Dutch Presence in Brazil
The Dutch West India Company was established in Amsterdam in 1621 and soon came into contact with the overseas domains of Portugal and Spain. The Dutch had already visited Brazil's coast, and possession of its brazilwood and sugar became an object of interest of the new company. By 1630, the Dutch occupied Pernambuco establishing the colony New Holland and gradually expanded their conquests to Ceará and to the north into Rio Grande do Norte.
In 1637, Count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen (1604–1679) arrived in Recife, the captaincy (a political and administrative division of colonial times) of Pernambuco, to become the first Dutch governor. He was assigned by the Dutch West India Company to consolidate the Dutch settlements and economic interests in Brazil. The count was a good administrator of the city and of Dutch interests in general. His government was distinguished by the presence of men of distinguished learning, among them painters such as Albert Eckhout (1637–1664) and Frans Post (1612-ca.1680), as well as naturalists such as Zacharias Wagner (1614–1668), who documented Brazil's flora and fauna. In 1647, Count Maurits' biographer, Gaspar Barleus (1584–1648), wrote Rerum per Octennium in Brasília (History of Deeds Done in Eight Years in Brazil), considered the most important work about colonial Brazil.
The Luso-Brazilian population living in northeastern Brazil, the area under Dutch control from 1624 to 1654, resisted at first but later submitted to the control of the Dutch. After Count Johan Maurits left Brazil, the population rebelled against the Dutch. In 1648-49 the Luso-Brazilians defeated the Dutch in the first and second battles of Guararapes, and gradually recovered their land. In addition, the wars between England and the Dutch Republic were weakening Dutch power everywhere. In January 1654 the Dutch surrendered and signed the Treaty of Taborda, but only as a provisory pact. By May 1654 the Dutch Republic demanded the colony back. However, on 6 August 1661 New Holland was formally ceded to Portugal through the Treaty of The Hague.
Even though Dutch rule in northeastern Brazil was relatively brief, it left an indelible mark on the architecture and art of the region. Depictions by Dutch painters of the new country and its spectacular natural life were among the first such portrayals to be shown in Europe.
In addition, the Dutch founded the first synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue - in Recife in 1636.
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