Race and ethnicity in Brazil  Brazilian society is made up of a confluence of people of several different origins, from the original Native Brazilians, with the influence of Portuguese colonists and people of African descent. Other significant groups include Italians, Spaniards, Germans and Japanese. Brazil has seen greater racial equality over time. According to a recent review study, "There has been major, albeit uneven, progress in these terms since slavery, which has unfortunately not wholly translated into equality of income: only in 2010 did the black-to-white income ratio eclipse its 1960 level, although it appears to be at an all-time high. Education and migration were important factors in closing the gap, whereas school quality and discrimination may explain its persistence." The Brazilian population was formed by the influx of Portuguese settlers and African slaves, mostly Bantu and West African populations (such as the Yoruba, Ewe, and Fanti-Ashanti), into a territory inhabited by various indigenous tribal populations, mainly Tupi, Guarani and Ge. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in what is known as Great Immigration, new groups arrived, mainly of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and German origin, but also from Japan, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. When the Portuguese reached what is now called Brazil in 1500, its native population was probably composed of about 2.5 million Amerindians. Up to 1532, the Portuguese made no real effort to colonise the land, limiting to the establishment of "feitorias" to organise the trade of brazilwood. When it became clear that this policy would result in the land being taken by other European powers – namely the French and the Dutch – the Portuguese Crown decided to effectively occupy the territory by fostering agricultural activities – especially sugarcane crops – in Brazil. This resulted not only in the growth of the population of Portuguese origin, but also in the introduction of African slavery in Brazil. During the colonial period, the Portuguese prohibited any influx of other Europeans to Brazil. In consequence, the Portuguese and their descendants constituted the overwhelming majority of the White population of colonial Brazil. However, in the Southern Brazilian areas disputed between Portugal and Spain, a genetic study suggests that the predominant genomic ancestry of the Brazilian Gaúchos (inhabitants of the Pampas) may be Spanish, not Portuguese. Also a small number of Dutch settlers remained in the Northeast after the Portuguese retook Dutch Brazil and may have contributed to the demographic composition of Northeastern Brazil. Even then and after the country's independence in 1822, immigration to Brazil was mainly Portuguese, though a significant number of German immigrants settled in the Southern region.