Dutch Brazil

Further information: Groot Desseyn

Brazil. Local Portuguese settlers had to oppose the Dutch
Dutch Brazil, also known as New Holland, was the largely by their own resources, and made use of their
knowledge of local conditions; this struggle is counted, in
Brazilian historical memory, as laying the seeds of Brazilian nationhood.

1 The signicance of Spain

The Low Countries had long been part of the Spanish
Empire; however, in 1568 the Eighty Years War broke
out, and the Dutch established the Republic of the Seven
United Netherlands. A consequence of the war was the
raiding of Spanish lands, colonies and ships by Dutch
eets. In 1609, the two countries signed a twelve-year
peace treaty in which the Dutch Republic was allowed
to trade with Portuguese settlements in Brazil, since Portugal was in a dynastic union with Spain from 1580 to
1640. The Dutch also agreed to delay the creation of a
West India Company, a counterpart to the already existing Dutch East India Company. In 1621, the twelve-year
peace
treaty expired and the Dutch West Indian Company
South America around 1650
was immediately created. War resumed, and through the
northern portion of Brazil, ruled by the Dutch during new company, the Dutch now started to interfere with the
the Dutch colonization of the Americas between 1581 Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America. In 1624,
and 1654. The term New Holland should not be con- the Dutch sent a large expedition to invade Brazil.
fused with the later term for present-day Western Australia. The main cities of the Nieuw Holland were Frederikstadt (today Joo Pessoa), Natal (the ancient Nieuw
Amsterdam before NY), So Cristvo, Fortaleza, Sirin1.1 So Salvador da Bahia de Todos os
ham and Olinda.

Santos

From 1630 onward, the Dutch Republic came to control

almost half of Brazils area at the time, with their capital
in Recife. The Dutch West India Company (WIC) set up
their headquarters in Recife. The governor, Johan Maurits, invited artists and scientists to the colony to help promote Brazil and increase immigration. The Portuguese
won a signicant victory at the Second Battle of Guararapes in 1649. On 26 January 1654, the Dutch surrendered
and signed the capitulation, but only as a provisory pact.
By May 1654, the Dutch demanded that the Dutch Republic was to be given New Holland back. On 6 August 1661, New Holland was formally ceded to Portugal
through the Treaty of The Hague.

As part of the Groot Desseyn plan, Admiral Jacob

Willekens in December 1623 led the West Indische Compagnie (WIC) to Salvador, which was then the capital of
Brazil. They arrived there on May 8, 1624, on which
Portuguese Governor Diogo Tristo de Mendona Furtado surrendered to the Dutch.[1] However, by April 30,
1625, the Portuguese recaptured the city, with the help
of a combined Spanish and Portuguese force. The city
was to then play a critical role as a base of the Portuguese
struggle against the Dutch for the control of Brazil.

In 1628, the seizure of a Spanish silver convoy in

While of only transitional importance for the Dutch, this Matanzas Bay provided the Dutch WIC the funds for anperiod was of considerable importance in the History of other attempt to conquer Brazil.
1

3 NIEUW-HOLLAND UNDER JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU-SIEGEN

Portuguese-controlled land. The Dutch oered freedom
of worship and security of property. In 1635 the Dutch
conquered three strongholds of the Portuguese: the towns
of Porto Calvo, Arraial do Bom Jesus, and Fort Nazar
on Cabo de Santo Agostinho. These strongholds gave the
Dutch increased sugar lands which led to an increase in
prot.
In 1643 in Dutch Brazil Johan Maurits van NassauSiegen equipped the expedition of Hendrik Brouwer that
attempted to establish an outpost in southern Chile.[2][3]

Recife or Mauritsstad Capital of the Nieuw Holland in Brazil

3 Nieuw-Holland under Johan

Maurits van Nassau-Siegen
3.1 Government

Palcio de Friburgo (1642),residence of John Maurice of Nassau.

Nieuw-Holland

In the summer of 1629, the Dutch coveted a newfound interest in obtaining Pernambuco, a Brazilian state
(captaincy) famous for its sugarcane. The Dutch eet was
led by Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq; the WIC gained
control of Olinda by February 16, 1630, and Recife (the
capital of Pernambuco) and Antnio Vaz by March 3.
Matias de Albuquerque, the Portuguese governor, led a
strong Portuguese resistance which hindered the Dutch
from developing their forts on the lands which they had
captured. By 1631, the Dutch left Olinda and tried to
gain control of the Fort of Cabedello on Paraba, the Rio
Grande, Rio Formoso, and Cabo de Santo Agostinho. The Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in Mauritsstad (Recife) is the
These attempts were also unsuccessful, however.
oldest synagogue in the Americas. Jews made 50% of white pop[4]
Still in control of Antnio Vaz and Recife, the Dutch later ulation during Dutch Brazil
gained a foothold at Cabo Santo Agostinho. However,
after the Portuguese regained Porto Calvo, the WIC gave Maurits claimed to have always loved Brazil due to its
control of Nieuw Holland to Johan Maurits van Nassau- beauty and its people. He organized a form of repreSiegen due to the great advantage the Portuguese had over sentative local government by creating municipal councils
the Dutch by controlling Porto Calvo. By 1634 the Dutch and rural councils. Through these he began to moderncontrolled the coastline from the Rio Grande do Norte to ize the country with streets, bridges, and roads in Recife.
Pernambucos Cabo de Santo Agostinho. They still main- On the island of Antnio Vaz, he founded the town of
tained control of the seas as well. By 1635 many Por- Mauritsstad (also known as Mauricia) where he created
tuguese settlers were choosing Dutch-occupied land over an astronomic observatory and a meteorological station,

3
which were the rst created by Europeans in the Americas.
Under Maurits, protection for Brazilian Jews who had
been formerly ostracized was increased. He allowed former Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity
to return to their former faith.

