Dutch Brazil

For a few decades in the 17th century, the Dutch Republic held a colony in northeastern Brazil, known as Dutch Brazil or New Holland. It lasted from 1630 to 1654. Key settlements included the capital Mauritsstad (now part of Recife), Frederikstadt (João Pessoa), Nieuw Amsterdam (Natal), Saint Louis (São Luís), São Cristóvão, Fort Schoonenborch (Fortaleza), Sirinhaém, and Olinda. The Dutch took over roughly half of the European-settled area of Brazil at the time, basing their West India Company (GWC) headquarters in Recife.

Governor John Maurice of Nassau brought in artists and scientists to boost the colony’s image and encourage settlement. The Portuguese turned the tide with a major win at the Second Battle of Guararapes in 1649. The Dutch surrendered on 26 January 1654, but only as a temporary deal. By May 1654, the Dutch Republic was demanding the return of New Holland. It was finally handed over to Portugal under the Treaty of The Hague on 6 August 1661.

Though this period was a brief episode for the Dutch, it mattered a lot in Brazilian history. The fighting between the Dutch and Portuguese disrupted sugar production in Brazil, which contributed to a decline in the region’s sugar industry. At the same time, British, French, and Dutch planters in the Caribbean were becoming stronger competitors.

Before the colony, the Habsburgs had ruled the Low Countries from 1482, and the area became part of the Spanish Empire under Spanish Habsburgs in 1556. The Eighty Years’ War broke out in 1568, and the Dutch founded the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands in 1581. During the war, Dutch raiders attacked Spanish lands, colonies, and ships. In 1594, Philip II—king of Spain and, from 1580, of Portugal—allowed Dutch ships to sail to Brazil once a year in a fleet of twenty.

In 1609, the Habsburgs and the Dutch Republic signed the Twelve Years’ Truce, during which the Dutch could trade with Portuguese settlements in Brazil (Portugal was in a dynastic union with Spain from 1580 to 1640). Portugal’s small size and population meant it needed foreign help in colonizing and trading, and the Dutch provided that, to mutual benefit. As part of the truce, the Dutch also agreed to delay forming a West India Company.

By the truce’s end, the Dutch had greatly expanded their trade networks and handled over half the shipping between Brazil and Europe. The northern Netherlands had 29 sugar refineries by 1622, compared to just 3 in 1595. When the peace treaty expired in 1621, the United Netherlands immediately chartered the Dutch West India Company. The Dutch–Portuguese War, ongoing since 1602, resumed, and the new company began interfering with Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.

An earlier invasion in 1624 failed. As part of the Groot Desseyn plan, Admiral Jacob Willekens led a GWC force of 26 ships and 3,300 men to Salvador, then Brazil’s capital and a sugar center. They arrived on 8 May 1624, and the Portuguese governor surrendered. But on 30 April 1625, a combined Spanish-Portuguese force of 52 ships and 12,500 men retook the city, which later became a key base for Portuguese resistance.

In 1628, Piet Heyn captured a Spanish silver convoy in Matanzas Bay, giving the GWC funds for another attempt on Brazil, this time at Pernambuco.

In the summer of 1629, the Dutch set their sights on Pernambuco, the largest and richest sugar-producing area. A fleet of 65 ships under Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq took Olinda by 16 February 1630, and Recife and António Vaz by 3 March. Portuguese governor Matias de Albuquerque led a strong resistance, hindering Dutch fort development. By 1631, the Dutch left Olinda and tried—unsuccessfully—to take other forts. They held António Vaz and Recife, and later gained a foothold at Cabo de Santo Agostinho. By 1634, they controlled the coast from Rio Grande do Norte to Cabo de Santo Agostinho and kept control of the seas. By 1635, many Portuguese settlers preferred Dutch-held land, as the Dutch offered freedom of worship and property security. That year, the Dutch captured Porto Calvo, Arraial do Bom Jesus, and Fort Nazaré, gaining more sugar lands and profit.

In 1637, the GWC put John Maurice of Nassau, great-nephew of William the Silent, in charge of its Brazilian conquests, now called Nieuw Holland. Within a year, he captured the captaincy of Ceará and sent an expedition.