National Museum , the Kunsthaus and newer Theater 11 in Oerlikon . Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world . Zürich is among the world 's largest financial centres despite having a relatively small population .
Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a country situated in the confluence of western , central , and southern Europe . [ note 4 ] It is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons , with federal authorities seated in Bern . [ note 1 ] Switzerland is a landlocked country bordered by Italy to the south , France to the west , Germany to the north , and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east . It is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau , the Alps , and the Jura , spanning a total area of 41,285 km2 ( 15,940 sq mi ) , and land area of 39,997 km2 ( 15,443 sq mi ) . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory , the Swiss population of approximately 8.5 million is concentrated mostly on the plateau , where the largest cities are located , among them the two global cities and economic centres of Zürich and Geneva . The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the late medieval period , resulting from a series of military successes against Austria and Burgundy . Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 . The Federal Charter of 1291 is considered the founding document of Switzerland which is celebrated on Swiss National Day . Since the Reformation of the 16th century , Switzerland has maintained a strong policy of armed neutrality ; it has not fought an international war since 1815 and did not join the United Nations until 2002 . Nevertheless , it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world . Switzerland is the birthplace of the Red Cross , one of the world 's oldest and best known humanitarian organisations , and is home to numerous international organisations , including the second largest UN office . It is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association , but notably not part of the European Union , the European Economic Area or the Eurozone .
The Inter-American Development Bank ( IADB or IDB or BID ) is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean . Established in 1959 , the IDB supports Latin American and Caribbean economic development , social development and regional integration by lending to governments and government agencies , including State corporations . The IDB has four official languages : English , French , Portuguese , and Spanish . Its official names in the other three languages are as follows :
Washington , D.C. , ( /ˈwɑːʃɪŋtən ˌdiːˈsiː/ ) formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as D.C. , Washington , or The District , is the capital of the United States . Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country , Washington was named after George Washington , the first president of the United States and a Founding Father . As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations , Washington is an important world political capital . The city , located on the Potomac River bordering Maryland and Virginia , is one of the most visited cities in the world , with more than 20 million tourists annually . The signing of the Residence Act on July 16 , 1790 , approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country 's East Coast . The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress , and the District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state . The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district , which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria . The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital . In 1846 , Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia , including the city of Alexandria ; in 1871 , it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the District . Washington had an estimated population of 702,455 as of July 2018 [ update ] , making it the 20th most populous city in the United States . Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city 's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek . Washington 's metropolitan area , the country 's sixth largest ( including parts of Maryland , Virginia and West Virginia ) , had a 2017 estimated population of 6.2 million residents .
The United States of America ( USA ) , commonly known as the United States ( U.S. or US ) or America , is a country consisting of 50 states , a federal district , five major self-governing territories , and various possessions . [ g ] At 3.8 million square miles ( 9.8 million km2 ) , it is the world 's third or fourth-largest country by total area [ b ] and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe . Most of the country is located in central North America between Canada and Mexico . With an estimated population of over 328 million , the U.S. is the third most populous country in the world . The capital is Washington , D.C. , and the most populous city is New York City . Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago . European colonization began in the 16th century . The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast . Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies led to the American Revolutionary War lasting between 1775 and 1783 , leading to independence . The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century - gradually acquiring new territories , displacing Native Americans , and admitting new states - until by 1848 it spanned the continent . During the second half of the 19th century , the American Civil War led to the abolition of slavery in the United States . The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country 's status as a global military power .
The Latin Union was an international organization of nations that used Romance languages that existed as a functional institution from 1983 to 2012 . Its aim was to protect , project , and promote the common cultural heritage of Latin peoples and unifying identities of the Latin , and Latin-influenced , world . It was created in 1954 in Madrid , Spain , and its membership rose from 12 to 36 states , including countries in North America , South America , Europe , Africa , and the Asia-Pacific region . The official names of the Latin Union were : Union Latine in French , Unione Latina in Italian , União Latina in Portuguese , Uniunea Latină in Romanian , Unión Latina in Spanish , and Unió Llatina in Catalan . Due to financial difficulties , the Latin Union announced on 26 January 2012 the suspension of its activities , the dissolution of its Secretariat General ( effective July 31 , 2012 ) and termination of employment for all the organization 's personnel .
Catalan ( /ˈkætəlæn , -ən , ˌkætəˈlæn/ ; autonym : català ; Eastern Catalan : [ kətəˈla ] ) is a Western Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia , in northeastern modern Spain . It is the only official language of Andorra , and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia , the Balearic Islands and Valencia ( where the language is known as Valencian ) . It also has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero . It is also spoken in the eastern strip of Aragon , in some villages of the region of Murcia called Carche and in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France . These territories are often called Països Catalans or Catalan Countries . Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees . 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival , culminating in the early 1900s .
