South America has been colonized by multiple European countries.
Given a long history of colonialism , the overwhelming majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish , and societies and states commonly reflect Western traditions .	Portuguese	Portuguese language	Spanish	Spanish language	history of colonialism	European colonization of the Americas	Western traditions	Western culture
Other powers such as France also founded colonies in the Americas : in eastern North America , a number of Caribbean islands and small coastal parts of South America .	Americas	Americas	North America	North America	Caribbean	Caribbean	South America	South America	France	First French Empire
Portugal colonized Brazil , tried colonizing the coasts of present-day Canada and settled for extended periods northwest -LRB- on the east bank -RRB- of the River Plate .	Canada	Canada	Portugal	Portugal	Brazil	History of Brazil	River Plate	Ro de la Plata
