In my country there are studies about their presence here (Carthaginians). For us it seems correctly to say that some sort of merchants and exploration did occur here. There seems to have been foundings made by Portugal, and later, by ourselves.
I am not good with references, and most of them are in portuguese... but "antiga história do Brasil" de "Ludwig Schwennhagen" is quite a complete source, complete meaning it makes lots of references to works developed in USA, Germany, England, Brasil, Portugal, so on.
Anyway, for those who understand Portuguese, see this link as an extra reference " http://www.acasicos.com.br/html/fencios.htm " . If it is not enough to convince someone, at least, it may be enough to entice the curiosity for you to come and visit my country, see the sites and take your ouw decision :)
You will be very welcome :)