How did it end up to where dozens of countries in The Americas spoke Spanish but only two spoke English, and one Portuguese?

by [deleted]
TreeOfMadrigal

This really boils down to a legacy of colonialism.

So Spain and Portugal get a huge head start when it comes to setting up colonies. The new world has been discovered, and is eagerly being explored. To keep things simple, Portugal, Spain, and the Pope Alexander the 6th set up a deal. They essentially drew a line down the middle of the Atlantic, giving everything west to Spain, and east to Portugal. The intent was that Portugal would control Africa, and Spain would get the new world. They were likely to fight over this had an agreement not been made.

So Portugal starts setting up shop on large swaths of the African coasts, and Spain gets established in the Caribbean and South America. Spain does explore parts of North America, but there's no gold, no tropical farmland in which to grow cash crops (tobacco had not really been discovered as a valuable commodity), and no large populations of natives to exploit. Spain pretty much doesn't bother colonizing North America at all. There's not much to be gained.

However as more exploration is done, it is discovered that a chunk of South America falls to the east of the line of Tordesillas. Spain argues that the intent of the agreement was that the new world was theirs, but Portugal insists that the law says one thing, and claims the land as their own. This new Portuguese colony will become Brazil, and is why Brazil speaks Portuguese.

England and France aren't really in on the imperialization bit. France is a very decentralized monarchy, and England is really still a 3rd rate power. It isn't until the 1588 defeat of the Spanish armada that England has an opportunity to try their hand at colonization, (as they can now project naval strength.) They first colonize Ireland, and later move onto North America. These new colonies are primarily interested in settling, but the Virginia colony thrives only as a tobacco plantation. France doesn't have the same need to settle excess population or get rid of religious dissidents, and has no interest in permanent settlement of the new world. They instead go for the low-quality of life, but high-profit trade of trapping, and set up many trade stations and fur trappers in many parts of Canada.

And what we're left with is a legacy of that pattern of settlement. Brazil speaks Portuguese, pretty much everything in Central and South America speaks Spanish, the US speaks English, and parts of Canada mainly influences by French traders speak French.

MagickNinja

Your numbers are incorrect but I'm not gonna be picky about it.

Check out this gif and you should understand a lot more about the languages in those areas.

As for South America, Portugal colonized Brazil and Spain basically got the rest. Spain also colonized the area that would be central America, and Mexico. In the rest of North America, England colonized the states and many French people went to Canada.