Italian ( italiano [ itaˈljaːno ] ( listen ) or lingua italiana [ ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna ] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family . Italian descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire and , together with Sardinian , is by most measures the closest language to it of the Romance languages . Italian is an official language in Italy , Switzerland ( where it is the first language in Canton Ticino and in the districts of Moesa and Bernina in Canton Graubünden ) , San Marino and Vatican City . It has an official minority status in western Istria ( Croatia and Slovenia ) . It formerly had official status in Albania , Malta , Monaco , Montenegro ( Kotor ) and Greece ( Ionian Islands and Dodecanese ) , and is generally understood in Corsica ( due to its close relation with the Tuscan-influenced local language ) and Savoie . It also used to be an official language in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa , where it still plays a significant role in various sectors . Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries . Many speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian ( either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and other regional languages . Italian is a major European language , being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the fourth most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 69 million native speakers ( 13% of the EU population ) and it is spoken as a second language by 16 million EU citizens ( 3% ) . Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries ( such as Switzerland and Albania ) and on other continents , the total number of speakers is around 90 million .
Romanian ( dated Rumanian or Roumanian ; autonym : limba română [ ˈlimba roˈmɨnə ] ( listen ) , the Romanian language , or românește , lit . in Romanian ) is a Balkan Romance language spoken by approximately 24-26 million people as a native language , primarily in Romania and Moldova , and by another 4 million people as a second language . It is an official and national language of both Romania and Moldova and is one of the official languages of the European Union . Romanian is a part of the Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages , a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin , which was separated from the Western Romance during the 5th-8th centuries . To distinguish it within that group in comparative linguistics it is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives , Aromanian , Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian . Romanian is also known as Moldovan in Moldova , although the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled in 2013 that the official language of the republic is Romanian . [ nb 1 ] Numerous immigrant Romanian speakers are also scattered across many other regions and countries worldwide , with large populations in Italy , Spain , Germany , Russia , Canada , and the United States .
Paris ( French pronunciation : ​ [ paʁi ] ( listen ) ) is the capital and most populous city of France , with a population of 2,148,271 residents ( official estimate , 1 January 2020 ) in an area of 105 square kilometres ( 41 square miles ) . Since the 17th century , Paris has been one of Europe 's major centres of finance , diplomacy , commerce , fashion , science and the arts . The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France , or Paris Region , which has an estimated official 2020 population of 12,278,210 , or about 18 percent of the population of France . The Paris Region had a GDP of €709 billion ( $ 808 billion ) in 2017 . According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018 , Paris was the second most expensive city in the world , after Singapore , and ahead of Zürich , Hong Kong , Oslo and Geneva . Another source ranked Paris as most expensive , on a par with Singapore and Hong Kong , in 2018 . The city is a major railway , highway and air-transport hub served by two international airports : Paris-Charles de Gaulle ( the second busiest airport in Europe ) and Paris-Orly . Opened in 1900 , the city 's subway system , the Paris Métro , serves 5.23 million passengers daily ; it is the second busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow Metro . Gare du Nord is the 24th busiest railway station in the world , but the first located outside Japan , with 262 million passengers in 2015 . Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks : the Louvre was among most visited art museums in the world in 2019 , with 9.6 million visitors . The Musée d'Orsay , Musée Marmottan Monet , and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art , the Pompidou Centre Musée National d'Art Moderne has the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe , and the Musée Rodin and Musée Picasso exhibit the works of the two noted Parisians . The historical district along the Seine in the city centre is classified as a UNESCO Heritage Site , and popular landmarks in the city centre included the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris , now closed for renovation after the 15 April 2019 fire .
France ( French : [ fʁɑ̃s ] ( listen ) ) , officially the French Republic ( French : République française , pronounced [ ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ( listen ) ) , is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . [ XIII ] The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . It is bordered by Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast , Switzerland and Italy to the east , and Andorra and Spain to the south . The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . The country 's 18 integral regions ( five of which are situated overseas ) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres ( 248,573 sq mi ) and a total population of 67.02 million ( as of July 2019 [ update ] ) . France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban areas include Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lille and Nice . France , including its overseas territories , has the most number of time zones of any country , with a total of 12 . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . Rome annexed the area in 51 BC , holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476 , who formed the Kingdom of Francia . The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into East Francia , Middle Francia and West Francia . West Francia , which became the Kingdom of France in 987 , emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , following its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337-1453 ) .
Mercosur ( in Spanish ) , Mercosul ( in Portuguese ) , or Ñemby Ñemuha ( in Guarani ) , officially Southern Common Market , is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994 . Its full members are Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay . Venezuela is a full member but has been suspended since 1 December 2016 . Associate countries are Bolivia , Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , Guyana , Peru and Suriname . Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico . Its members have a combined area of 13,771,194 km² and a population of 264 million people if counting only the full member states . The official languages are Spanish , Portuguese , and Guarani . Mercosur 's origins are linked to the discussions for the constitution of a regional economic market for Latin America , which go back to the treaty that established the Latin American Free Trade Association in 1960 , which was succeeded by the Latin American Integration Association in the 1980s . At the time , Argentina and Brazil made progress in the matter , signing the Iguaçu Declaration ( 1985 ) , which established a bilateral commission , which was followed by a series of trade agreements the following year . The Integration , Cooperation and Development Treaty , signed between both countries in 1988 , set the goal of establishing a common market , to which other Latin American countries could join . Paraguay and Uruguay joined the process and the four countries became signatories to the Treaty of Asunción ( 1991 ) , which established the Southern Common Market , a trade alliance aimed at boosting the regional economy , moving goods , people among themselves , workforce and capital . Initially a free trade zone was established , in which the signatory countries would not tax or restrict each other 's imports .