The first European to reach the region may have been the
Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. The northeastern tip of South America,
Cape São Roque, to the north of Natal, was first officially visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by
Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the
saint of the day. The Vespucci expedition also named the
Potengi (
Tupi for "River of Shrimps") river, whose considerably large mouth contrasted with the nearby bodies of water, "Rio Grande" (Portuguese for "Great River"), after which the
Captaincy, Province, and State were named. For decades thereafter, no permanent European settlement was established in the area, inhabited by the
Potiguar tribe. In the 16th century (between 1535 and 1598), it was explored by French pirates in search for
brazilwood. In 1598, the
Portuguese built the
Forte dos Reis Magos and, in the following year, founded the city of
Natal. Raising cattle and sugarcane plantation lifted the local development and economy. In 1633, the area became a battleground between the expansionist Portuguese, seeking to take more land for their Brazilian territories, and the Dutch, who gained a foothold in South America. After a short period of peace and prosperity in
Olinda and
Recife, the sugar prices went down in the market of Amsterdam and the region entered into a serious economic crisis. The economic problems led the Portuguese settlers and native Brazilians to revolt against the Dutch in what is known today as the massacres of
Cunhaú and
Uruaçu. , one of the American air bases used during World War II. The religious confrontations (the Portuguese-Brazilian Catholicism and the Dutch
Calvinism), Portugal's restoration of the throne in 1640 and the reconquest of
Maranhão in 1643, lead the Portuguese-Brazilians to undertake the 1645 uprising, led by
André Vidal de Negreiros and
João Fernandes Vieira. The governor of
Bahia promised new Portuguese troops, but most of the rebels were Africans and Amerindians. In 1654, the Dutch were finally cast out. During World War II, Rio Grande do Norte was used as an
Allied airbase from which to launch
air raids on German-occupied North Africa. In 1964, Latin America's first
space launch site was constructed in Rio Grande do Norte;
Barreira do Inferno (Hell's Barrier), which was often referred to as the "Brazilian
NASA". ==Demographics==