The dominant language spoken in Brazil is Portuguese. This stems from Brazil's colonial history, when it was a territory of Portugal from the 1500s until it gained independence in 1822. As a result, Portuguese evolved in Brazil, incorporating local dialects and vocabulary from Indigenous peoples, African languages, and immigrant communities. Today, Brazilian Portuguese has distinctive pronunciation, grammar, and expressions compared to the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and other nations. With over 200 million speakers, it is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world and a crucial part of Brazil's cultural identity and heritage.