3.2
3.2.1

Dutch-Brazilians
Dienaren

The Dutch settlers were divided into two separate groups,

the rst of which was known as Dienaren (servants).
Dienaren were soldiers, bureaucrats, and Calvinist ministers employed by the WIC.

3.2.2

Vrijburghers/Vrijluiden

Vrijburghers (freemen) or Vrijluiden were the second

group of Dutch settlers who were all the other Dutch settlers that did not t into the category of Dienaaren. The
Vrijburghers were mostly ex-soldiers formerly employed After returning from Brazil, John Maurice of Nassau became
by the WIC but who then began to settle down. Others known as The Brazilian in Netherlands. [5]
included Dutch who left the Netherlands to nd a new life
in Nieuw Holland. This group was the most economically
important in Nieuw Holland since most trade was under 5 See also
their control.
Colonial Brazil

4
4.1

The end of Dutch Brazil

WIC loses control

After Maurits was summoned back from Nieuw-Holland

by the WIC board in 1643, the WIC lost control over the
colony. Portuguese planters under control when Maurits was gouvernor-general organized a revolt against
the Dutch. The Portuguese gained Vrzea, Serinham,
Pontal de Nazar, the Fort of Porto Calvo, and Fort Maurits in 1645.
On December 13, 1647, the Dutch left Itamarac and on
January 28, 1654, the WIC lost control of Recife, leaving
to the Portuguese their colony of Brazil and putting an end
to Nieuw Holland.[6]

Dutch West India Company

Dutch Brazilian
17th century Dutch Brazil:
Dutch presence in Brazil
Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue
Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen
Georg Marcgrave
Willem Piso
Caspar Barlaeus
Frans Post
Albert Eckhout
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca
Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648)
Battle of Tabocas (1645)

4.2

Peace treaty

Seven years after the surrender of Recife, a peace treaty

was organized between the Dutch Republic and Portugal.
The Treaty of The Hague (1661) was signed on August 6,
1661,[7] and it demanded that the Portuguese would pay
4 million ris over the span of 16 years in order to help
the Dutch recover from the loss of Brazil.

First (1648) and Second Battle of Guararapes

(1649)
Recife and Pernambuco:
Pernambuco
Ricardo Brennand Institute
Others:

8
Barbadian Jews
France Antarctique
Equinoctial France
History of Suriname

Notes

[1] Facsimile of manuscript regarding the ending of hostilities:Tractaet van Bestand ende ophoudinge van alle
acten van vyandtschap als oock van trajq commercien
ende secours ghemaecht ghearresteert ende beslooten in
sGraven-Hage den twaelf den Junij 1641 ...;
[2] Robbert Kock The Dutch in Chili at coloniavoyage.com
[3] Kris E. Lane Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750, 1998, pages 88-92
[4] http:books.google.com.br/books?id=
mHwQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA117&dq=%22judeus%
22+%2250%25%22+%22recife%22&hl=pt-BR&
sa=X&ei=RCOKVOXvHMW3PPDRgfgI&ved=
0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22judeus%22%
20%2250%25%22%20%22recife%22&f=false
[5] http://guiadoestudante.abril.com.br/aventuras-historia/
mauricio-nassau-brasileiro-433685.shtml
[6] Facsimile of manuscript regarding the surrender of Dutch
Brazil:Cort, Bondigh ende Waerachtigh Verhael Wan't
schandelyck over-geven ende verlaten vande voorname
Conquesten van Brasil...;
[7] Facsimile of the treaty:Articulen van vrede en Confoederarie, Gheslooten Tusschen den Doorluchtighsten Comingh
van Portugael ter eenre, ende de Hoogh Mogende Heeren
Staten General ...;

References
Pita, Sebastio da Rocha, Histria da Amrica Portuguesa, Ed. Itatiaia, 1976
Boxer, C.R., The Dutch in Brazil, 16241654, The
Clarendon press, Oxford, 1957. ISBN 0-20801338-5
Schmidt, Benjamin, Innocence Abroad: The Dutch
Imagination and the New World, 1570-1670, Cambridge: University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-52180408-0
Van Groesen, Michiel (ed.), The Legacy of Dutch
Brazil, Cambridge University Press, New York,
2014. ISBN 978-1-107-06117-0

EXTERNAL LINKS

8 External links
Dutch West Indies 1630-1975
Facsimiles of 20 manuscripts from the Dutch West
India Company Relating about the events in Brazil
in the 17th century (PT & NL)
Guararapes Birth of the Brazilian Nationality
Brazilian Armed Forces site
The Dutch in Brazil
History of Dutch Brazil and Guiana
The New Holland Foundation
World Statesmen Brazil

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

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Dutch Brazil Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch%20Brazil?oldid=637708586 Contributors: Domino theory, Rich Farmbrough,

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