The Legacy of Dutch Brazil

Argues that Dutch Brazil is integral to Atlantic history and made an impact well beyond the colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil.

Michiel van Groesen (Edited by)

9781107061170, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2014

372 pages, 31 b/w illus. 5 maps
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.5 cm, 0.65 kg

'The Legacy of Dutch Brazil tries to answer questions about why Brazil persisted in the colonial imagination and how its mythologies emerged in different times, shapes and places … The book tells the compelling story of an Atlantic and European legacy of the West India Company colony in Brazil. It is clearly positioned within a historiographical lacuna of neglected cultural connections and that of Dutch Brazil in particular.' Joris van den Tol, Itinerario

This book argues that Dutch Brazil (1624–54) is an integral part of Atlantic history and that it made an impact well beyond colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil. In doing so, this book proposes a radical shift in interpretation. The Dutch Atlantic is widely perceived as an incongruity among more durable European empires, whereas Brazil occupies an exceptional place in the history of Latin America, which leads to a view of Dutch Brazil as self-contained and historically isolated. The Legacy of Dutch Brazil shows that repercussions of the Dutch infiltration in the Southern Hemisphere resonated across the Atlantic Basin and remained long after the fall of the colony. By examining its regional, national, and cosmopolitan legacies, thirteen authors trace the memories and mythologies of Dutch Brazil from the colonial period up until the present day and engage in broader debates on geopolitical and cultural changes at the crossroads of Atlantic and Latin American studies.

Introduction Michiel van Groesen
Part I. The Geopolitical Legacy: 1. The geopolitical impact of Dutch Brazil on the Western Hemisphere Wim Klooster
2. Looking for a new Brazil: crisis and rebirth in the Atlantic world after the fall of Pernambuco Stuart B. Schwartz
3. From Dutch allies to Portuguese vassals: indigenous peoples in the aftermath of Dutch Brazil Mark Meuwese
4. From Brazil to West Africa: Dutch-Portuguese rivalry, gold smuggling, and African politics in the Bight of Benin Roquinaldo Ferreira
Part II. The Cultural Legacy: 5. Global connections: Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen's collection of curiosities Mariana Françozo
6. A less Christian Atlantic: the legacy of Dutch tolerance in Brazil Evan Haefeli
7. How Dutch Brazil affects your emotions: the Antwerp Jesuit Cornelius Hazart on early colonial Brazil Johan Verberckmoes
8. Beyond Brazilian nature: the editorial itineraries of Marcgraf and Piso's Historia Naturalis Brasiliae Neil Safier
9. Dutch Brazil and the making of free-trade ideology Arthur Weststeijn
Part III. The National Legacy: From Memory to Mythology: 10. Heroic memories: admirals of Dutch Brazil in the rise of Dutch national consciousness Michiel van Groesen
11. Who owns Frans Post?: Collecting Frans Post's Brazilian landscapes Rebecca Parker Brienen
12. Visual impact: the long legacy of the artists of Dutch Brazil Julie Berger Hochstrasser
Epilogue: mythologies of Dutch Brazil Joan-Pau Rubiés.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK], European history [HBJD]