Today (26/07/2024) is Esperanto Day, an event observed every year to celebrate the birth of the Esperanto language.
On this date, in 1887, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof – a Jewish ophthalmologist from what is now Poland – published the world’s first Esperanto textbook, in which he carefully laid out the grammar and vocabulary of a language he had constructed by himself, and which (he hoped) anyone could learn with ease.
Zamenhof designed the language as a means of international communication and, in subsequent years, it became immensely popular. In particular, many left-wing activists regarded the language as a potentially unifying force for humanity and, as a result, generations of trade unionists, anarchists, socialists, and communists learned (and communicated) in Esperanto.
Today, there are approximately 100,000 speakers in more than 80 countries, and the language remains widely celebrated. Many Esperantists attend the annual World Esperanto Congress, which has taken place almost every year for over a century, and the language continues to play an important role in education across the world.
To all those who speak (or are learning to speak) Esperanto, BOA wishes you a very happy Esperanto Day: Feliĉan Esperanto-Tagon!