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
Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) is an international organization founded in 1981 devoted to the study of the indigenous languages of North, Central, and South America. SSILA has an annual winter meeting held in association with the Linguistic Society of America's annual conference. Summer meetings are held in alternate years at venues near the LSA's Summer Institute. Presentations at SSILA meetings may be made in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Each year, SSILA accepts nominations for three awards, which are presented at