Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History / The Portuguese-Dutch War: How a Rebel Republic Stole an Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about how Portugal built this sprawling empire — from the feitorias to the caravels to the padrões. But empires don't just grow, they also get challenged. And in the 17th century, Portugal faced a challenger that would systematically dismantle huge chunks of its overseas network: the Dutch Republic. Luna: The Dutch? I know they were a major naval power, but I didn't realize they directly went after Portugal. Lucas: Oh, absolutely. What's fascinating is that the Dutch were technically under Spanish rule when the Portuguese empire was being built — they were part of the Habsburg Netherlands. But by 1581, the Dutch provinces had declared independence from Spain, and in 1580, Portugal had come under the Spanish crown in the Iberian Union. So suddenly, Portuguese colonies became legitimate targets for the Dutch rebels. Lucas: And the Dutch didn't just want to raid — they wanted to take over the trade networks. So in 1602, they formed the Dutch East India Company, the VOC, to muscle into the Asian spice trade. Then in 1621, they founded the Dutch West India Company, the WIC, aimed squarely at Portuguese Brazil and Africa. Luna: So it was a corporate war. A company attacking an empire. Lucas: Exactly. And the WIC's first big move was in 1624, when a Dutch fleet captured Salvador da Bahia, the capital of Portuguese Brazil. It was a huge shock — the Portuguese had held Brazil for over a century without serious challenge. But the Dutch only held Salvador for about a year before a joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet recaptured it. That was just the opening act. Lucas: The real turning point came in 1630, when the WIC set its sights on the richest sugar-producing region in Brazil: Pernambuco, centered on Recife and Olinda. They took Recife in 1630, and over the next decade they expanded their control along the Brazilian coast from Maranhão down to Bahia. They even brought over a German-born count, Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, to govern their new colony, and under him Recife became a cosmopolitan city with a bustling port, synagogues, and even Brazil's first observatory. Luna: Wait — synagogues? That's surprising for the 17th century. Lucas: Right. The Dutch were much more tolerant of religious minorities than the Portuguese. Many of the Portuguese Jews — New Christians — who had been fleeing the Inquisition in Portugal actually settled in Dutch Brazil. They brought their commercial expertise and connections, which helped the Dutch sugar trade boom. Lucas: But the Portuguese didn't give up. There was a fierce guerrilla war in the Brazilian interior, led by planters and African slaves who fought on both sides. One of the key Portuguese commanders was Matias de Albuquerque, who organized a stubborn resistance from the fortified camp of Arraial do Bom Jesus. He managed to keep the Dutch from expanding too far inland. Luna: So it wasn't just European soldiers — it was a colonial war with local allies. Lucas: Absolutely. And while the war in Brazil raged, the Dutch also struck at Portugal's African and Asian possessions. In 1637, the WIC captured the fortress of São Jorge da Mina, on the Gold Coast — the heart of Portugal's West African gold and slave trade. Two years later, they took the Portuguese fort at Axim. Then in 1641, a Dutch fleet seized the strategic port of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula, cutting Portugal's link between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Lucas: And the Dutch didn't stop there. In 1641, they also captured São Paulo de Luanda, the capital of Portuguese Angola — the main source of slaves for Brazil. That was a devastating blow. Without Angolan slaves, the Brazilian sugar economy would collapse. Luna: So the Dutch were systematically targeting the nodes of the Portuguese slave trade. Lucas: Precisely. And they knew that if they could control the supply of slaves, they could control the sugar trade. By the early 1640s, the Dutch held a string of possessions from Brazil to Angola to the Gold Coast, and even parts of Ceylon. It looked like the Portuguese empire in the Atlantic was finished. Luna: But Portugal did fight back, right? I recall something about a reconquest. Lucas: They did. And the key figure there is Salvador Correia de Sá. He was a Portuguese colonial administrator from Rio de Janeiro, and in 1648 he led a fleet from Brazil to retake Luanda. The Portuguese had a huge advantage: they knew the local African politics, and they allied with the Kongo kingdom and local Imbangala warriors. The Dutch garrison in Luanda was small and poorly supplied, so Correia de Sá recaptured the city in August 1648 after a short siege. Lucas: That was a massive strategic victory. It re-secured the slave supply for Brazil, and it gave Portugal a foothold to start retaking other possessions. But the war dragged on for decades, especially in Brazil. The final Portuguese reconquest of Dutch Brazil happened in 1654, after a series of battles — the most famous being the Guararapes battles in 1648 and 1649, where Portuguese and Brazilian forces defeated the Dutch despite being outnumbered. Luna: So Portugal won back Brazil and Angola. But I imagine the Dutch kept most of Asia? Lucas: Exactly. The Portuguese lost Malacca permanently. They also lost most of Ceylon — the Portuguese