The Dutch Sugar Rush
White Gold: On February 14, 1630, 60 warships were sighted off the coast of Pernambuco, Brazil, and it is said that they had 80,000 warriors on board.
The sails of these ships were adorned with orange and white flags, which indicated that these war machines belonged to the United Provinces (now the Netherlands).
This area of Brazil was among the territories that the Portuguese had occupied during the reign of the Spanish King Philip IV, and the United Provinces now sought to dominate these territories.
The inhabitants of the region had a hard time defending themselves against the attack, and they received little help from Spain. As a result, the Dutch warriors were able to capture the region’s capital, Olinda, and the even more important port of Recife.
“Those were difficult years,” says Jorge Cabral, a professor of Brazilian colonial history at the Federal University of Pernambuco. “For four years they couldn’t really lift the siege. But even so, they gradually managed to conquer more territory and held on for 24 years. It was their longest reign.”
The Dutch colony in northwest Brazil was built at a huge cost because it needed soldiers and ships to defend it.
During the 17th century, Pernambuco was a major economic powerhouse thanks to the sugar trade, a trade that was as lucrative as the silver trade. At that time, the Spanish Empire also controlled the silver mines of Potosí (present-day Bolivia). Similar silver mines were also under Spanish control in Zacatecas and Guanajuato, Mexico.
By gaining control over this part of the Netherlands, the Netherlands also had the opportunity to trade in tobacco, spices, Brazilian timber, or slaves through the West India Company.
British colonialists nicknamed the area ‘white gold’ because of the sugar.
“This region was incomparable to Brazil,” says José Manuel Santos Pérez, director of the Center for Brazilian Studies at the University of Salamanca. “At that time, Pernambuco was the richest region, the largest sugar producer in the world, and that was why the Dutch army invaded here.”
It was for the production and refining of sugar that millions of Africans were brought to America in the early 16th century.
Weakening the Spanish Empire
This was the second invasion of Brazil by Dutch forces. Previously, between 1624 and 1625, they had captured Salvador, Bahia.
However, the Dutch forces were expelled from the region only a year later, but this invasion revealed the Dutch forces’ intentions regarding Brazil. There was immense interest in Europe at that time and everyone wanted to seize the resources of the region.
According to historians, the victory of the Dutch forces in Pernambuco and the five other captains in the region was actually intended to weaken the Spanish Empire and gain dominance over the Atlantic trade routes in the region.
This was a time when the United Provinces of the Netherlands, along with their Dutch East India Company, were emerging as a global trading power across the globe.
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But this conflict between the Spanish and the Dutch also had a past, and that is a very interesting story. For years, the Dutch had been partners with the Portuguese in the sugar trade.
In 1580, there was no successor in Portugal, and taking advantage of the power vacuum, King Philip II of Spain claimed Portugal and became Philip I of Portugal.
For years the Dutch have been partners with the Portuguese in the sugar trade.
“They had close ties to transportation, financing and sugar refining in Europe. When there were wars between Spain and the Netherlands, the alliance of Portugal and Spain created problems for the Dutch rulers,” Cabral said.
Among other things, the profits the Dutch made from trading with the Portuguese provided them with financial support for their war with Spain. For this reason, in 1621, Emperor Philip banned trade between Brazil and the Dutch colonies and closed Dutch ships to their ports.
“The Spanish Empire imposed sanctions on them, thus cutting off their access not only to sugar but also to other goods,” says Bruno Ferreira Miranda, a historian and associate professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco.
Decision to Attack the Colonies
The decision to attack Pernambuco came at a time when Dutch rulers were promoting plans to liberate their colonies in the Americas from Spanish rule and were attempting to create a trading company to finance these plans.
Cabral says that ‘the Dutch rulers wanted to take over all of Spain’s colonies in America. After starting their campaign in Pernambuco, they were looking towards Peru, Mexico, the Caribbean and the rest of the countries.’
‘They start their campaigns from places that seemed to be the weakest militarily.’
“This campaign was not easy,” says Professor Cabral. “In the first phase of the Dutch presence here – from 1630 to 1637 – they fought many battles to consolidate their dominance.”
They say that the Dutch certainly talked about making this period glamorous, but it was a time of hunger and violence. Hunger constantly plagued the Dutch soldiers. When their stomachs were full, they suffered from diseases such as blindness, smallpox, dropsy, or tuberculosis.
Ferreira Miranda explains that ‘some of the many difficulties that the West India Company’s army faced during its years of activity in Brazil can be compared to diseases.’
White Gold – ‘New Holland’
The period between 1637 and 1644 was a period of relative calm. It was not a golden age of peace, but there were few conflicts. During these years, a German nobleman employed by the Dutch company ruled Pernambuco.
The task of governing ‘New Holland’ was entrusted to Johan Maurits van Nassau who arrived in Recife in 1637 and remained there until his resignation and departure in 1644.
It was Nassau who transformed Recife, on the Atlantic coast of South America, into a truly cosmopolitan city. He left behind a creative legacy that still lives on in European museums, scientific research, and books.
Recife was full of architectural masterpieces and monumental works during his reign. For example, he built two large palaces, one of which had a minaret 60 meters high.
Cabral recalls that there was also a little more religious freedom, meaning Catholics were once again able to practice their religion. Jews were allowed to worship in public places, as well as in an open synagogue.
The Best Mayor of Recife
“People’s memories are so strong that even today if you ask someone on the street, they will tell you that the best mayor of Recife ever was Nassau. He was a very different character compared to other colonial administrators and he left behind very good memories,” he says.
The end of the Dutch presence in Brazil began millions of kilometers away in Amsterdam. The markets here were full of sugar, but its price was falling rapidly. Cabral also said that ‘prices were falling to the point that many sugar traders had gone bankrupt.’
“Now companies in Amsterdam were going bankrupt and demanded immediate repayment of their debts. Not in installments, but immediately,” says the director of the Center for Brazilian Studies at the University of Salamanca.
The owners of several sugar mills in the Brazilian colony who were indebted to the Dutch company had come to the conclusion: either we throw them (the Dutch) out or we ourselves go bankrupt.
Then the rebellion began. The Dutch no longer had the ability to negotiate their debts, and the high taxes levied by the colony’s administrator, the West India Company, forced the Portuguese and the citizens of Pernambuco to take action.
Santos Perez says that “the local people resisted the Dutch, those who stayed in the city were so harassed that they practically stopped leaving their homes.”
Towards Suriname, Esquibu and Belize
Until the defeat of the Dutch in 1645, those serving there were prohibited from leaving the city, as those who did so would be attacked by the Portuguese army.
“What we see in those years is that the Dutch did not have enough combat capability to counter this local resistance.”
‘When the Dutch lost their colony in Brazil, they conquered another part of the South American continent, on the Caribbean coast.’
Cabral and Santos Pérez write in their book ‘The Dutch Challenge to Iberian Domination in Brazil in the 17th Century’ that: ‘Perhaps Suriname, Esquivel, and Belize were not islands like Barbados or Jamaica, but they had other advantages there such as climate, easy access by boat, trade winds to power the sailors and good soil.’
“These factors made the area an ideal place for sugarcane cultivation,” he adds.
The Dutch lost Pernambuco, but they picked up their ships, put them to sea, and sought out other unexplored areas to exploit.