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In 1600, according to Ioannes De Laet, the Dutch possessed two wooden
forts (Fort Nassau and Fort Oranije) on the eastern shore of the Xingu
River. These had been built by colonists from Zeeland. In 1616, a
Zeeland expedition under the command of Pieter Adriaenszoon Ita sailed
with 150 men. They arrived on the shore of the Ginipape River where they
built a fort on a peninsula. This colony survived for six years.
Historical information about these settlements is incomplete, but for
the first twenty years of the XVII century the Dutch held some forts in
this region. Here they traded with the natives. THE EARLY ATTEMPT
After the foundation of the WIC (West Indische Compagnie) in 1621 the
Dutch set their eyes on the most important town of Portuguese Brazil:
Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos. The expedition for the conquest of
Salvador da Bahia started in December 1623. It totaled 26 sailing ships,
450 guns and 3300 men. The Admiral was Jacob Willekens, the commander of
the troops was Jan Van Dorth. The Admiral arrived off Salvador on 8 May
1624. On the morning of 9 May 1624 the Dutch troops landed a few miles
from Salvador, advanced and entered the town in the morning of 10 May
1624. The Portuguese governor, Diogo de Mendonça surrendered. This
conquest turned out to be short lived. Indeed, on Easter Eve 1625, a
Portuguese fleet of 52 ships, 1185 guns and 12566 men appeared off
Salvador. The Dutch were demoralized and capitulated on 30 April 1625,
the day after the Portuguese entered the town. This was the end of the
first, but not the last, Dutch attempt to capture Portuguese Brazil. "NIEUW
HOLLAND"
The second and more durable attempt started in the Summer of 1629.
This time the objective was Pernambuco, the best sugar colony in Brazil.
The commander of the Dutch fleet was Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq. He
arrived at Pernambuco on February 1630 with a fleet of 67 ships, 1170
guns and 7000 men. They launched their attack on 15 February 1630 and
the action was successful. By the evening of 16 February 1630 the Dutch
were in possession of Olinda; by the 3rd of March all Portuguese
resistance was over and the Dutch were masters of Recife, Olinda and the
island of Antonio Vaz. From 14 March 1630 the Dutch governed their
conquests through a political council. Meanwhile, the Portuguese
governor Mathias de Albuquerque organized the resistance. Some fortified
camps were built all around Recife, the most important (called Arraial
do Bom Jesus) only about three miles from Recife. In May 1631, the Dutch
occupied a small island near that of Itamaracá where they built a fort
called Oranje that was garrisoned by 366 men under the command of
Crestofle d Artischau Arciszewski, a Polish captain. The Portuguese
raids stopped the Dutch in developing theirs forts. In November 1631 the
Dutch abandoned Olinda and tried to conquer the Fort of Cabedello on
Paraíba, the Rio Grande, the Rio Formoso and Cabo de Santo Agostinho but
all these attempts failed. On 20 April 1632 a Portuguese Mulatto,
Domingo Fernandes Calabar deserted to the Dutch. He was born at Porto
Calvo (Alagoas) and he knew the country very well; his desertion was
very useful for the Dutch. On 1 May 1632 the Dutch occupied the little
town of Igaraçu near the island of Itamaracá. In February 1633, the fort
on the Rio Formoso was conquered by the Dutch and in March 1633 the "arraial"
of Afogados was also conquered and a fort was built there. In June 1633
the island of Itamaracá was occupied and a settlement was found there;
in December 1633 Van Ceulen captured the Fort of Reis Magos (Dutch Fort
Ceulen) at the mouth of the Rio Grande. In March 1634 the Dutch occupied
a foothold at the "Pontal" of Cabo Santo Agostinho. After a short siege,
the Fort Cabedello at Paraìba surrendered on 19 December 1634 and the
town of Paraíba surrendered a few days later. Now the Dutch controlled
the entire coastline from Cabo de Santo Agostinho to Rio Grande. In
March 1635 the Dutch attacked and conquered Porto Calvo. On 8 June 1635,
after a siege of three months, the "arraial do Bom Jesus" was also
conquered and, a month later, the Fort of Nazaré at Cabo de Santo
Agostinho. The Portuguese Governor with over 7000 persons escaped to the
south, but encountered about 500 Dutchmen in the fort at Porto Calvo
that barred his way. He had to attack this place and after a brief siege
the Dutch capitulated. In this attack the Portuguese captured Domingo
Fernandes Calabar that was put to death as a traitor. Calabar’s death
was a heavy blow to the Dutch. On 24 July 1635 the Dutch reoccupied
Porto Calvo that had been abandoned by the Portuguese on 22 July. At the
beginning of 1636, reinforced by 2500 men from Portugal, the Portuguese
took the initiative. They advanced on Porto Calvo but its Dutch
commander, Von Schoppe, evacuated the town. The conquest of Porto Calvo
gave the Portuguese the possibility to carry out many raids against
Pernambuco that became rather unsafe for the Dutch. At this time the WIC
directorate decided to put a Colonial Governor at the head of the
Brazilian colony or Nieuw Holland. Johan Maurits, count of Nassau –
Siegen was the man selected for this office; this was a good choice.
