Portuguese-speaking African countries

Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP)

Official languages	Portuguese
Established	1996
Member states	5+1

The PALOP, highlighted in red

The Portuguese-speaking African countries are a group of five African countries where the Portuguese language is the official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Together with Portugal, Brazil and East Timor, these countries form the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. In Portuguese the group of African countries is commonly referred to by PALOP, a colloquial acronym which means African Countries of Portuguese Official Language (Portuguese: Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa), also translated as "Portuguese-Speaking African Countries".^[1][2]

These five African countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire, which came to an end in the 1970s shortly after the Carnation Revolution military coup of 1974 in Lisbon. Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish colony between 1778 and 1968, was originally a Portuguese colony between 1474 and 1778. With Portuguese creoles and pidgins still spoken today, it annonced its intention to add Portuguese as the country's third official language, hoping thus to f be allowed into the CPLP, even though it shares to a limited degree only the historical and cultural background of the other countries.^[3], thus becoming technically a member of the PALOP.

The PALOP countries have many interchange protocols with Portugal^[4], the European Union^[5] and Brazil, as well as other entities, and receive aid from them in the fields of culture, education and Portuguese language development and preservation.

The PALOP countries consist of:

Former Portuguese colonies

•  Angola
•  Cape Verde
•  Guinea-Bissau
•  Mozambique
•  São Tomé and Príncipe

Portuguese colony (1474 - 1778), Spanish colony (1778 - 1968)

•  Equatorial Guinea (adopted the Portuguese language in 2011^{[citation needed]})

Members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).

See also

• Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• Geographic distribution of Portuguese
• Portuguese in Africa

External links

• Banco de Portugal: Economic Trends of the Portuguese-Speaking African Countries and East-Timor (2006-2007)

References

1. ^ Speech of the Ambassador Dulce Maria Pereira, executive secretary to the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries - CPSC - to the general assembly of the United Nations concerning HIV/AIDS, New York, June 25th to 27th, 2001.
2. ^ Roundup: Portuguese-Speaking African Countries Embrace New Era, article at the English People Daily online newspaper
3. ^ "Obiang convierte al portugués en tercer idioma oficial para entrar en la Comunidad lusófona de Naciones". Europa Press. 15 July 2007. http://www.guinea-ecuatorial.net/ms/main.asp?cd=ni5393.  (Spanish)
4. ^ Portuguese National Institute of Public Administration: Bilateral cooperation
5. ^ European Union press release: Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and Timor-Leste sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission (...). Brussels, 7 November 2007