The first exploratory expedition to the region was in 1545, and carried out by the administration of Tomé de Souza (1503–1579), the first governor-general of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. A fazenda, or large-scale plantation, was established Cabo da Ipueira in the 17th century by the Portuguese Theobaldo Miranda Pires de Carvalho. Before ending the seventeenth century a gold-mining group called the Sierra Assuruá settled in Belvedere Island created the 1st core population inhabited by Europeans.
^"Divisão Territorial do Brasil" (in Portuguese). Divisão Territorial do Brasil e Limites Territoriais, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). July 1, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2009.