Portuguese-speaking African countries the European Union and the United Nations, and they work together to promote the development of culture and education and the preservation of the Portuguese language. Together with Portugal and Brazil in 1996, the Portuguese-speaking African countries established the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (, abbreviated to CPLP), which East Timor later joined in 2002 and Equatorial Guinea in 2014. Equatorial Guinea adopted Portuguese as its third official language in October 2011. Originally a Portuguese colony before it was claimed by Spain in 1778, Equatorial Guinea has adopted Portuguese as the country's third official language in order to be allowed
Women in the Americas most North American women were farmers, and had accepted supporting roles to their men, who performed hunting, trade, and diplomatic functions. Conquest by and contact with Europeans brought extreme changes to all of the inhabitants of the Americas. Disease and a lack of immunity to African and European diseases killed more than 80% of the Native population of the Americas within the first two centuries of the Colonial period. The main European groups which colonized and fought over control of the region included the Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. They established economic systems which benefited themselves, taking land and