Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
This mission is located in the town of Concepción which is located in Eastern Bolivia, about 280 km north-east of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The mission of Concepción was founded in 1699 by the Jesuits Fr. Francisco Lucas Caballero and Fr. Francisco Herbás.
A few years after its foundation, precisely in 1704, the mission was abandoned. The Jesuits founded it back in 1709.
In 1712, the mission of Concepción was merged and re-established along with that of San Ignacio de Boococas.
In 1722 the mission was relocated again to its current location.
This mission is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Concepcion mission (1699), Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckConcepcion mission (1699), Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckConcepcion mission (1699), Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckAltar Mayor, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck.Confesionario, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckAltar Mayor, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckEscalera, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. GroesbeckCampanario, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
Another often-repeated error is that the first permanent (not provisional) churches of the mission complexes, or conjuntos misionales, of the Jesuit missions in the Chiquitania were constructed by a single individual, invariably assumed to be Fr. Martin Schmid.
Schmid did indeed construct a church, or templo as it is called in the Chiquitania – that of San Rafael de Velasco – and assisted in the building of at least two others, those of San Xavier and Concepción. He was a voluminous writer, apparently more so than at least the Jesuits who built the remaining churches. Furthermore, much of his correspondence – but little of that of the other builders – has been preserved, most recently by Kühne.1
Consequently, there is ample evidence of his handiwork, and far less of that of other Jesuit architects. Even so, there is nothing to suggest that simply because Schmid’s work is well documented he should ipso facto receive credit for constructing all of the Jesuit churches, which, given their dates of construction, would be impossible in any case.
Altar Mayor, Concepción mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck.
In fact, there is no longer any doubt in scholarly circles that Schmid did not build all of the Jesuit churches of Chiquitos. But earlier researchers reading his letters often jumped to the conclusion that as he built or had a hand in building those of which he wrote, he likely was the builder of others as well, yet with no supporting evidence for this claim. Subsequent research and discoveries by Roth and others have confirmed that the remaining templos were constructed by different parties. Additional corroborating information has come to light in the form of new primary resource materials, overlooked or unknown by earlier researchers, which point to other builders beside Schmid.
In some cases, there still remain doubts as to exactly who constructed which church, but the pieces of the puzzle are coming together as new documents – many of which remain uncatalogued and in manuscript form – are discovered. The following table presents the information as it is known today. The dates in the last column reflect the status of an existing church, with the caveat that it is not necessarily a Jesuit church.2
1 See Eckart Kühne, ed., Las misiones jesuíticas de Bolivia: Martin Schmid, 1694-1772; Misionero, músico y arquitecto entre los chiquitanos (Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Asociación Suiza por la Cultura Pro Helvetica, 1996).
2 By “church” is meant the physical building itself, not the entire conjunto misional. In some cases (e.g., San Xavier, Santa Ana de Velasco, San José de Chiquitos) restoration on other areas of the complex continues.
3 This was the second church and first “permanent” one erected in San Xavier; a provisional one was constructed c. 1725-6. See Kühne, “Historia Breve de los Pueblos de Chiquitos y de sus Edificios Patrimoniales”, p. 2.
4 This was the third church and first “permanent” one erected in San José de Chiquitos; provisional ones were constructed before 1723 and again by 1731 (and subsequently restored in 1739). See Kühne, op. cit., p. 20.
5 This was the second church and first “permanent” one erected in San Juan Bautista; a provisional one was constructed before 1731. See Kühne, op. cit., p. 24.
6This was the second church and first “permanent” one erected in San Miguel de Velasco; a provisional one was constructed c. 1725. See Kühne, op. cit., p. 8.
7 This was the third church and first “permanent” one erected in Santa Ana de Velasco; provisional ones were constructed by 1762 and again in 1772. See Kühne, op. cit., p. 13.
8 This was the second church and first “permanent” one erected in Santo Corazón; a provisional one was constructed by 1762. See Kühne, op. cit., p. 28.
Evanescence and Permanence: Toward an Accurate Understanding of the Legacy of the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos.
Written by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
This article and its companion piece, “The Long Silence: The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos after the Extrañamiento”, are two halves of a whole, written primarily to remedy the fact that no accurate historical overview of the twelve Jesuit missions of Chiquitos or their subsequent status as important settlements in the Chiquitania1 exists in English.F2F
These two articles serve a second purpose as well. They seek to dispel a number of commonly held errors and misunderstandings – five in particular – that have developed over time, which in turn aids in constructing an accurate historical synopsis of the region. Regardless of which purpose is at hand, emendations are drawn wherever possible from primary sources (i.e., the writings of the Jesuits and their contemporaries, and others during Bolivia’s colonial and post-independence periods).
In so doing, it is hoped that researchers and historians – in particular those new to the study of the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos – will at last have a reliable English-language source for conducting research on the era of the Jesuit presence in the Chiquitania, one informed by primary-source materials. The ultimate goal is historiographical: to help demarcate between what previous writers have claimed or assumed was the reality of the period from what it actually was (as revealed in contemporaneous documents), and, from this vantage point, to assist in uncovering its true legacy.
This work covers the years from 1572 – the year of the Jesuits’ arrival in Bolivia3 – to 1767 – the year of their expulsion4. A second article, “The Long Silence: The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos after the Extrañamiento” treats the history of this region from the aftermath of the Jesuits’ expulsion in 1767 to the present. Especial emphasis on the second work is placed upon the chaotic years following Bolivia’s independence in 1825 through the final collapse of the Jesuit-installed administrative system by 1851, roughly a quarter-century that has yet to undergo extensive research.
Traditional and Later Research Efforts
San Miguel de Velasco mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck..
It must be admitted that a critical approach to the history of the region was, until very recently, woefully lacking in academic rigour. To understand the cumulative impact that this oversight has had on its scholarship, a look at the historiography of the Chiquitania is in order.
Whilst no extensive history of the Chiquitania or the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos in English has appeared, there are of course numerous accounts in Spanish, and several in German and other languages. Most of these rely heavily upon three secondary sources written well into in the nineteenth century, long after the Jesuits left and the settlements in the Chiquitania were fundamentally and irrevocably altered.
These three accounts are D’Orbigny’s recollections of his travels in the region between 1831 and 1833F5F; Castelnau’s natural history travelogue from the 1840s entitled Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud: De Rio de Janeiro à Lima, et de Lima au Para6; and René-Moreno’s writings, collected in 1888 as Catálogo del Archivo de Mojos y Chiquitos.F7F With the exception of René-Moreno (who had access to a limited number of them only), none of these authors worked much with primary resources.
Twentieth-century assessments by Enrique Finot, Guillermo Furlong, Werner Hoffman, Plácido Molina, Alcides Parejas, and others followed, many of which were gathered together and edited by Pedro Querejazu to form the massive Las Misiones Jesuíticas de ChiquitosF8F, universally considered the most exhaustive treatment of these missions. In many cases based upon research initially conducted by earlier writers, some egregious mistakes in these works were carried over. Nonetheless, these later efforts deserve credit for shedding a more accurate light on this often misunderstood and much mythologised era.
