Viewpoints – Placecloud (English)

Venice Italy 17th century Europeans, specifically the capitalist elite, were recognizably cosmopolitan. They moved between countries, had commercial fingers in international pies, and exploited the imperial periphery for the good of their people, but mostly for the good of themselves.

Kranenburg Germany We’re standing in front of the tomb of John Maurice de Nassau-Siegen. We’re in the village of Hau, on the border of Kleve, and just a few kilometers away from the border with the Netherlands. John Maurice de Nassau’s life story is not quite one from rags to riches, but it’s certainly one from an origin of relative obscurity, to a grand finale of hobnobbing with Europe’s kings an...

Kranenburg Germany This lovely wooded area here in Kleve, was home to the Prinzenhof, the Prince’s Court. Built for John Maurice de Nassau Siegen in the second half of the 17th century, it was badly damaged during the Second World War, before being demolished, though the associated gardens remain.

Albany United States After the United States declared its independence from the United Kingdom on July 2, 1776, Albany became the capital of the state of New York the next year. The city had already been chartered, given official status as a city, in 1686, making it the oldest city in the state, after it had been named Albany when the English had taken over the colony from the Dutch in 1664.

Jo o Pessoa Brazil We find ourselves in front of the rectory of the Federal University of Paraíba, a public higher education institution in the north-east of Brazil, which will be 70 years old in 2025. From this campus in the capital João Pessoa, young researchers are conducting contemporary studies on an important period in Brazilian history: the Dutch occupation of 17th century Brazil.

Recife Brazil If you're visiting the city of Recife and want to enjoy an urban landscape that combines modernity and tradition, an appropriate area to visit, is the neighbourhood of Casa Forte, in the northern part of the city, where you'll find this beautiful square with the same name, designed in the 1930s by the great Brazilian modernist landscaper Roberto Burle Marx.

The Hague The Netherlands The Dutch colonial past in Brazil, spanning from 1630 to 1654, is a subject of extensive documentation, yet its significance is perceived differently in Dutch and Brazilian historiographies. The Dutch National Archives, located in The Hague, and where we find ourselves now, hold a wealth of documents related to the West India Company and Dutch colonial enterprises, includ...

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil We are now at the Ricardo Brennand Institute, located in the Várzea neighbourhood in Recife. This space occupies an area of approximately 80000 square metres, is home to a sculpture park, an art gallery, and a museum. Inaugurated in 2002 to simulate a large medieval castle surrounded by a sculpture garden, it was built to house the personal collection of Pernambuco i...

S o Tom S o Tom and Pr ncipe One of the earliest documented pirates to use a wooden peg leg was Cornelis Jol. Technically, Jol was an admiral in the Dutch West India Company, which highlights the dualist nature of particularly the earlier Dutch colonial adventure, as Jol’s specialty was raiding Spanish and Portuguese fleets, gathering large amounts of loot in the process.

Bartica Guyana Jan van der Goes was one of the commanders sent by the Zeeland chamber of the West India Company to the colony of Isekepe, or Essequibo, which he governed for around 12 years, from 1626 onwards, from the relative comfort of Fort Kyk-Over-Al, Dutch for ‘overseeing everything’, on a small island at the confluence of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, just before they reach the Essequibo...

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil We are at Monte das Tabocas, in the municipality of Vitória de Santo Antão, in the Metropolitan Region of Recife. Here, on August 3, 1645, the Battle of Tabocas was fought, the first armed conflict between the Portuguese and the Dutch, which culminated in the expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil in 1654

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil The expulsion of the Dutch from the Northeast of Brazil, after 24 years of occupation, from 1630 to 1654, fuels all sorts of myths in the national imagination. There are those who worship the Dutch, and in particular the Dutch governor-general between 1637 and 1644, Maurice de Nassau, as a “good colonizer”, a man concerned with development, arts and sciences in the c...

