Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Spanish derives from the Kingdom of Castile, a historical region in north-central Spain. The term Castile itself likely comes from the word for castle, reflecting the many fortifications that defined the area during the Middle Ages.
Antonio de Nebrija published his grammar book in Salamanca on the 18th of August 1492, marking the first time a modern European language received such formal treatment. This work established a systematic written standard of Spanish that emerged during the 13th century in Toledo.
Today approximately 519 million people speak Spanish as their native language according to recent estimates. Mexico contains the largest population of native speakers among all countries worldwide with over 112 million individuals speaking Mexican Spanish.
Equatorial Guinea stands alone as the only African nation where Spanish serves as an official language alongside French and Portuguese. The language holds official status in 20 different nations including most countries throughout Central and South America.
Mexican Spanish represents the national variety spoken by more than twenty percent of all global Spanish speakers exceeding 112 million individuals. Northern dialects within Spain traditionally held prestige but southern varieties have gained acceptance over recent decades.