In the 1980s and 1990s, many more primary resources were uncovered, in the Chiquitania and elsewhere, partly as a direct result of ongoing restoration efforts to the region’s mission complexes, led by a former Jesuit turned architect named Hans Roth.
These discoveries, combined with the admirable practice of historians such as José María García, Eckart Kühne, Javier Matienzo, Antonio Menacho, Carlos Page, Cynthia Radding, Roberto Tomichá, Oscar Tonelli (with all but Kühne and Page hailing from Bolivia) and others using primary resources whenever possible9F, have greatly expanded our knowledge and understanding of the Jesuits’ unique mission strategy and practice throughout Latin America, these twelve settlements, and the Chiquitos and Moxos regions as a whole during the Jesuit era and even beyond. F10
Recent Research and Its Consequences
Altar Mayor, San Ignacio de Velasco mission, Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
There is now heightened interest in the Chiquitos missions (often referred to by their Spanish name, reducciones11) for several reasons. Chief amongst these are the unique musical and architectural legacies of these communities, forged by more than seven decades of cultural collaboration between the Jesuits and the indigenous peoples who lived in the reducciones. These two artistic heritages are well recognised today. The first, of a musical nature, is most prominently displayed in the increasingly popular biennial “Festival Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana ‘Misiones de Chiquitos’”F12F; the second, architectural in form, was first recognised when six former missions were named World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1990.F13F
In the academic arena, the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos hold promising research for several fields of scholarly activity, including acculturation and adaptation studies, Jesuit history and the Jesuit modus operandi, and missiology. Formal associations dedicated to the study of these missions in particular do not yet exist, although the biennial Jornadas Internacionales sobre Misiones Jesuíticas14, held every other year since 1982 in a location associated with the Jesuit colonial missions of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, or Paraguay, provides a forum for exchange of scholarly research and ideas on the region. Universities throughout North and South America, notably Boston College, also sponsor similar academic forums.
Finally, the combined efforts of the departmental government of Santa Cruz – the department in which the mission towns are located – and several cultural organisations, spearheaded by the Santa Cruz de la Sierra-based Asociación Pro Arte y Cultura (APAC), have raised interest in and awareness of the region and its unique patrimony. Collectively, these culminated in 2006’s much-anticipated “Lanzamiento Mundial del Destino Turístico ‘Chiquitos’, Misiones Jesuíticas de Bolivia” initiativeF15F, which showcased the Chiquitos missions as examples of cultural tourism. Regrettably, under the current administration of President Juan Evo Morales Ayma, the national government of Bolivia has done nothing to protect and responsibly promote the missions or the region as a whole.
Challenges to Current Research
Concepcion mission (1699), Bolivia. Photo Copyright by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
Lifting the carefully constructed veil of tourist-centric reinterpretation to assess the Jesuit past of Chiquitos has proven difficult. Two significant challenges in particular confront historians and others attempting to access information on this period and utilise it as a foundation for research.
In spite of the genuine singularity and undoubted richness of the cultural patrimony of these settlements (and of the Chiquitania as a whole), there remains a paucity of reliable information available in English. What does exist – in any language – often is not anchored in primary sources and is riddled with errors.
These mistakes arise when writers cite earlier works without verifying their accuracy, injudiciously extrapolate conclusions from them, or attempt to fill lacunas without sufficient documentation.
The point cannot be over-emphasised: scholars seeking to glean accurate information or buttress hypotheses must tread carefully when citing previous research on the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos, and especially when it does not cite primary sources.
Examples of these compounded mistakes abound. Five commonly repeated ones that have found their way into accepted accounts of the region with unfortunate consequences for later research will be examined individually here.
The majority of these errors – and others that stem from these foundational ones – often result from incorrect attempts to respond to a small number of repeatedly asked, basic questions. These are often formulated in one way or another along the lines of the following five queries.
How many Jesuit missions were founded in the Chiquitania?
Who constructed their churches – the best-known visual attributes of these communities?
How did the Jesuits of Chiquitos communicate with the Jesuits of Paraguay?
What happened to the descendants of the original inhabitants of these communities?
What is the reality of these communities vis-à-vis their perception as living legacies of the Jesuits’ presence?
1 The Chiquitania technically includes the six eastern provinces of Santa Cruz Department: Guayaros; Ñuflo de Chávez; [José Miguel de] Velasco; Ángel Sandoval; Germán Busch; and Chiquitos, although Guarayos is often excluded. These provinces originally were part of a much larger area known until 1880 as Chiquitos province. The extant Jesuit missions of Chiquitos are found in all but Guarayos (which was and is considered a separate mission field – earlier referred to as Mojos and then Moxos) and Germán Busch provinces. For this article, the terms Chiquitania and Chiquitos are understood as interchangeable when employed in a geographical context.
2 An English-language translation of Alcides Parejas’ HChiquitos: un paseo por su historiHa (Santa Cruz: APAC Fondo Editorial, 2004) exists, although this work is no more than a brief overview.
3 Bolivia was known as Upper Peru until its independence on 6 September 1825.
4 In Spanish, the Extrañamiento, the royal decree expelling the Jesuits from the Chiquitania and all Spanish possessions in the New World, proclaimed by King Carlos III on 27 February 1767. For a copy of the decree, see Mariano B. Gumucio, Las Misiones Jesuíticas de Moxos y Chiquitos: Una Utopía Cristiana en el Oriente Boliviano, 3rd ed., (La Paz: Lewylibros, 2003), pp. 162-3.
5First published in nine volumes as Voyage dans l’Amerique Meridionale (le Brasil, la Republique Orientale de l’Uruguay, la Republique Argentine, la Patagonie, la Republique du Chili, la Republique de Bolivia, la Republique du Perou), exécuté pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832 et 1833 (Paris: Chez Pitois-Levrault et Cie., 1835–1847). The 4-volume 1945 edition published by Editorial Futuro in Buenos Aires is the latest unabridged version. Richard Gott retraces much of D’Orbigny’s Bolivian expedition in Land without Evil: Utopian Journeys across the South American Watershed (Avon, UK: Bath Press, 1993), in which, see pp. 65-294, passim.
6 First published in seven volumes by Chez P. Bertrand in Paris in 1850. Volume six contains the section “Voyage dans le sud de la Bolivie”, which was written not by Castelnau but by his colleague and fellow-traveller Hugh A. Weddell.
7 Conceived originally as a catalogue of René-Moreno’s historical essays and papers, Catálogo del Archivo de Mojos y Chiquitos (Santiago: Imprenta Gutenberg, 1888) was published at the expense of the Bolivian government. Intended as a tribute to its author, it – along with D’Orbigny’s earlier work – became a de rigueur source for future historians. A second edition, edited by Hernando Sanabria in 1973, provides additional documentation not found in the original materials. Recent scholarship and the discovery of new primary-source accounts have shown none of these three nineteenth-century works to be free from error. Of the three, D’Orbigny’s writings are generally considered more historically reliable and less prone to speculation. Those of Castelnau are deemed mostly accurate when describing flora and fauna but less so in their observation of the region’s cultural and social phenomena.
