The Uprising in the Captaincy of Paraiba Against the Dutch (1645-1647)

a Historical Synthesis

Abstract

In the historiography of the so-called Dutch Brazil, the period dealing with the uprising in the Captaincy of Pernambuco, also known as Restoration War (1645-1654), has been extensively studied by historians since the 19th century, and a number of primary sources about it are available. However, this Restoration War also sought to expel the Dutch West Indian Trading Company (WIC) from Brazil. In the article, we analyze sources from the 17th century, crossing information, dates, names, and places, while adding comments, analyses and notes on reports written by the chroniclers at the time. Our aim is to construct a historical overview of how the uprising in the Captaincy of Paraiba happened and show the actions, conflicts, battles and massacres that took place there over three years. We point out that important members of the Restoration such as Andre Vidal de Negreiros and Felipe Camarao took part in it, commanding troops against the WIC, while Pedro Poti, another significant name at the time, sided with the Dutch.