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil On the site of the two decisive battles between the Portuguese and the Dutch, the so-called Guararapes Battles, in 1648 and 1649, we find the church we see here. A tribute to the victory of the Portuguese-Brazilians, dedicated to Our Lady of Joy.

Recife Brazil We find ourselves in front of the Santa Isabel Theatre, in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood, in the centre of Recife. Inaugurated in 1850, it was named in honour of Princess Isabel, daughter of the second and last Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II, who reigned between 1840 and 1889, when he was deposed by a coup that resulted in the proclamation of the Republic.

Recife Brazil During the period in which the Dutch West India Company colonised territories in the north-east of Brazil on behalf of the Dutch government, a large volume of reports, letters, notices, laws, petitions, and other documents were produced, and sent back and forth between Holland and Brazil. They allow us to reconstruct this period of the history of both countries, and many of these doc...

Amsterdam The Netherlands We’re standing in front of the home of Albert Coenraetszoon Burgh, who was essential in the appointment of John Maurice de Nassau-Siegen as governor-general of Dutch Brazil.

Ludwigsbrunn Germany John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, was born on June 17, 1604, in Dillenburg. Today, Dillenburg is in Germany, but at the time of Maurice’s birth, it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which saw itself as the natural successor to Rome, and, at its height, covered a land area that included Rome, Berlin, Vienna, and Amsterdam.

Pedro R gis Brazil We are in Potiguara indigenous territory, in front of the headquarters of the Potiguara Indigenous Cultural Association Toré Forte, in Baía da Traição, on the coast of the state of Paraíba. The group has inhabited the coast of north-eastern Brazil at least since the arrival of the Portuguese and has had to counter successive attempts at destruction of their traditional world cau...

Recife Brazil We are in the Bairro do Recife, in the centre of the capital of the state of Pernambuco. This area was once known by another name: During part of the 17th century, this was Mauritius. The name was bestowed by Governor Maurice de Nassau, who administered Dutch Brazil between 1637 and 1644, during the 24-year period of Dutch control.

Recife Brazil We're at the Pernambuco State Museum (MEPE), located in the Graças neighbourhood, in Recife's North Zone. It was founded in 1930 and has a collection of over 12000 items. In August and September 2024, MEPE hosted the exhibition 1654 - 370 Years of the Dutch Surrender in Pernambuco.

Recife Brazil We are in the Port of Recife, where the Dutch woman Sara Hendricx landed in 1637. She arrived in Brazil dressed as a man on a ship belonging to the Dutch West India Company, the private company that explored possessions in America and Africa on behalf of the Dutch State in the 17th century. Her story, fragmented and reconstructed from different documents from the period, reinforces t...

Tamandar Brazil We’re in the tiny town of Porto Calvo, the oldest parish in the state of Alagoas. The Portuguese expelled the original population from the area in the 16th century, and started cultivating sugarcane. Then, in 1609, its most famous son, and perhaps Brazil’s most famous traitor, Domingos Fernandes Calabar was born here.

Recife Brazil We stand in front of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, in the neighborhood of Apipucos, north of Recife. The little church is worth a visit, but we're here because on this very land, in the 17th century, Jerônima de Almeida, a remarkable woman, ran a sugar mill, while pushing back against the Dutch occupation.

Rio de Janeiro Brazil Rio de Janeiro is host to 4 major soccer clubs, but the most successful club of the city, in fact the most popular soccer club in the country, with some 22% of the Brazilian population a fan, is Flamengo. Flamengo was founded in 1895, first as a rowing club, and it took until 1912 for the club to play their first official football match, after a group of ten dissatisfied play...

Recife Brazil Even today, in the 21st century, many of Brazil's politicians continue to make decisions that determine the future of the country from offices located in palaces built by colonisers. The governor of Pernambuco, for example, runs the state from the Palácio do Campo das Princesas, a pompous building constructed in 1841 from a design by the renowned Portuguese architect and military off...