8 Pedro Querejazu, ed., Las Misiones Jesuíticas de Chiquitos (La Paz: Fundación BHN, 1995).
9 Of theprimarysourcesthathave been extensively researched, perhaps the mostusefulisthe monumental, multi-volumeHistoria general de la Compañía de Jesús en la Provincia del Perú: Crónica anónima de 1600 que trata del establecimiento y misiones de la Compañía de Jesús en los países de habla española en la América meridional (especially Vol. II), edited by Francisco Mateos (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1944). Also of importance, although of greater relevance to the study of the Paraguay missions, is the unedited archive of correspondence from the Jesuits of Paraguay from the years from 1690 through 1718. Collectively known as “Cartas a los Provinciales de la Provincia del Paraguay 1690-1718,” these manuscripts are housed in the Jesuit Archives of Argentina in Buenos Aires, which also contain the invaluable annals of the Paraguay Province of the Company of Jesus, covering the years from 1689 through 1762. The letters and reports of the Jesuit missionaries themselves, many of which are in manuscript form and housed in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville or the Archivo General de la Nación in Buenos Aires, are of course supremely important. The cartas and relaciones of Frs. Agustín Castañares, Ignacio Chomé, Esteban Palozzi, José Rodríguez, José Sánchez Labrador, and Martín Schmid are amongst the most valuable. Those of Fr. José de Arce, including “Relación de la fundación del colegio de Tarija y de la conversión de los chiriguanos” (1692), “Carta original del P. José de Arce en la que da testimonio sobre las promesas que se hacen para que se conviertan los indios de las misiones del Paraguay” (1707), and “Breve relación del viage que hizieron dos Padres de la Compañía de Jesús por el Río Paraguay arriva a las Misiones de los Chiquitos en el año de 1715” (1715) – the first two in the Biblioteca Nacional de Rio de Janeiro, and the third in the Archivo General de la Nación in Buenos Aires – are essential. Likewise, the seven memoriales of Fr. Felipe Suárez written in 1725 treating six Chiquitania missions, also archived in the Archivo General de la Nación in Buenos Aires, are invaluable. The most-often quoted primary sources are the cartas of Fr. Martin Schmid, written between 1726 and 1770. Fr. Julián Knogler’s “Inhalt einer Beschreibung der Missionen deren Chiquiten”, Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu, 39/78 (Rome: Company of Jesus, 1970), is indispensable for providing an account of the missions immediately after the Extrañamiento, as is his 1769 account “Relato sobre el país y la nación de los Chiquitos en las Indias Occidentales o América del Sud y en la misiones en su territorio”, for which, see Werner Hoffman, Las misiones jesuíticas entre los chiquitanos (Buenos Aires: Fundación para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, 1979). Fr. Juan de Montenegro’s Breve noticia de las missiones, peregrinaciones apostólicas, trabajos, sudor, y sangre vertida, en obsequio de la fe, de el venerable padre Augustín Castañares, de la Compañía de Jesús, insigne missionero de la provincia del Paraguay, en las misiones de Chiquitos, Zamucos, y ultimamente en la missión de los infieles Mataguayos. (Madrid: Manuel Fernández, Impresor del Supremo Consejo de la Inquisición, de la Reverenda Cámara Apostólica, y del Convento de las Señoras de la Encarnación, en la Caba Baxa, 1746) isuseful. Fr. Juan Patricio Fernández’sRelación historial de las misiones de los indios, que llaman chiquitos, que están a cargo de los padres de la Compañía de Jesús de la provincia del Paraguay (Madrid: Manuel Fernández, 1726), and Relación historial de las Misiones de Indios Chiquitos que en el Paraguay tienen los padres de la Compañía de Jesús, Vols. I and II (Madrid: Manuel Fernández, 1727) are of much value, as his Historica relatio, de apostolicis missionibus patrum societatis jesu apud chiquitos, paraquaræ populos, primò hispano idiomate conscripta (Augustæ Vindelicorum: Sumptibus Mathiæ Wolff, 1733). Also important is Fr. Pedro Francisco Xavier de Charlevoix’s Historia del Paraguay (Paris: Desaint, 1756), Vols. I-VI. Carlos Page’s compilations of colonial-era Jesuit correspondence, El Colegio de Tarija y las misiones de Chiquitos según las Cartas Anuas de la Compañía de Jesús (Buenos Aires: Edición On-line, 2011), and Chiquitos en las Anuas de la Compañía de Jesús (1691-1767), co-authoredwith Isabelle Combès, W. Javier Matienzo, and Roberto Tomichá, OFMConv.(Cochabamba: Itinerarios Editorial, 2011); and Tomichá’s edition of Francisco Burgés y las misiones de Chiquitos: El memorial de 1703 y documentos complementarios (Cochabamba: Editorial Verbo Divino e Instituto de Misionología de la Universidad Católica Boliviana, 2008) are thelatestadditions, with excellentexamples and bibliographies of primary source materials. There are other primary sources as yet unexamined, many of which are archived in Cochabamba, Sucre, and Tarija (Bolivia); Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Tucumán (Argentina); Asunción (Paraguay); Madrid; and Rome.
10See, forexample, José María García, “Los jesuitas en Santa Cruz de la Sierra hasta los inicios de las reducciones de Moxos y Chiquitos: Posibilidades y limitaciones de la tarea misional”, in Quinto Centenario 14 (Madrid: 1988, pp. 73-92); Antonio Menacho, S.J., Fundación de las Reducciones Chiquitos (Santa Cruz: Verbo Divina, 1987) and Por Tierras de Chiquitos (San Xavier: Vicario Apostólico de Ñuflo de Chávez, 1991); Alcides Parejas, Historia del Oriente Boliviano: Siglos XVI y XVII (Santa Cruz: Universidad Gabriel René Moreno, 1979); Eckart Kühne, ed., Las misiones jesuíticas de Bolivia: Martin Schmid, 1694-1772; Misionero, músico y arquitecto entre los chiquitanos (Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Asociación Suiza por la Cultura Pro Helvetica, 1996); Roberto Tomichá, OFMConv., La Primera Evangelización en las Reducciones de Chiquitos: Protagonistas y Metodología Misional (Cochabamba: Editorial Verbo Divino, 2002) and La Iglesia en Santa Cruz (Cochabamba: Editorial Verbo Divino, 2005); and Oscar Tonelli, Reseña histórica social y económica de la Chiquitania (Santa Cruz: Editorial El Pais, 2004). Mariano B. Gumucio’s Las Misiones Jesuíticas de Moxos y Chiquitos: Una Utopía Cristiana en el Oriente Boliviano, 3rd ed., (La Paz: Lewylibros, 2003), which covers the Moxos missions as well as those of Chiquitos, also merits mention, as do a number of works by Guillermo Furlong, S.J. For a truly landmark account of the missions seen through their artistic output, see María José Diez, Los bienes muebles de Chiquitos: Fuentes para el conocimiento de una sociedad. (Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, 2006). Perhaps most important of all are the works of the late Hans Roth and the other ongoing publications of his associate Eckart Kühne.
