Spread of the Latin script

<p>The spread of the Latin script has a long history, from its archaic beginnings in <a href="/facts/Latium/BNslyoU0">Latium</a> to its rise as the dominant <a href="/facts/Writing_system/ABG251A0">writing system</a> in <a href="/facts/Modernity/kkpjFrpr">modernity</a>. The ancestors of Latin letters are found in the <a href="/facts/Phoenician_alphabet/Vr4smuYg">Phoenician</a>, <a href="/facts/Greek_alphabet/1cHwB8Dg">Greek</a>, and <a href="/facts/Etruscan_alphabet/vSu8y2RQ">Etruscan alphabets</a>. As the <a href="/facts/Roman_Empire/l4E1aUuV">Roman Empire</a> expanded in <a href="/facts/Classical_antiquity/JBq8vEX9">classical antiquity</a>, the Latin script and <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">language</a> spread along with its conquests, and remained in use in <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italy</a>, <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberia</a>, and Western Europe after the <a href="/facts/Western_Roman_Empire/PkeT92o9">Western Roman Empire</a>'s disappearance. During the early and high <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">Middle Ages</a>, the script was spread by <a href="/facts/Christianisation/ofJwq42c">Christian missionaries</a> and rulers, replacing the <a href="/facts/Indigenous_language/9wq76ErQ">indigenous writing systems</a> of <a href="/facts/Central_Europe/VdxzSbJz">Central Europe</a>, <a href="/facts/Northern_Europe/u77t0yJI">Northern Europe</a>, and the <a href="/facts/British_Isles/4fBquvMU">British Isles</a>.
</p><p>In the <a href="/facts/Age_of_Discovery/Hy29CbgV">Age of Discovery</a>, the <a href="/facts/First_wave_of_European_colonization/1yV3BSrN">first wave of European colonization</a> saw the adoption of Latin alphabets primarily in the <a href="/facts/Americas/hEuUTL4K">Americas</a> and <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a>, whereas <a href="/facts/Sub-Saharan_Africa/p4u389aa">sub-Saharan Africa</a>, <a href="/facts/Maritime_Southeast_Asia/8Jk7HBF6">maritime Southeast Asia</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Pacific_Islands/AxJ5sXWp">Pacific</a> were Latinised in the period of <a href="/facts/New_Imperialism/2wXKdxn7">New Imperialism</a>. Realizing that Latin was now the most widely used script on Earth, the <a href="/facts/Bolsheviks/UAHzalnN">Bolsheviks</a> made efforts to develop and establish Latin alphabets for all languages in the lands they controlled in <a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">Eastern Europe</a>, <a href="/facts/North_Asia/mKVVcogV">North</a> and <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a>. However, after the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a>'s first three decades, these were gradually abandoned in the 1930s in favour of <a href="/facts/Cyrillic_script/0btN3oWC">Cyrillic</a>. Some post-Soviet <a href="/facts/Turkic_languages/RXqsmfgh">Turkic</a>-majority states decided to reintroduce the Latin script in the 1990s, following the 1928 example of <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a>. In the early 21st century, non-Latin writing systems were only still prevalent in most parts of the <a href="/facts/MENA/nzoEKNlK">Middle East and North Africa</a>, the <a href="/facts/Post-Soviet_states/usrFwWTU">post-Soviet states</a>, and <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asia</a>, and some <a href="/facts/Balkan/5Hy8ly0d">Balkan</a> countries.
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Spread of the Latin script open-in-new

Spread of the Latin script