Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. When they land in Brazil for the first time the thought that was a Island then they called Island of Vera Cruz, after the first expeditions inside brazilian lands in the 16th century, the land was recognised to be a continent rather than an island. The name was thus changed to Terra de Vera Cruz. The country was subsequently divided for administration into the vice-kingdom of Brazil and that of Grão-Pará. When Portuguese explorers found trees of a deep red hue inside on the coast of South America, they used the name pau-brasil to describe them. Pau is Portuguese for "wood", and brasil is said to have come from brasa, Portuguese for "ember". This name had been earlier used to des