Lusophones or Lusófonos (in Portuguese) are all people who have Portuguese as their native or official language. They are called this because of the Portuguese colonization and maritime expansion that began in the 15th century. This process spread the language and culture to various continents.
The word "Luso" comes from Lusitania, an ancient Roman province that corresponds to a large part of Portugal, and "fono" means sound/voice. The Portuguese-speaking countries form the so-called "Community of Portuguese Language Countries", or in Portuguese: "Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa" (CPLP).
There are approximately 250 million native speakers and 20 million who have the language as a second language.
The official Portuguese-speaking countries are:
South America: Brazil.
Europe: Portugal.
Africa: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Asia: East Timor.
In addition to these nations, there are historical communities of speakers in regions such as Macau (China) and Goa (India).