São Paulo is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and has been inhabited since 12,000 BC when the first indigenous people arrived in the area. Portuguese and Spanish navigators arrived in the region in the 15th century. In 1532, Portuguese explorer Martim Afonso de Sousa founded the first European settlement in Portuguese America—the village of São Vicente. In the 17th century, the Bandeirantes intensified the exploration of the interior of the territory, which ended up expanding the domains of the Portuguese in South America, even beyond the borders determined by the Treaty of Tordesilhas.