Castillian, an alternative term for the Spanish language, traces its roots back to the Kingdom of Castile in the Iberian peninsula, where a dialect of Latin grew in importance and became the language of government and trade in the region.

Since 1844, Spanish has been one of the official languages of tiny Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony in Central Africa. The majority of the population speaks Spanish.

Cueta and Melilla are two cities on the northern coast of Africa that are part of Spain. Although Morocco claims these two enclaves, as well as some of Spain’s Mediterranean islands such as the uninhabited Isla Perejil, these claims are rejected by both Spain and the inhabitants of the areas. Cueta and Melilla are the only European territories in mainland Africa.

Ladino is a modern romance language based on old Castillian Spanish. Ladino conserves some phonetic features of 15th-century Castillian and is also highly influenced by Hebrew, Turkish, French and Greek. Ladino is spoken mainly by Sephardic Jews that were driven from Spain during the Reconquista that ended in 1492. Currently, most Sephardic, Ladino-speaking Jews live or lived in parts of Greece, Turkey, Israel, France, Brazil and other areas.

Llanito is a English-Spanish creole spoken by the inhabitants of the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Residents often code-switch between Spanish and English, being fluent in both. There are also many words that are not part of either English or Spanish, but are used in Gibraltar.