In 1669, the Portuguese established a colony further down the South American coastline along the Río de la Plata, which they called Colônia do Sacramento. With the first permanent Portuguese settlement in the region, livestock was introduced and began to spread far and wide over the territory. With the new settlers, the Portuguese decided to make a church-sanctioned settlement and, in 1736, created the Freguesia de São Pedro which covered what is today all of Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul.