people. It is, alongside the Japanese American population of the United States, the largest ethnic Japanese population outside Japan. There are also smaller communities of Korean and Chinese origin.
Photo of a Japanese family from 1928.
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European-Brazilians: Nearly one million Europeans arrived in Brazil by 1800; most of them colonists from Portugal. An immigration boom occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, when nearly six million Europeans immigrated to Brazil, most of them Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians and Germans. There also was a smaller quantity of Europeans that came from Poland and Ukraine.
� Portuguese: Most Brazilians are fully or partly of Portuguese ancestry. Portuguese settlers began arriving in 1500. Immigration increased during the 18th century and reached its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
� Spaniards: Spaniards came in large numbers to Brazil, starting in the late 19th century. Most of them were attracted to the work in the coffee plantations in the state of São Paulo. Today there are an estimated 15 million Brazilians of direct Spanish descent.
� Italians: Italians started arriving in Brazil in 1875. First they settled in rural communities across Southern Brazil. In the early 20th century, they mostly settled in the coffee plantations in the Southeast. 25 million Brazilians are of Italian origin, the largest number outside of Italy itself, most of them descended from Northern Italians.