The Expansion of the Language

Over the millenium the language grew, but by 1600 there was still only under 5 million speakers. How did the language take off and spread throughout the world to arrive with nearly 375 million speakers today? By 1800 the numbers had only increased to 9 million, but suddenly began to grow. By 1850, there were 17 million speakers. Up until the 1800s the numbers were only increasing due to expansion of the language into the British Isles, with little outside expansion into Europe or elsewhere. But it was not European expansion that increased these numbers but movement in North America. But in the early nineteenth century massive immigration into the continent began, resulting in 50 million speakers by 1880. This immigration and expansion continued and by the year 1950 there were 150 million speakers worldwide. Although, this increase was not entirely due to expansion in United States but also into Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.