Why does brazilians speak portuguese

An Editor and Senior Writer at Connectbrazil. His love of Brazilian music and culture is what prompted him to pen this story, but like most of us, he struggles mightily with Portuguese verbs, especially the irregular ones.

Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery. Connect Brazil. Halloween In Brazil. Latest news. All rights reserved. Why is this the case? History, of course! Laura Ling has the details in today's Seeker Daily report. In the 15th century, Christopher Columbus and other explorers discovered the New World, triggering a land grab competition between Spain and Portugal.

In , the two countries signed the Treaty of Tordesillas , which divided their claims. Spain was given rights to all lands west of the line of demarcation, while Portugal got everything to the east.

It wasn't a particularly great deal for Portugal. Going back to the late 15th century, many European navigators explored the Atlantic searching for new lands. Soon after Columbus discovered America, Spain rushed to secure sovereignty over it before any other country could do the same. Unfortunately for them, Portugal decided to embark on a journey to America as well.

In , Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which would divide their claims along a line of demarcation between the two empires.

Spain would gain access to all lands west of the line. On the other hand, Portugal was free to conquer everything to the east. Needless to say, there was much more land to be explored west of the line. Because of that, Spain was able to colonize most of what we know today as Latin America. And so, Spain started to colonize everything west of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Meanwhile, Portugal got only a small piece of land off the Atlantic. This amount of land was basically just the coast of Brazil, represented by the southeast and northeast regions of today.

However, another product became more and more economically interesting to Portugal: sugarcane. Quickly, sugarcane became the main crop in Brazil. Because of that, Brazilian plantation owners began migrating inland searching for more fertile land.