11 The Jesuits were not the first to employ the reducción method, but their genius led to its perfection. The first reducción in the New World was established between 1515 and 1522 by the Franciscan friar Bartolomé de las Casas in Cumaná, Venezuela. His idea was adopted and perfected by the Jesuits when they were given possession of the Dominican doctrina of Juli in 1576 by order of the viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo.
12 For information on these festivals, sponsored by the Asociación Pro Arte y Cultura (APAC), see http://www.festivalesapac.com.
13 See http://whc.unesco.org/archive/repcom90.htm#529, for the document “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage: Report of the World Heritage Committee, Fourteenth Session, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 7-12 December 1990”.
15 See http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/economia/20060315/preparan-lanzamiento-de-chiquitos-hacia-el-mundo_5465_5465.html, for further information on this important but as yet unrepeated Bolivian public-/private-sector joint initiative.
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Right from the founding of the city the Portuguese started with the construction of a defensive system against foreign invasions, which occurred until the 18th century.
The main works of fortification were executed after the Dutch conquest of the town (1624-1625) and the successive reconquest by the Portuguese. Fearing another Dutch invasion, which materialized in 1638 and 1647, they started with the building of several forts to defend Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian colony.
FORTE DE SANTO ANTÔNIO DA BARRA
The first fortification on this place was built between 1583 and 1587 during the government of D. Manuel Telles Barreto: a poligonal tower of “taipa”.
The entrance gate, Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A better fortification was built during the government of D. Francisco de Souza (1591-1602). This time it was a fort with an octagonal shape and was artilled with 4 cannons. In 1624 the fortification did not resist the Dutch landing in the port.
During the govern of D. João de Lencastre, between 1696 and 1702, the fort got its current shape due to the project of the engineer João Coutinho. Its design, as in other fortifications, is in the Italian style. The access is by a ramp tunnel, ending in a stairway.
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Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The entrance gate, Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
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Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
FORTE DE SANTA MARIA
This fort was built, “de pedra e cal” during the government of D. Diogo Luís de Oliveira (1627-1635). Itis certain, that during the second Dutch invasion in 1638 the fort was part of the city defences. In 1671 it had 1 bronze cannon and 2 iron cannons, but according to the “Relatório, 1671” it needed three more cannons. It has an Italian-style design and was built in stonemasonry.
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Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
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Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE SÃO DIEGO
This fort was built, “de pedra e cal” during the government of D. Diogo Luís de Oliveira (1627-1635). With the forts of Santa Maria and Santo Antônio da Barra it is a part of the defense system of Porto da Barra. It has an irregular shape and it is built at the foot of the hill, where the original Vila Velha de Pereira Coutinho was situated.
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Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE NOSSA SENHORA DO PÓPULO E SÃO MARCELO (FORTE DO MAR)
This is a circular fort. Its construction during the government of Francisco Barreto (1657-1663), far from the shore is due to the fear of a new invasion. Its objective was to avoid any invasion of the port. In the 1670s it had 9 cannons. Its slightly circular project is formed by a central turret, surrounded by a ring of equal height, constituting the perimeter and the quarters. It was built in sandstone up to the waterline and the remaining in stonemasonry.
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Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
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Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE NOSSA SENHORA DE MONTSERRAT
Montserrat Fort is located in the western part of the Itapagipana Peninsula. Probably it was built in 1586 during the government of D. Manuel Telles Barreto (1583-1587). Its construction was continued during the government of D. Francisco de Souza (1591-1602), when it was known as Castelo de São Felipe. Perhaps it was designed by Baccio da Filicaia 1565 Firenze – 1628 Salvador/Bahia), who worked under this governor.
Its design is inspired by the Italian fortification style and it is one of the best examples of early military architecture in Brazil. Its shape is an irregular polygon with circular turrets. It had 3 cannons and from the fort, the entire Port of Salvador could be protected. In 1616 its garrison was composed by 16 men: a captain, a head, a gunner, a tamburine and 12 musketeers. On 9 May 1624 this fort, which had 4 cannons, was attacked by the Dutch army. After a furious resistence the garrison was forced to surrender.
During the Dutch occupation the Portugueses built in the vicinities of the fort a trench, where they placed 2 bronze cannons. Captain Manuel Gonçalves succeeded during one of the numerous attacks the Portuguese directed towards the garrison of the fort in capturing the commander of the fort. On 17 July 1624 general Johan Van, the Dutch commander of the troops of the garrison of Salvador was attacked and killed in the locality Água de Meninos, while he was returning with 200 men from an inspection of the Montserrat Fort. In 1625 the Hispano-Portuguese under D. Fradique de Toledo retook the fort and on 1 May 1625 the entire Dutch garrison of Salvador capitulated.
In 1638 a Dutch army under Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen put under siege Salvador and on 21 April 1638 a platoon under Major van den Brand attacked the fort of Montserrat, which soon capitulated, the captain of the fort at that time being Pedro Aires de Aguirre. This time the Dutch were forced to abandon the siege of the city after a month (16 April 1638-26 May 1638).
In October 1655 the Conde de Ataugia ordered to rebuild the fortress and later in 1693 D. João de Lencastre ordered the same. During these reconstruction works the fort reached the actual hexagonal shape with a tower at each angle. In 1717 it had 12 cannons.
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Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
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Forte de Saõ Pedro, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE SÃO PEDRO
The first fortification in the area dates from 1624 and construction work started by the Dutch during their brief occupation of Salvador (1624-1625). In 1648 the old trench was replaced by a fort. Located on a strategic place, Fort São Pedro, along with Fort São Paulo da Gamboa, played a main role in the defense of the south portion of the city. In 1671 it had only 2 cannons. During the government of Roque da Costa Barreto (1678-1682) the fort was repaired. During the 1710s the fort was improved and the works were terminatad on 12 August 1723. In 1759 it had 5 bronze “colubrinas”, 1 bronze “morteiro” and 37 iron cannons. It is a stonemasonry construction. The fort has a quadrangular polygonal shape, possessing bastions on each side with turret-shaped watch posts.
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Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Saõ Pedro, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, on 1 January 1502, came to a gulf at 13° latitude south, to which he gave the name Bahia de Todos Santos, on the shores of which the city of Bahia now stands. Salvador was founded in 1549 by Tomé de Souza, the first governor-general of Colonial Brazil, and remained the capital of Portuguese Brazil until 1763.
