Dutch invasions of Brazil

The Dutch invasions in Brazil were a series of military campaigns carried out by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) during the 17th century. Considered the biggest political-military conflict in the colony, the invasions were centered on the control of sugar and slave supply sources. Although they were concentrated in Northeastern Brazil, they were not just a regional episode. There were two interconnected, albeit distant, fronts: Brazil and Africa.

The resistance was characterized by a financial and military effort based on local and external resources. The funds raised in the colony accounted for two thirds of the expenditure between 1630 and 1637, with mostly European troops, and almost all of the expenditure between 1644 and 1654, with soldiers mainly from Pernambuco.

On 26 January 1654, the Dutch surrendered and signed the capitulation, after the tide turned against the Dutch when they suffered a significant defeat at the Second Battle of Guararapes in 1649, acknowledging the Portuguese as the stronger military presence in Brazil.