<P> The land now called Brazil was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral . The Portuguese encountered Indigenous nations divided into several tribes, most of whom shared the same Tupi - Guaraní language family, and shared and disputed the territory . </P> <P> Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization was effectively started in 1534 when King John III divided the territory into fifteen hereditary captaincies . This arrangement proved problematic, however, and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor - General to administer the entire colony . The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes while others slowly disappeared in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity...</P> <P> By the mid-16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export due to the increasing international demand for sugar . To profit from the situation, by 1700 over 963,000 African slaves had been brought across the Atlantic to work in Brazil . More Africans were brought to Brazil up until that date than to all the other places in the Americas combined . </P> <P> Through wars against the French, the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory to the southeast, taking Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and to the northwest, taking São Luís in 1615 . They sent military expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and conquered English and Dutch strongholds, founding villages and forts from 1669 . In 1680 they reached the far south and founded Sacramento on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in the Banda Oriental region (present - day Uruguay). </P>

Who supported brazil’s independence after portugal was invaded by france