THE GOVERNMENT OF JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU-SIEGEN (1637–1644)
Johan Maurits left Holland on 25 October 1636 and arrived at Recife
on 23 January 1637. He was resolved to waste no time in capturing Porto
Calvo, that he attacked with a force of 3000 Dutch soldiers, 1000
sailors and 1000 Amerindians on 18 February 1637; the Neapolitan
commander Bagnuoli was defeated and the Dutch captured the fort after
two weeks of siege. Johan Maurits, sacked the small town of Penedo and
built a fort (Fort Maurits) 18 miles from the mouth of the São Francisco
River. With the conquest of their first plantation colony, the
Hollanders were in need of slaves. Since 1612 they possessed the small
fort at Mouri on the Gold Coast (presently Ghana), but the Portuguese
were the masters of this coast. Indeed, since 1482 they possessed the
great fortress of São Jorge da Mina, the most important center of the
slave trade. For this aim Johan Maurice sent an expedition to attack
Elmina (São Jorge de la Mina) the key to the Gold Coast. The fortress
capitulated on 28 August 1637. In November 1637 Colonel Von Schoppe
invaded the province of Sergipe del Rey, and the Neapolitan commander
Bagnuoli escaped. In December 1637 also the province of Ceará and the
city of Fortaleza were conquered. Now the Dutch controlled half of the
then Brazilian provinces. The Portuguese maintained a tenuous control
over Salvador and the southern half of Brazil. However, even Salvador
was besieged for a short time in 1638. On 8 April 1638 a Dutch force of
4600 men (3600 Dutch and 1000 Amerindians) attempted capturing Salvador.
The Dutch landed, but the garrison of the city was superior in number to
the assailants. Johan Maurits decided to risk an assault on 17 and 18
May 1638 that came very near to succeeding. However, this attack turned
out as a major defeat for the Dutch and they retreated on 25 – 26 May.
For as long as the Portuguese held Salvador in their hands, the
Hollanders in Brazil would never be secure. In 1640 Portugal revolted
against Spain, restored its independence and the Duke of Bragânça was
proclaimed King. When Johan Maurits received the news he celebrated it
with festivities. But in spite of this the war continued. In 1641, the
Dutch reoccupied São Cristovão (that had been abandoned in 1637), and in
November 1641 also the city of São Luis do Maranhão was taken. An
expedition for the conquest of key areas of Portuguese Africa: São Tomé,
Angola and Benguela was started. On 23 August 1641, a fleet of 21 ships
and 3000 men under the command of Jol and Henderson anchored off Luanda
(Angola) and, three days later, the city was occupied. Also Benguela (in
today’s Angola) was taken, and in October the islands of São Tomé (16
October 1641) and Annobon were captured. Finally, in February 1642, the
Fort of Axim on the Gold Coast, the last in Portuguese hands was also
taken. With these conquests the WIC became the ruler of all the African
West coast. The best slave markets at that time were thus under WIC
control. From the beginning, Johan Maurits described Brazil as a
beautiful country and he fell in love with it. He was favourably
inclined towards the Portuguese planters (moradores), and tolerated the
Roman Catholic priests. He gave the colony a form of representative
local government, through the creation of municipal and rural councils.
He developed the country; built streets, bridges and roads in the city
of Recife. On the neighbouring island of Antonio Vaz he founded a new
town called Mauritsstad or Mauricia, where the first astronomic
observatory and meteorological station in the Americas were built in two
large sites (called Boa Vista and Vrijburg) that included zoological and
botanical gardens. He was a "Maecenas". In Nieuw Holland arrived from
Holland famous artists (like Frans Post and Albert Eckhout), scientists
(like Piso, Marcgraf) etc.
The Dutch were, at this time, the masters of the Atlantic Ocean and
Recife was, like Batavia in the East, the capital of the WIC (West
Indische Compagnie) empire. In 1642, they were masters of Nieuw
Amsterdam (today’s New York) and the Nieuw Netherland colony in North
American. In the Caribbean they possessed the islands of Curação
(today’s Curaçao), Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Saba,
Tobago, St. Croix. In the Wild Coast (today’s Guiana and Suriname) they
possessed colonies on Essequibo River, Berbice River; the islands of St.
Helena (a VOC possession) and Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic; the
colony of Nieuw Holland or Dutch Brazil. On the West African coast they
held the castles of Arguin (Mauritania), Goerée (Senegal), Axim, Butri,
Shama, Elmina, Mouree (all on the Gold Coast), the islands of São Tomé
and Annobon on the Gulf of Guinea; the ports of Luanda and Benguela in
Angola.
The Dutch subjects in Brazil were divided into two categories: Those
employed by the WIC (soldiers, bureaucrats, Calvinist ministers) called
"dienaaren" and the others (settlers, merchants, artisans, and tavern
keepers) called "vrijburghers" or "vrijluiden". Many of these were
ex–soldiers who had married and settled down but there were people who
had emigrated from the Netherlands to seek a new life in Nieuw Holland.
