Atlas of languages English: A language is a system, used for communication, comprising a finite set of arbitrary symbols and a set of rules (or grammar) by which the manipulation of these symbols is governed. These symbols can be combined productively to convey new information, distinguishing languages from other forms of communication. The word language (without an article) can also refer to the use of such systems as a phenomenon.
Français: Le langage est la faculté de mettre en œuvre un système de signes linguistiques (qui constituent la langue) permettant la communication et l'expression de la pensée, ce qui est privatif des humains, et des sentiments, ce qui est commun aux animaux. La linguistique est l'étude scientifique du langage.
Español: Como concepto general, el lenguaje engloba a distintos medios utilizados para sostener la comunicación. El lenguaje verbal emplea signos que transmiten significados y que pueden articularse formando estructuras complejas que adquieren nuevas capacidades de significación (morfemas, palabras, oraciones, párrafos, textos). Filósofos como Martin Heidegger consideran que el lenguaje propiamente dicho es sólo privativo del hombre. Es famosa su tesis según la cual el lenguaje es la casa del ser (Haus des Seins) y la morada de la esencia del hombre.
العربية: اللغة نسق من الإشارات والرموز، يشكل أداة في المعرفة، وتعتبر اللغة أهم أدوات التفاهم والاحتكاك بين أفراد المجتمع في جميع ميادين الحياة. وبدون اللغة يتعذر نشاط الناس المعرفي. وترتبط اللغة بالتفكير ارتباطاً وثيقاً. فأفكار الإنسان تصاغ دوماً في قالب لغوي، حتى في حال تفكيره الباطني. فقط في اللغة تحصل الفكرة على وجودها الواقعي. واللغة ترمز إلى الأشياء المنعكسة فيها.
English: Orange: countries with a majority of speakers of Indo-European languages, Yellow: countries with an IE minority language with official status
Français : Le monde francophone
English: Francophone world
Español: El mundo francófono
Español: Mundo hispanohablante. Ver la leyenda para obtener una lista detallada de las fuentes utilizadas para generar el mapa.
English: Hispanophone world. See the legend for a detailed list of sources used to make the map
Français : Le monde hispanophone
English: Countries traditionally considered the Core of the Hispanidad. (Note that this is not the same as the Hispanophone.) See the legend for a detailed list of countries.
English: Countries where English is an official language.
中文:国家,英语是官方语言。
Español: Países donde el Inglés es un idioma oficial.
The WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Atlas of the World is an organized and commented collection of geographical, political and historical maps available at Wikimedia Commons. The main page is therefore the portal to maps and cartography on Wikimedia. That page contains links to entries by country, continent and by topic as well as general notes and references.
Every entry has an introduction section in English. If other languages are native and/or official in an entity, introductions in other languages are added in separate sections. The text of the introduction(s) is based on the content of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. For sources of the introduction see therefore the Wikipedia entries linked to. The same goes for the texts in the history sections.
Historical maps are included in the continent, country and dependency entries.
The status of various entities is disputed. See the content for the entities concerned.
The maps of former countries that are more or less continued by a present-day country or had a territory included in only one or two countries are included in the atlas of the present-day country. For example the Ottoman Empire can be found in the Atlas of Turkey.