During colonial times the city was invaded by the Dutch, who occupied Salvador for about a year in 1624/1625. Later they made several other attempts to take the city in 1638 and 1647. The growth of the capital city of Salvador came with the sugar plantations at the end of the 16th century and continued throughout the 17th century. Bahia became the most prosperous and important slave trade center not only in Brazil but in all of the Americas.
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Today Salvador preserves in his historic centre, the “pelourinho”, his historical colonial architectural monuments, magnificent mansions, baroque churches and forts. Restoration projects have recuperated the glory of many of the oldest buildings. Among the finest worth to be be mentioned are the Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, a baroque church with a beautiful azulejos cloister. Forced to build their masters’ church and yet prohibited from practising their own religion (Candomblé), the African slave artisans responded through their work: the faces of the cherubs are distorted, some angels are endowed with huge sex organs, some appear to be pregnant. Another beautiful church is the Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). This church is adjacent to Igreja de São Francisco and it was constructed in 1702. It has a gorgeous sandstone facade, which is unique in Brazil. The facade remained hidden until it was accidentally discovered in the 1930s.
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The Basílica do Senhor Bom Jesus do Bomfim, Salvador (Bahia) is a 18th-century church that houses a curious room called Sala dos Milagres (Room of Miracles), where people leave votive offerings in thanks for cures. The votives forming a rather bizarre collection of hanging plastic replicas of multitudinous problematic body parts. The Mercado Modelo is the major craftsmanship pole in Salvador, built in 1861 to be a Customs House, nowadays it has 259 stalls, which offer every kind of popular production in leather, straw, tissue, wood, laces, semiprecious stones and silver, besides candies, fruits in syrup and craft drinks.
This is the text design of the inscription of the Historic Centre of Salvador da Bahia in the UNESCO list of the World Heritage Monuments: “As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador da Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The city has managed to preserve many outstanding Renaissance buildings. A special feature of the old town are the brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco-work.”
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Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini….
A beach, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini..
Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Domingos (1731-1737), Terreiro de Jesus and Praça da Sé, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Pelourinho, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Basílica do Senhor Bom Jesus do Bomfim, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
The entrance gate of Forte do Brum, Recife. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
FORTE DO BRUM
One of the most important remains of the Dutch rule in northeast Brazil is the Forte do Brum (Fort de Bruyne), on the northern end of Recife island. The fort was originally started to built in 1629 by the Portuguese, when the Dutch took control of Pernambuco they rebuilt the fort, which was named after Johan de Bruyne. He was the president of the political council of Olinda and called it Fort de Bruyne. When the Portuguese retook control of Recife, the fort was renamed Forte de São João Batista do Brum. The Museu Militar is housed in this fort.
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The entrance gate of Forte do Brum, Recife. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Bastions, Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Interior of Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
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The Forte das Cinco Pontas (Five Bastions Fort), which today has only four bastions, houses the Museu da Cidade (Municipal Museum). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DAS CINCO PONTAS
Forte das Cinco Pontas, built in 1630 by the Dutch, it was called by them Fort Frederik Hedrik, the fort was the last place they surrendered when they were expelled in 1654. A tabled at the entrance of the fort describe the Dutch surrender: “Próximo a este forte das Cinco Pontas, um dos últimos baluartes flamengos, na chamada campina do Taborda, existiu a porta sul de Mauricéia, onde o mestre de campo general Francisco Barreto, chefe militar da campanha de libertação e restauração de Pernambuco, recebeu a 28-1-1654, na qualidade de vencedor, as chaves da cidade, que lhe foram entregues pelo general Segismundo van Schoppe, comandante das forças holandesas que, na ante-véspera se haviam rendido. Esta memória foi mandada colocar pelo Exército, no ensejo das comemorações do tricentenário da Restauração. 1654 – 1954.” Inside the fort is the Museu da Cidade, which is entirely dedicated to the history of the city, containing old engravings and photographs.
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Bastions of the Forte das Cinco Pontas, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The Forte das Cinco Pontas (Five Bastions Fort), which today has only four bastions, houses the Museu da Cidade (Municipal Museum). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Recife is now the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Until the 17th century the city was a small village near the capital of the Capitania of Pernambuco, Olinda.
In 1630 with the Dutch conquest of northeastern Brazil, Olinda was burned by the Dutch, just because it was considered not defensible. Preference was given to the port of Recife, better positioned to defend the new colony.
Recife experienced a great development, especially during the years of the rule of Johan Maurits von Nassau-Siegen (1637-1644). He founded, with the assistance of the famous architect, Pieter Post of Haarlem, a new town called Mauricia (Mauritsstad). During those years he transformed Recife by building splendid public edifices and gardens, built the first synagogue in the Americas and for the defense of the capital of Dutch Brazil were also built substantial defensive works with forts and fortifications.
Catedral de São Pedro dos Clérigos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
In 1654 the Dutch were besieged in Recife and were forced to capitulate. The Portuguese moved the capital of Pernambuco again to Olinda, but the port of Recife remained the most important commercial port in the Capitania. In 1823 Recife supplanted Olinda as capital of Pernambuco.
Recife has a modern physical appearance, but in the old town has many interesting buildings dating from the 17th-19th centuries, including the churches Matriz de Santo Antônio, the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (this church was constructed, where the old Palace of Boa Vista was built under the Dutch governor Maurício de Nassau), the Capela Dourada, and Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos.
In the Rua do Bom Jesus is the oldest synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel (Congregação Rochedo de Israel), which was erected in the 17th century and which still keeps some original walls and houses a small museum. The synagogue functioned between 1636 and 1654. At that time the synagogue served a community of approximately 1,450 Jews.
Two forts are still visible in the city: the Dutch built Forte do Brum and the Forte das Cinco Pontas, which now houses the state museum.
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Palace of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Catedral de São Pedro dos Clérigos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Rua do Bom Jesus (Rua dos Judeus during Dutch rule),Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Marco Zero, Recife Antigo. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Capela Dourada da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Market, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The first synagogue of the Americas (Kahal Zur Israel), Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
– Nederveen Meerkerk, H. van, “Recife. The rise of a 17th-century trade city from a cultural-historical perspective”, 459 pp., illustrations, van Gorcum, 1989, Assen-Maastricht, The Netherlands. The history of architecture in Recife of the years of Dutch occupation.
Brazil was discovered, almost by accident in 1500 by a Portuguese expedition live in the East under the command of Pedro Alvares Cabral. Cabral ‘s expedition followed the sea route to Indiatraveled recently by Vasco da Gama, sailing around Africa. The expedition – to avoid the equatorial calms – followed a route far from the African coast that led to the discovery, on April 22, 1500, of the Brazilian coast. Cabral to these new lands gave the name of “Vera Cruz” .
