after independence and principally after 1850, southeast brazil was "inundated" by european immigrants, who were attracted by the government to replace the african slaves in the coffee plantations. most immigrants landed in the port of santos and have been forwarded to the coffee farms within são paulo. the vast majority of the immigrants came from italy. brazil attracted nearly 5 million immigrants between 1870 and 1953. the large number of italians are visible in many parts of southeast brazil. their descendants are nowadays predominant in many areas. for example, northeast são paulo is 65% italian.