The diagram illustrates the Romance language family tree, showing their evolution from Latin into the modern languages of Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian.
Overall, it is apparent that Latin was the foundational language, which later split into two forms. This division eventually led to the development of new languages that are well known today.
To begin with, Latin was divided into Classical Latin, which did not evolve further, and Vulgar Latin. The latter language gave rise to Sardinian and Continental Romance languages. This continental group then experienced a major split into the Eastern and Western-Italo branches.
Looking at the Western-Italo lineage, it further divided into Italo-Romance and Western languages. The former developed directly into modern Italian. Meanwhile, the Western branch split into two sub-categories: Gallo-Romance, which eventually became modern French, and Ibero-Romance. This Ibero-Romance line ultimately evolved into two modern languages, namely Portuguese and Spanish.
In contrast, the Eastern branch followed a different evolutionary path. It transitioned into Balkan-Romance, which subsequently formed Proto-Romanian. Finally, this line resulted in the modern Romanian language spoken today.