The free–burghers and traders were the economic pillar of the colony,
and most of the trade was under their control. But notwithstanding this,
the Burgher community in Brazil was too scant for the WIC purposes. In
the colony there was also a flourishing Jewish community of 1450 souls
in 1644. The total white civilian population of "vrijburgher" was about
3000. The Dutch control on Brazil was always tenuous, and the WIC failed
in its aim of colonization. The majority of the colonists were
Portuguese moradores with a different religion and language that were
always ready to revolt against the "heretics". In October 1642 the
province of Maranhão revolted and after one year of fighting the Dutch
troops retreated. In April 1642 the directors of the WIC wrote to Johan
Maurits informing him to return to Holland in the spring of 1643. He was
not happy for that, and postponed his departure until May 1644.
THE END OF A "NIEUW HOLLAND"
Deprived of the leadership of Johan Maurits, the WIC lost the control
over the colony. After his departure, the Portuguese planters revolted
against Dutch rule, and after the battle of Tabocas (3 August 1645)
ended with a Dutch defeat, the Dutch were forced on the defensive. The
Portuguese gained control of the "várzea". The Portuguese forces
attacked Serinhaem and the Dutch garrison surrendered on 6 August 1645.
On 13 August 1645 the Dutch fortress of the Pontal de Nazaré at Cabo de
Santo Agostinho also surrendered. On 2 September 1645 the "moradores" of
Paraibá rose against the Dutch and the Fort of Porto Calvo surrendered
on 17 September, followed on 18 September also by Fort Maurits on the
São Francisco River. On 22 September Sergipe del Rey in turn rose
against the Dutch and at the end of the year 1645 the Dutch possessed
only Recife and, in its vicinity the Forts of Cabedello (Paraibá) and
Ceulen (Rio Grande do Norte), and the islands of Itamaracá and Fernando
de Noronha. Due to Recife’s siege by the Portuguese since August 1645,
the Johan Maurits palaces and parks and many other buildings at
Mauritsstad were razed to the ground for a better defense of Recife. In
the besieged capital there were about 8000 men but in June, July and
August of 1646 relief Dutch fleets reached Recife. In November 1646 Fort
Maurits was reoccupied by the Dutch but the following April the place
was abandoned. In February 1647 a Dutch expedition of 26 ships and 2400
men, occupied the island of Itaparica in the Bay of Todos os Santos.
This was to be the last "coup de main". A new Portuguese fleet of 15
ships and 3800 men left Portugal on 18 October 1647, under the command
of Antonio Telles de Menezes, Count of Villa–Pouca de Aguiar and
governor of Brazil. On 7 November 1647 another Portuguese fleet of 7
ships and 600 men left Lisbon under the command of Salvador Correia de
Sá e Benavides (although his final objective was Luanda). On 13 December
1647 the Dutch evacuated Itaparica. A new Dutch fleet under Witte de
With left Holland on the day after Christmas 1647 and arrived at Recife
in March 1648. On the night of 17–18 April 1648 a Dutch squadron of 5000
men under Commander Von Schoppe attacked the Portuguese forces in the "várzea"
and scored a first success. However, in the morning of 19 April 1648 the
Portuguese (only 2200 men) launched an attack at the Guararapes that was
an overwhelming victory. The Dutch left 500 dead and 556 wounded. Short
thereafter the Portuguese reoccupied Olinda. The Dutch at Recife were
again besieged. On 12 May 1648 Salvador Correia de Sá with 15 ships and
2000 men left Rio for Luanda in an attempt to retake it. He did succeed
in retaken Luanda on 24 August 1648. At the end of the year 1648 the
Dutch forces in Brazil totaled about 6000 white men and 600 Amerindians.
On 18 February 1649 a Dutch force of 3500 men occupied the Guararapes.
The Portuguese commander Francisco Barreto marched against them with a
force of 2600 men and the subsequent battle of 19 February was a
overwhelming victory for the Portuguese, and the Dutch left 957 dead. A
Dutch expedition under Mathias Beck landed in April 1649 at Ceará (that
had been abandoned at the end of 1643) and founded a new fort called
Schonenburgh. In February 1650, the situation of the Dutch at Recife,
closely besieged by land, was very precarious, and the 3000 men garrison
demoralized. There were about 8000 civilians, of which roughly 3400 were
vrijburgher, 600 were Jewish and 3000 to 4000 were Amerindians or
Negroes. The shortage of food and provisions was the worst enemy. The
strength of the garrisons of Nieuw Holland was about 4000 men including
the garrisons at Paraìba and in Rio Grande do Norte. On 20 December 1653
a Portuguese fleet of 77 ships appeared off Recife. Meanwhile, and
unlike the situation during 1650 the depots of the town were full of
provisions, but, at this time, the garrison was quite unprepared to
offer resistance. On 22 January 1654 the Dutch asked for terms of
surrender, and on 26 January 1654 the capitulation was signed. Not only
Recife but all the places still in Dutch hands were included (Paraìba,
Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Itamaracá, Fernando de Noronha). The
Portuguese made their triumphal entry into Recife on 28 January 1654.
And the WIC never recovered from the loss of Nieuw Holland. |