Following the discovery of Cabral, in the following years several Portuguese expeditions reached Brazil, but in the first 30 years – from 1500 until 1530 – the Portuguese were limited to quick landings and harvesting timber (the famous Pau Brasil). Only because of the French attempts to occupy the new land, Portugal decided to colonize Brazil. In 1532, the expedition Martim Afonso de Sousa founded the village of São Vicente, which became the first permanent settlement in Brazil. As of 1534 D. João III divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies, but this system of colonization proved to be unprofitable, so in 1549 the king decided to appoint a Governor-General to administer the entire colony.
LIST OF GOVERNORS AND VICEROYS OF PORTUGUESE BRAZIL, 1549-1760
Tomé de Sousa
1549-1553
Duarte da Costa
1553-1558
Men de Sá
1558-1572
Luís Brito de Almeida
1573-1578
Lourenço da Veiga
1578-1581
Temporary government of Câmara and of Ouvidor-Geral Cosme Rangel
1581-1583
Manuel Telles Barreto
1583-1587
Temporary government of Bispo, of Provedor-Mor and Ouvidor-Geral
1587-1591
Francisco de Sousa
1591-1602
Diogo Botelho
1603-1607
Diogo de Meneses
1608-1612
Gaspar de Sousa
1613-1617
Luís de Sousa
1617-1621
Matias de Albuquerque (he was ufficially entrust of this task because the Dutch occupation of Salvador; later he appointed Francisco de Moura Rolim as governor of Salvador during 1625-1627)
1624-1625
1625-1627
Diogo Luís de Oliveira
1627-1635
Pedro da Silva
1635-1639
Fernando Mascarenhas, Conde da Torre
1639
Vasco Mascarenhas, Conde de Óbidos
1639-1640
Vice-Rei Jorge Mascarenhas, Marquês de Montalvão
1640-1641
Junta provisória
1641-1642
Antônio Telles da Silva
1642-1647
Antônio Telles de Meneses, Conde de Vila-Pouca de Aguiar
1647-1650
João Rodrigues de Vasconcellos e Sousa, Conde de Castelo Melhor
1650-1654
Jerônimo de Altaíde, Conde de Atouguia
1654-1657
Francisco Barreto de Meneses
1657-1663
Vice-Rei Vasco Mascarenhas, Conde de Óbidos
1663-1667
Alexandre de Sousa Freire
1667-1671
Afonso Furtado de Castro do Rio de Mendonça, Visconde de
Barbacena
1671-1675
Junta provisória composed by Chanceler da Relação, Agostinho de Azevedo Monteiro and other people. When Azevedo Monteiro dead, on his place was appointed the Desembargador Cristóvão de Burgos
1675-1678
Roque da Costa Barreto
1678-1682
Antônio de Sousa de Meneses
1682-1684
Matias da Cunha
1687-1688
Junta provisória composed by Chanceler da Relação Manoel Carneiro de Sá and by the Arcebispo
1688-1690
Antônio Luís Gonçalves da Câmara Coutinho
1690-1694
João de Lencastre
1694-1702
Rodrigo da Costa
1702-1705
Luís César de Meneses
1705-1710
Lourenço de Almeida
1710-1711
Pedro de Vasconcellos e Sousa, Conde de Castelo Melhor
1711-1714
Vice-Rei Pedro de Noronha, Conde de Vila Verde e Marquês de
Angeja
1714-1718
Sancho de Faro e Sousa, Conde de Vimieiro
1718-1719
Junta provisória composed by Chanceler da Relação, Caetano de Brito de Figueiredo and other people.
1719-1720
Vice-Rei Vasco Fernandes César de Meneses, Conde de Sabugosa
1720-1735
Vice-Rei André de Mello e Castro, Conde de Galvêas
1735-1749
Vice-Rei Luís Pedro Peregrino de Carvalho Meneses de Ataíde,
Conde de Atouguia
1749-1755
Junta provisória composed by chanceler da Relação, Manoel Antônio da Cunha Sottomayor and other people.
1755
Vice-Rei Marcos de Noronha e brito, Conde de Arcos
Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Fort Orange is situated 60 km north of Recife (Pernambuco). In this area the Portuguese founded a trading factory (feitoria) in 1516. On 1 September 1534 the King of Portugal created the “capitania” of Itamaracá. It was given to the donatarian Pero Lopez de Sousa. This “capitania” extended over 30 “léguas” of coast: between the Santa Cruz Canal and Baia de Traição. In this “capitania” was founded one of the first Brazilian settlements: Vila da Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Itamaracá (today Vila Velha).
Itamaracá was one of the captaincies of Portuguese Brazil. It was a small, but prosperous one. Sugar-planting was well established and it also produced tobacco, brazilwood and flax. The Brazilan North East was the richer part of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. It was the main target of the Dutch West India Company (WIC), when it decided to attack the Portuguese possession in Latin America. Recife and Olinda were the main Portuguese settlements in Pernambuco.
Itamaraca (1665). Author Johannes Vingboons
A Dutch fleet of 67 ships, 1,170 guns and 7,000 men under the command of Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq arrived in Pernambuco in February 1630 and soon they attacked the Portuguese defenses. By the evening of 16 February 1630 the Dutch were in possession of Olinda and by the 3rd of March all Portuguese resistance was over and the Dutch were masters of Recife, Olinda and the island of António Vaz.
In the following year, in 1631, the Dutch decided to occupy also the island of Itamaracá. This attempt was not crowned by success. The Dutch were repelled, but returning to Recife the Lieutenant Colonel Steyen Callenfels determined that a fort with 33 cannons had to be constructed near the Canal of Santa Cruz, that separates the island from the continent, this was the main way of access to the productive areas. To dominate the entrance of the Canal meant to control the maritime access to the rich interior.
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The entrance gate of Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
In May 1631, the Dutch built a fort named Oranje, on a little island off the southern tip of Itamaracá at the southern entrance of the Santa Cruz Canal. This fort was garrisoned by 366 men under the command of the Polish captain Crestofle d’Artischau Arciszewski. The original project of the fort was of the Dutch engineer Pieter van Bueren. The first Dutch fort was initially a earth-wooden one in square form with 4 bastions at its corners.
In June 1633 the whole island of Itamaracá was occupied by Sigismund von Schoppe. He gave his name to the small settlement, the Dutch founded there. During the Dutch occupation Itamaracá rivalled in wealth with Recife and Olinda. On 12 January 1640, in the waters near Itamaracá a Spanish-Portuguese fleet under the command of Dom Fernão de Mascarenhas, Conde da Torre, consisting of 87 ships and about 5,000 men had a series of battles with a Dutch fleet formed by 41 ships and 2,800 men and commanded by admiral Loos. The fighting lasted 5 days, during which a great deal of gunpowder was used by both sides. The battle ended without a decisive victory. In fact the Dutch lost two ships (one sunk and one driven ashore). Moreover admiral Loos was killed on the first day of fighting. On the Iberian side a big ship was lost and also 9-10 small vessels. Strategically the advantage was with the Dutch.
