Portuguese colonization of the Americas Bay. He and his nephew, Estácio de Sá, then founded the city of Rio de Janeiro in March 1567. In 1621, Philip II of Portugal divided the Governorate General of Brazil into two separate and autonomous colonies, the State of Maranhão and the State of Brazil. Regarding this period it is preferable to refer to "Portuguese America" rather than "Portuguese Brazil" or "Colonial Brazil", as the states were two separate colonies, each with their own governor general and government. Between 1630 and 1654, the Netherlands came to control part of Brazil's Northeast region, with their capital in Recife. The Portuguese
Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas necessity to create a hemispheric parliamentary organization became apparent at the first Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, Florida, USA, in December 1994. The Summit brought together the Chief Executives of every country in the Americas except for Cuba, with no input from the parliamentary/legislative branches of those countries. Since its creation, COPA has been an observer and participant at every subsequent Summit of the Americas: Santiago, Chile; Quebec City, Canada; and Mar del Plata, Argentina. COPA's membership includes all national and sub-national (provincial, state and territorial) parliamentarians or legislators from every country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.