Portuguese colonization of the Americas won a significant victory in the Second Battle of Guararapes in 1649. By 1654, the Netherlands had surrendered and returned control of all Brazilian land to the Portuguese. In 1751, the State of Maranhão was restructured into the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão, with a new capital and government. In 1772, the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão was split into two new states, the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro and the State of Maranhão and Piauí. The new states would fare poorly and only last 3 years. In 1775, the three colonies of Portuguese America (the State of Brazil,
Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas Among the organization's affiliates is the Women's Parliamentarian Network. COPA operates in four languages, Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. For the first time since the II Conference in 2000, COPA's Executive Committee is scheduled to meet in the United States in late June (Los Angeles, California). Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas The Parliamentary Conference of the Americas, or COPA, was created in 1997 under the auspices of the United States' Council of State Governments and National Conference of State Legislatures, the Quebec National Assembly and a Brazilian legislative organization. The first Conference was held in Quebec City, Province of Quebec,