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Dutch West India Company Expansion of the Brazilian Colony (1630s)
After capturing Recife in 1630 the WIC gradually controlled Pernambuco, Maranhão and other sugar regions, making Dutch Brazil the empire's key Atlant…
Timeline
- 1630Recife and Olinda · Northeastern BrazilIn February 1630 a fleet of the Dutch West India Company under Hendrik Loncq landed on the coast of Pernambuco, capturing the Portuguese-held port of Recife and the city of Olinda, establishing the strategic core base of Dutch Brazil and seizing Brazil's most important sugar-export gateway.
- 1637–1639Mauritsstad (today's Recife) · Northeastern BrazilJohan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen became governor of Dutch Brazil in 1637, promoting religious tolerance, supporting local sugar planters, and sponsoring scientific expeditions and artistic records. Under his rule Dutch Brazil's territory extended to Maranhão, sugar exports grew substantially, and the colony entered its heyday.
- 1630–1639Interior of northeastern Brazil · Northeastern BrazilPortuguese colonists and local allies continuously waged guerrilla warfare in Brazil's interior, harassing plantations and supply lines in Dutch-held areas. This low-intensity conflict running through the entire 1630s drained the WIC of substantial resources and laid the groundwork for the Portuguese reconquest of the 1640s.
Sources
- The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654 — C. R. Boxer (1957)
- Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen: A Humanist Prince in Europe and Brazil — Ernst van den Boogaart et al. (1979)