Haitian Creole (; , ) is a French-based creole language spoken by 9.6–12million people worldwide, and the only language of more than 95% of Haitians. It is a creole language based largely on 18th-century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, Taíno, and West African languages. Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic Slave Trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti). Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world.