Africa, the second largest continent, has over 2,000 distinct languages. Nigeria, its most populous country, is host to about 522 languages. Due to colonial rule, many countries in Africa designate either French or English as their official language. However, with its growing influence, there has been swelling support to make Swahili the lingua franca, or common language, for all of Africa. Swahili is one of the official languages of the African Union. Additionally, it was the first African language to be honored by the United Nations in its designation of July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day.