Portuguese people them went there during the gold rush of the 18th century. Brazil received more European settlers during its colonial era than any other country in the Americas. Between 1500 and 1760, about 700,000 Europeans immigrated to Brazil, compared to 530,000 European immigrants in the United States. They managed to be the only significant European population to populate the country during colonization, even though there were French and Dutch invasions. The Portuguese migration was strongly marked by the predominance of men (colonial reports from the 16th and 17th centuries almost always report the absence or rarity of Portuguese women). This lack
Portuguese colonization of the Americas focus their efforts mainly on South America. Nonetheless, the Portuguese-founded towns of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, St. Peter's, St. John's, Conception Bay and surrounding areas of east Canada remains important as a cultural region, even today. In April 1500, the second Portuguese India Armada, headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral, with a crew of expert captains, including Bartolomeu Dias and Nicolau Coelho, encountered the Brazilian coast as it swung westward in the Atlantic while performing a large "volta do mar" to avoid becalming in the Gulf of Guinea. On 21 April 1500, a mountain was seen that was named "Monte Pascoal", and