<P> Of the fifteen original captaincies, only two, Pernambuco and São Vicente, prospered . Both were dedicated to the crop of sugar cane, and the settlers managed to maintain alliances with Native Americans . The rise of the sugar industry came about because the Crown took the easiest sources of profit (brazilwood, spices, etc .), leaving settlers to come up with new revenue sources . The establishment of the sugar cane industry demanded intensive labor that would be met with Native American and, later, African slaves . Deeming the capitanias system ineffective, João III decided to centralize the government of the colony in order to "give help and assistance" to grantees . In 1548 he created the first General Government, sending in Tomé de Sousa as first governor and selecting a capital at the Bay of All Saints, making it at the Captaincy of Bahia . </P> <P> Tomé de Sousa built the capital of Brazil, Salvador, at the Bay of All Saints in 1549 . Among de Sousa's 1000 man expedition were soldiers, workers, and six Jesuits led by Manuel da Nóbrega . The Jesuits would have an essential role in the colonization of Brazil, including São Vicente, and São Paulo, the latter which Nóbrega co-founded . Along with the Jesuit missions later came disease among the natives, among them plague and smallpox . Subsequently, the French would resettle in Portuguese territory at Guanabara Bay, which would be called France Antarctique . While a Portuguese ambassador was sent to Paris to report the French intrusion, Joao III appointed Mem de Sá as new Brazilian governor general, and Sá left for Brazil in 1557 . By 1560, Sá and his forces had expelled the combined Huguenot, Scottish Calvinist, and slave forces from France Antarctique, but left survivors after burning their fortifications and villages . These survivors would settle Gloria Bay, Flamengo Beach, and Parapapuã with the assistance of the Tamoio natives . </P> <P> The Tamoio had been allied with the French since the settlement of France Antarctique, and despite the French loss in 1560, the Tamoio were still a threat . They launched two attacks in 1561 and 1564 (the latter event was assisting the French), and were nearly successful with each . By this time period, Manuel de Nóbrega, along with fellow Jesuit José de Anchieta, took part as members of attacks on the Tamoios and as spies for their resources . From 1565 through 1567 Mem de Sá and his forces eventually destroyed France Antarctique at Guanabara Bay . He and his nephew, Estácio de Sá, then established the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1567, after Mem de Sá proclaimed the area "São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro" in 1565 . By 1575, the Tamoios had been subdued and essentially were extinct, and by 1580 the government became more of a ouvidor general rather than the ouvidores . </P> <P> In 1580, King Philip II of Spain invaded Portugal after a crisis of succession brought about by King Sebastian of Portugal's death during a disastrous Portuguese attack on Alcácer Quibir in Morocco in 1578 . At the Cortes of Tomar in 1581, Philip was crowned Philip I of Portugal, uniting the two crowns and overseas empires under Spanish Habsburg rule in a dynastic Iberian Union . At Tomar, Philip promised to keep the empires legally distinct, leaving the administration of the Portuguese Empire to Portuguese nationals, with a Viceroy of Portugal in Lisbon seeing to his interests . Philip even had the capital moved to Lisbon for a two - year period (1581--83) due to it being the most important city in the Iberian peninsula . All the Portuguese colonies accepted the new state of affairs except for the Azores, which held out for António, a Portuguese rival claimant to the throne who had garnered the support of Catherine de Medici of France in exchange for the promise to cede Brazil . Spanish forces eventually captured the islands in 1583 . </P>

Which country came across the pacific to challenge the portuguese dominance of the trade in asia