The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during th: Countries with large communities of native speakers of English (the inner circle) include Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English, and South Africa, where a significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million),[71] the United Kingdom (60 million),[72][73][74] Canada (19 million),[75] Australia (at least 17 million),[76] South Africa (4.8 million),[77] Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million).[78] In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces.[79] The inner-circle countries provide the base from which English spreads to other countries in the world.[70]