The Spanish and Portuguese needed to split the "new world" so that they each had their own areas to colonize and explore. They drew a line from north to south, in the Treaty of Tordesillas. The Spanish got the West and the Portuguese got the East - the only country to the east was Brazil. You can Google the treaty for more info.

umm just to correct you but brazil is not the only country in south america which doesn't speak spanish. There is also the French speaking French Guiana, the dutch speaking Suriname, and the English Speaking Guyana. Non of these countries speak spanish. The reason behind the difference though is because brazil was a former colony of Portugal and these other countries were colonies of the respective European countries to which each language belongs to (e.g. Suriname was a former Colony of the Dutch). All the other countries had influence from the Spanish who voyaged the New World such as Francisco De Oreallana. Pretty much if the country was colonized by a European Nation they adopted the language of that nation. However, they normally took the language of the nation which colonized them last because some of them like Guyana were colonized by all the nations, the birtish colonized them last.

I don't want to side track the thread, but Canada was not a French colony. Only Quebec and some other select areas were. Other areas (most) were British colonies. The reason we speak English and French is because we were founded by colonies of both countries. The point is true - history explains it - just double check your facts! :)

The same also in Africa. Some countries speak English, others french,arabic, portuguese ( Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and on). History explains it).

The same thing happened in the north. Canada was a French colony and America was an English colony. America speaks English and parts of Canada speak French while many speak English.