In order of numbers, after the Portuguese, the immigrants have come from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Poland, and the Middle East. The largest Japanese community outside Japan is in Sao Paulo. Despite class distinctions, national identity is strong, and racial friction is a relatively new phenomenon. Their numbers are rapidly declining as contact with the outside world and commercial expansion into the interior increase. Brazilian government programs to establish reservations and to provide other forms of assistance have been in effect for years but are increasingly controversial.
Brazil is the only Portuguese speaking nation in the Americas.
The globe represents the sky and the vastness of the states and capital, and green and yellow signify forest and mineral wealth. Recent archeological discoveries suggest that Brazil may have been inhabited as long ago as 40,000 years ago. Additional research must be undertaken before these hypotheses, which may push the history of Western Hemisphere human occupation back by as many as 20,000 years, are universally accepted. In addition, there is continuing speculation that Brazil may have been visited by the 15th century Portuguese explorers who sailed widely in the South Atlantic, trading with Africa and settling the Azores and Madeira Islands. Brazil was formally claimed in 1500 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral.