ENGLISH+AS+A+GLOBAL+LANGUAGE

When Elizabeth I became Queen of England in 1558 there were about six million people in the world who spoke English. All of them could be found in the British Isles, and most of them in England. When Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952 there were fifty times as many native speakers of English in the world. They could be found in every corner of the globe.

Today there are 350 million people who have English as **their first language**. This means that English is their **mother tongue**. Many people today live in countries where English is **the official language** even though it is not a mother tongue. This means that the language is used in official documents and in business life. India, Singapore and several African countries fall into this category.

English is also the world's most important **lingua franca**- a language used in communication between two people that do not share the same native language. For example when a Norwegian person talks with someone from Japan they are most likely to use English. Another example is when politicians from Israel and Palestine negotiate, they do so in English.

At least 85% of the texts on Internet are in English. All pilots in international flights identify themselves in English.

How on earth did a language spoken by a few million people come to be **champion of the world?** Around 1600 people started to emigrate from England to Ireland and to the east-coast of America. Virginia in the North America became the first English colony outside the British Isles. North America was settled by English speakers. By the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population of the 13 colonies in North America was close to 4 million. Around 1900 the United States had a population of 70 million and had become the biggeste English-speaking country in the world.
 * IMPORTANT QUESTION:**


 * During the 20th century, the USA quickly took over from Britain as the motor behind the spread of English as a global language**. Today, with a population of 295 million, there are four times as many native-speakers of English in America as in any other nation.

The British Captain James Cook discovered an unknown southern continent in the 1770's-Australia. The discovery could not have come at a better time. Until the American War of Independence, Britain had sent criminals to Virginia. Now Australia seemed the perfect solution. It was far from England, barren and inhospitable. It was easy for the British soldiers to defeat the Aborigines who lived there.