Cannons still mounted on a bastion, Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
During the Johann Moritz of Nassau government in Brazil, the “moradores” of Itamaracá elected representatives for a legislative assembly that took place in Recife from 27 August to 4 September 1640. During the revolt, which occurred in the year 1645, the Dutch were able to repulse a Portuguese attack against the island of Itamaracá, which happened in September 1645 (20-24 September). In 1649 the fort was rebuilt of stone.
When Recife surrendered to the Portuguese forces in January 1654, the capitulation of Taborda also included places like Itamaracá and Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Fernando de Noronha and Ceará, which were still in Dutch hands. The news of the Dutch surrender reached the garrison of fort Oranje on Itamaracá by an escaping Dutch official, Claes Claeszoon. Without waiting for being attacked, the garrison embarked using the available ships and fled to the West Indies. Reoccupied by the Portuguese, the fort was renamed Fortaleza de Santa Cruz.
The fortress is located by the seaside. Today it shelters a collection composed of Dutch maps and other items of the Dutch period.
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The entrance gate of Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
A bastion of Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The entrance gate of Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Cannons still mounted on a bastion, Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Fort Orange, Itamaracá. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The beach of Fort Orange, Itamaracá, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Various Authors “Tempo dos Flamengos e outros tempos. Brasil século XVII” 351 pp. Fundação Joaquim Nabuco – Editora Massangana, 1999, Recife, Brasil. Seminário Internacional em comemoração aos 500 anos do descobrimento.
– Barlaeus, Gaspar “História dos feitos recentemente praticados durante oito anos no Brasil” Prefácio de José António Gonçalves de Mello. Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife, 1980, Recife, Brazil. – Bezerra, Rubens Borges “Moedas holandesas em Pernambuco, Dutch coins in Pernambuco” 136 pp. ills. Gráf. Editora, 1980, Recife, Brazil.
– Boxer, Ch. R. “The Dutch in Brazil 1624-1654” xiii, 327 pp. 4 maps Oxford University Press 1957 London, United Kingdom
– Boxer, Ch. R. “Salvador de Sá and the struggle for Brazil and Angola, 1602-1686” xvi, 444 pp. The Athlone Press 1952 London, United Kingdom
– Brienen, R. P: “Georg Marcgraf (1610-c. 1644) a German Cartographer, Astronomer and Naturalist-Illustrator in Colonial Dutch Brazil” In: “Itinerario” 1/2001 pp. 85-122
– Cabral de Mello, E. “Olinda restaurada guerra e açucar no Nordeste 1630 – 1654” 470 pp. Topbooks Editora, 2° ed. 1998, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
– Di Pace, Vittorio “Napoletani in Brasile nella guerra di liberazione dall’invasione olandese : 1625-1640” 129 pp. [42] c. tav. ills. Casa Editrice Fausto Fiorentino, 1991, Napoli.
– Edmundson “The Dutch power in Brazil. The first conquest” English historical review: 1899 Vol. XIV 676 – 699 pp.
– Galvão, Sebastião de Vasconcellos “Expulsão dos Holandeses de Pernambuco” Tomo Especial, ICHN, V. 5, 1915, p. 371-420.
– Girão, Raimundo “Matias Beck, fundador de Fortaleza” 168 pp. Imprensa Oficial do Ceará, 1961, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brasil.
– Gonçalves de Mello, J. A. Neto “Tempo dos Flamengos: influência da ocupação holandesa na vida e na cultura do Norte do Brasil” 337 pp. José Olympio, 1947, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– Krommen, Rita “Mathias Beck e a Cia. das Índias Ocidentais: o domínio holandês no Ceará colonial” 310 pp. illust. Casa de José de Alencar, 1997 1. ed., Fortaleza, Brasil.
– Lima, Felício “Expulsão dos holandeses do Brasil” Conferência pronunciada no Círculo de Oficiais Reformados do Exército e da Armada do Brasil, 16 de Abril de 1948
– Moreira Bento, Cláudio “As guerras holandesas 1624-1654” Internet article, “Comemorativo do 350° aniversário em 19 de Abril de 1998 da vitória luso-brasileira na 1° Batalha dos Montes Guararapes, no Recife em Pernambuco/Brasil”
– Nederveen Meerkerk, H. van “Recife. The rise of a 17th-century trade city from a cultural-historical perspective” 459 pp. ills. van Gorcum, 1989, Assen-Maastricht, Netherlands.
– van der Straaten, Harald S. “Brazil – A Destiny: Dutch Contacts through the Ages” 164 pp. Government Publishing Office, 1984, The Hague, Netherlands.
Convento de São Francisco, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brasil. Autor e Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The city of Olinda, which is located a few kilometers north of Recife, was founded by the Portuguese in 1535 and was one of the first settlements founded by Europeans in Brazil. At the beginning of the 17th century the city became the capital of the capitania of Pernambuco, but after the Dutch occupation of northeastern Brazil Olinda was burned by the Dutch, because it did not provide adequate defense and in its place, as the main center of the colony of New Holland, was chosen Recife. With the return of the Portuguese, Olinda flourished again, becoming once again the capital of Pernambuco.
Olinda is a place for walks in the streets, visit to churches and museums and observation of scenarios, which mix blue sea, green vegetation and historical buildings. Olinda has churches rich in ornaments and wood carvings and also single chapels, most of them were built in the 16th and 17th centuries and show Baroque images and architecture. Among them are the Mosteiro de São Bento built in 1582. It has a gold-plated altar and is said to be the richest in the city.
Mosteiro de São Bento, Olinda. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Convento de São Francisco built in 1577, being the first Franciscan monastery in Brazil. The complex is formed by the Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Neves, the Capela de São Roque and the Claustro de Azulejos. The Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo was probably the first Carmelitan Order church in Brazil. It was built around 1580-1620 and rebuilt in the 18th century. The Cathedral (Sé), originally built in 1537, later rebuilt, is lying in a privileged place, overlooking the entire old town.
The harmonious balance between the buildings, gardens, 20 Baroque churches, convents and numerous small chapels all contribute to Olinda’s particular charm. The historic center of Olinda is since 1982 in the World Heritage list of UNESCO.
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A street in Olinda, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Sacresty, Catedral da Sé, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Mosteiro de São Bento, Olinda. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A view of Olinda with Recife on the background, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Convento de São Francisco, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brasil. Autor e Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja de São Pedro Apóstolo, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Catedrale da Sé, Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Church of São Cosme e Damião (1535), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Igarassu (Igaraçu) is a beautiful little village situated 30 km north of Recife. In 1535 the Portuguese Duarte Coelho landed on this place to occupy his captaincy, donated by the Portuguese Crown. Duarte Coelho installed a stone mark, functioning as a dividing spot between the captaincies of Pernambuco and Itamaracá. This monument is still visible today, is called Marco de Pedra, the monument consists of a quadrangular structure, on which there is a cylindrical column decorated with the coat of arms of Portugal.
