The Battle for Brazil: Resistance, Renewal, and the War Against the Dutch, 1580-1654 (The Americas in the World Series)

This book examines a crucial turning point in the colonial history of Brazil and especially the enduring consequences of local and trans-Atlantic resistance to Dutch colonialism. From a desert death march in North Africa to the war-torn beaches of Bahia, The Battle for Brazil: Resistance, Renewal, and the War Against the Dutch, 1580-1654 integrates Portuguese prophecy, myth, and tradition with on-the-ground action.A remarkable moment in an enduring global contest, the Dutch challenge for Brazil was sparked by the 1580 Spanish claim of the Portuguese throne.The Netherlanders, already locked in battle against Habsburg Spain, turned on their old trading partners, and Portuguese trading posts fell to the Dutch East India Company’s relentless assaults.Then the Dutch turned west-to Brazil. In 1624, Portuguese soldiers, priests, and their indigenous allies pinned invading Dutch West India Company troops to the town of Salvador, Bahia.The following year, a joint Luso-Spanish armada helped oust