The news of the discovery of this new land soon reached Portugal, and the Crown of that country immediately made formal claim to the territory. Expeditions were sent out by King Manuel to explore this supposed island. One of these expeditions was in charge of Amerigo Vespucci, and it was he who ascertained, after a careful examination, that this new land was a continent and not an island. Wherever the Indians were seen they were questioned about gold and silver, but, although the natives told marvellous tales of wealth, no mines were located. The only object of commercial value seemed to be the dyewood, known as brazil-wood; and, in spite of the efforts of the Church to name the country Santa Cruz, the holy cross, the name Brazil soon supplanted all other names, and has clung to the country ever since, although religious names abound in the geography of Brazil. Scores of ships of various nationalities soon sought these shores for this precious wood, the commerce of which was exceedingly profitable. For a quarter of a century this land, teeming with fertility, remained unsettled, although explorations had been made from the mouth of the Amazon as far south as the Rio de la Plata. The resources of the country were fully appreciated, and Vespucci himself is credited with saying, that if Paradise did exist on this planet it could not be far from the Brazilian coast. The earliest permanent settlers of Brazil were mutineers from the ships bound for India. One of these, Diego Alvarez, was put ashore at Bahia; another, John Ramelho, was left at Santos; and the third, Aleixo Garcia, found his unsought habitation still farther south. Each of these men married daughters of local chieftains, and they, and their descendants, aided greatly in the final subjugation of the country, for they allied themselves with the incomers. The first serious effort to colonize the country was begun near Pernambuco, where an attempt was made to establish a sugar plantation. This, however, was soon destroyed by some French brazil-wood hunters. An expedition, consisting of four hundred persons, was sent out under Martino Affonso de Souza a short time afterwards. After sailing along the coast he finally dropped anchor, and established the little settlement of São Vicente, near the present city of Santos, in 1532.[6] It was not long after this that the Crown divided up the whole Brazilian coast into parallel strips, each extending fifty leagues along the coast, and running inland as far as the power of Portugal extended; and these sections, called _capitancias_, were given to court favourites. The grantee was given practically sovereign powers over this territory in return for a certain tax which he was expected to pay. As a result of this arrangement a number of permanent colonies grew up on Brazilian soil. Of all the _capitancias_, that which included Pernambuco became the most prosperous because it was in the track of all the vessels