Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the Earth outside Europe into Castilian and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest and colonization. Portugal colonized parts of South America (mostly Brazil), but also made some unsuccessful attempts to colonize North America in present-day Canada. Based on the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Portuguese Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by the Genoese explorer John Cabot in 1497 and 1498 on behalf of the
Portuguese-speaking African countries into the CPLP despite its limited historical and cultural commonalities with the other countries. Equatorial Guinea was traditionally not considered part of the PALOP and it was not a founding member of FORPALOP in June 2014, the recently created institution that includes the PALOP, a forum for political-diplomatic cooperation to deepen historical friendship ties and solidarity between these African states. It should however be noted that Portuguese is sparsely used throughout the country. It was admitted into the CPLP in 2014 and, subsequently, it became FORPALOP's sixth member. These five African countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire, which