brazil's structure, legislation and settlement policies for arriving immigrants were much less organized than in canada and the united states at the time. nevertheless, an immigrant's hostel ("hospedaria dos imigrantes") was built in 1886 in são paulo, and quick admittance and recording routines for the throngs of immigrants arriving by ship at the seaports of vitória, rio de janeiro, santos, paranaguá, florianópolis and porto alegre were established. the são paulo state alone processed more than 2.5 million immigrants in its almost 100 years of continuous operation. people of more than 70 different nationalities were recorded.