As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations.

Juan de Cavallon of Spain leads the first successful colonizers into Costa Rica. Columbus discovered and named the area in 1502, but disease and resistance from the local population delayed permanent colonial establishment until 1561. Coffee is introduced from Cuba and becomes Costa Rica's main crop.