held Colombo until 1656, when the Dutch, allied with the Kingdom of Kandy, finally captured it after a long siege. The Dutch also took Cochin in India in 1663, and they controlled the Cape of Good Hope from 1652. So the Portuguese were pushed back to a few strongholds like Goa, Daman, Diu, and Macau. In the Peace of The Hague in 1661, Portugal ceded most of its claims in Asia to the Dutch. Lucas: And here's where I want to mention something — because it's a perfect example of how listener support keeps these deep dives going. You know, putting together episodes like this, with all the names and dates and connections, takes real research time. A couple of dollars a month on buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo genuinely makes a difference. It keeps the show ad-free and lets us keep digging into these stories. Luna: Absolutely. And it's amazing how much there is to learn. So after the war, what was the long-term impact on Portugal? Lucas: The war was devastating. Portugal lost its monopoly on the spice trade, the slave trade, and the sugar trade. The Dutch took over as the dominant commercial power in the 17th century — they had better ships, better financial systems, and more efficient companies. Portugal's empire shrunk and became more focused on Brazil, which remained its most valuable colony. But the Portuguese also learned from the war: they started building their own chartered companies, like the Companhia do Comércio do Brasil, and they reformed their colonial administration. Still, the empire never regained its former global reach. Luna: So the Dutch-Portuguese War basically redrew the map of European colonialism. Lucas: Exactly. And it had ripple effects everywhere. For example, the Dutch introduced coffee and sugar cultivation to their new colonies, which eventually spread to the Caribbean and changed global economies. And the Jewish community that had flourished in Dutch Brazil, after the Portuguese reconquest, many of them moved to other Dutch colonies like Curaçao and New Amsterdam — which became New York. So in a way, you can trace a line from the war in Recife to the early Jewish community in Manhattan. Luna: Wow. That's a connection I never would have made. Lucas: History is full of those threads. And it's also worth noting that not all the fighting was between Europeans. In Brazil, African slaves and indigenous peoples played crucial roles. On the Dutch side, they had alliances with the Tapuia and other tribes. On the Portuguese side, they used enslaved Africans as soldiers, promising freedom in return for military service. The war was a complex mix of imperial ambition, local politics, and opportunistic alliances. Luna: And the Dutch were also fighting the Spanish at the same time, right? So this was part of the Eighty Years' War. Lucas: Exactly. The same war that made the Netherlands independent. And the Dutch saw attacking Portuguese colonies as a way to weaken Spain, since Portugal was under Spanish rule until 1640. That's why the Portuguese Restoration War — when Portugal regained its independence in 1640 — actually changed the dynamics. After 1640, the Dutch and Portuguese signed a ten-year truce in 1641, but neither side really observed it. The war continued in the colonies even while Europe was at peace. Lucas: One figure I want to highlight is Admiral Piet Pieterszoon Hein. In 1628, he captured the Spanish silver fleet off the coast of Cuba, netting an enormous treasure that funded the WIC for years. That single victory allowed the Dutch to finance their Brazilian adventure. Hein was a folk hero in the Netherlands, and his actions directly enabled the Dutch expansion. Luna: So the silver from the Americas funded the war against Portugal. Lucas: Yes. And it's ironic because Spain and Portugal were united, so Spanish silver was supposed to protect Portuguese colonies, but instead it got captured and used to attack them. There's also Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the VOC governor-general who was ruthless in establishing Dutch control in the East Indies. He didn't directly fight the Portuguese, but his policies — like the conquest of Jakarta in 1619 — laid the groundwork for Dutch dominance in Asia. Luna: So the Dutch had some very capable and brutal leaders. Lucas: They did. And the Portuguese had their own heroes. Matias de Albuquerque in Brazil, as I mentioned, and also the Brazilian-born captain João Fernandes Vieira, who led the forces at Guararapes. That battle is considered the origin of the Brazilian army — it's a national symbol. And Salvador Correia de Sá, who retook Angola, was also a key figure in defending Brazil. These were men who fought not just for Portugal, but for their own local interests. Lucas: The war finally wound down in the 1660s. The Portuguese realized they couldn't fight a global war and negotiate peace. They signed treaties with the Dutch in 1661 and 1669, recognizing Dutch conquests in Asia and Africa, while the Dutch recognized Portuguese sovereignty over Brazil and Angola. But the damage was done. The Portuguese empire was now a second-tier player. Luna: So in a way, the Dutch-Portuguese War was the beginning of the end for Portugal's global empire. Lucas: It was a huge shift. And it set the stage for the next two centuries, where the British and French would also challenge Portugal's remaining colonies. But that's a story for another episode. Luna: I'm glad we covered this. I feel like I understand the 17th century better now.