Gallego is the official language of the region of Galicia in Spain, and is spoken by about 4 million people.
Gallego traces its roots back to the Celtic tribes that settled in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd century BC. The province of Galicia was formed when the Romans conquered the area around 137 BC. Roman soldiers infused their colloquialisms into the language, and later Germanic intruders also had an influence on what would eventually evolve into what is known as the Galician-Portuguese language (or Medieval Galician).
Modern Galician and modern Portuguese are descended from this single Latin-derived language. Gallego is considered very similar to Portuguese, with people from Galicia and northern Portugal being able to understand about 85% between each other.
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