The Portuguese ruler, King John III of…
1532 CE
The Portuguese ruler, King John III of Portugal, unwilling to personally shoulder the burden of defense of Brazil, prepares to divide the coast into swathes of land, fifty leagues apart.
He distributes these "captaincies" among well-connected Portuguese, hoping that each will take care of itself.
Fearing native attack, John III discourages development of the territory's vast interior.
Portuguese immigrants had begun to arrive with domestic animals, plants and seeds shortly after Martim Afonso de Souza’s 1530 survey of the Brazilian coast.
Sousa establishes the first coastal settlement in Brazil, São Vicente, as a proper village in 1532 on what has until now been the Porto dos Escravos ("Port of the Slaves"), operated by three Portuguese colonists who traffic in enslaved indigenous people captured by tribes allied to the Portuguese.
São Vicente, located near the present port of Santos, is titled Cellula Mater (Mother Cell) of Brazil for being the first organized town in the country.