The historical part of Igarassu is one of the best preserved architectural and historic areas of the state of Pernambuco. Among the architectural masterminds of this small town in Brazil there are the Igreja Matriz dos Santos Cosme and Damião built in 1535, the Convento do Sagrado Coração de Jesus, the Convento de Santo Antônio, the Casa de Câmara e Cadeia built in the eighteenth century.
Convento de Santo Antônio (1588), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
In 1537 Vila de Igaraçu (Igaraçu Town) was founded, its name meaning “big canoe”. Here the oldest church of the country (1535) is to be found, that of São Cosme e Damião. Another place to visit is the Convent of Santo Antônio, built in 1588 by the Franciscans. Today it contains the Museu Pinacoteca (art museum) with a very interesting collection of paintings. A great variety of paintings and picture panels of the 17th and 18th centuries are on display. Igarassu is an interesting stop on the road to Itamaracá and Fort Orange.
Cloister of the Franciscan Convento de Santo Antônio (1588), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Convento do Sagrado Coração de Jesus, Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Convento de Santo Antônio (1588), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Cloister of the Franciscan Convento de Santo Antônio (1588), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Church of São Cosme and Damião, Igarassu. It’s the oldest church of Brazil (1535). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Church of São Cosme e Damião (1535), Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A street of Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The main attraction of Paraty is its historic center with beautifully preserved colonial architecture. It is a day trip from the city of Rio de Janeiro. The distance is 240 km and it takes 4 hours to reach Paraty with a car along the beautiful coast of the Costa Verde, where along the road the mountains reach the sea, and there are hundreds of islands, including Ilha Grande at the Restinga de Marambaia, and important touristic centers as Angra dos Reis. If you can stay there for a few days, the bay of Paraty offers you a tropical forest, more than 60 islands, 300 beaches and unforgettable marine sceneries.
Paraty was an important center in the colonial period. During the XVIIIth century its port was used to take the discovered gold of Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro, and also the coffee produced in the Vale do Paraíba. With the railroad construction between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro at the end of the XIXth century the city fell into a sleeping beauty. There is nothing better in Paraty than walking in the streets with about 30 quarters in the historical center with a lot of buildings from the XIXth and XVIIIth centuries. It still keeps the original pavement and vehicles are not allowed to enter.
Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito, Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The construction of the matriz church N.S. dos Remédios is linked to an interesting story. In 1646 a lady called Maria Jácome de Melo donated the land for the construction of the village of Paraty, but she set two conditions: first the building of a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora dos Remédios and second that nobody would harm the Indians, who lived there. The chapel was built, but in 1668 was demolished and a new one was built. It was finished in 1712. In 1787 the population amounted to 2.700 people and the church was too small. Thus a new church was started to build and its construction took nearly 90 years (1787-1873). It is the actual church.
You should also visit the Igreja de Santa Rita, located in front of the sea. This church was built in 1722 and is the oldest church of Paraty. It was used by the white élite of the town. Inside this church is the Museu de Arte Sacra (Sacred Art Museum) de Paraty. Another old church is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito. The construction of this church was started in 1725. It was meant for the black slaves, who helped building it. Generally speaking in this town the Brazilian colonial style of the big houses and second floors are well preserved and houses inns, restaurants and craftwork stores. There are also many plastic artists’ ateliers.
On a hill overlooking Paraty is situated the Forte Defensor Perpétuo. This fort was built in 1703. The fortification system of Paraty was composed of six more fortifications: da Ponta Grossa, da Ilha das Bexigas, de Iticopê, da Patitiba, da Ilha do Mantimento e da Bateria do Quartel.
An old building, Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A street of Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito, Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A street of Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Church of Nossa Senhora das Dores, Paraty. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The hill where is situated the Forte Defensor Perpétuo, Paraty, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Church of Santa Rita, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Author and copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, Paraty. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
THE AMAZON SETTLEMENTS
Map of the Dutch forts on the Amazon River. Author Marco Ramerini
In 1600, according to Ioannes De Laet, the Dutch possessed two wooden forts (Fort Nassau and Fort Oranje) on the eastern shore of the Xingu River. These had been built by colonists from Zeeland. In 1616, a Zeeland expedition under the command of Pieter Adriaenszoon Ita sailed with 150 men. They arrived on the shore of the Ginipape River where they built a fort on a peninsula.
This colony survived for six years. Historical information about these settlements is incomplete, but for the first twenty years of the XVIIth century the Dutch held some forts in this region. Here they traded with the natives.
THE EARLY ATTEMPT
After the foundation of the WIC (West Indische Compagnie) in 1621 the Dutch set their eyes on the most important town of Portuguese Brazil: Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos. The expedition for the conquest of Salvador da Bahia started in December 1623. It totaled 26 sailing ships, 450 guns and 3300 men. The Admiral was Jacob Willekens, the commander of the troops was Jan Van Dorth. The Admiral arrived off Salvador on 8 May 1624. On the morning of 9 May 1624 the Dutch troops landed a few miles from Salvador, advanced and entered the town in the morning of 10 May 1624. The Portuguese governor Diogo de Mendonça surrendered. This conquest turned out to be short-lived. Indeed, on Easter Eve 1625 a Portuguese fleet of 52 ships, 1,185 guns and 12,566 men appeared off Salvador. The Dutch were demoralized and capitulated on 30 April 1625, the day after the Portuguese entered the town. This was the end of the first, but not the last, Dutch attempt to capture Portuguese Brazil.
“NIEUW HOLLAND”
The second and more durable attempt started in the Summer of 1629. This time the objective was Pernambuco, the best sugar colony in Brazil. The commander of the Dutch fleet was Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq. He arrived at Pernambuco in February 1630 with a fleet of 67 ships, 1,170 guns and 7,000 men. They launched their attack on 15 February 1630 and the action was successful. By the evening of 16 February 1630 the Dutch were in possession of Olinda; by the 3rd of March all Portuguese resistance was over and the Dutch were masters of Recife, Olinda and the island of António Vaz. From 14 March 1630 the Dutch governed their conquests through a political council.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese governor Mathias de Albuquerque organized the resistance. Some fortified camps were built all around Recife, the most important was called Arraial do Bom Jesus, only about three miles from Recife. In May 1631 the Dutch occupied a small island near Itamaracá, where they built a fort called Oranje, which was garrisoned by 366 men under the command of Crestofle d’Artischau Arciszewski, a Polish captain. The Portuguese raids stopped the Dutch in developing their forts. In November 1631 the Dutch abandoned Olinda and tried to conquer the Fort of Cabedelo in Paraíba, the Rio Grande, the Rio Formoso and Cabo de Santo Agostinho, but all these attempts failed. On 20 April 1632 a Portuguese Mulatto, Domingo Fernandes Calabar deserted to the Dutch. He was born at Porto Calvo (Alagoas) and he knew the country very well; his desertion was very useful for the Dutch.
On 1 May 1632 the Dutch occupied the little town of Igaraçu near the island of Itamaracá. In February 1633 the fort on the Rio Formoso was conquered by the Dutch and in March 1633 the “arraial” of Afogados was also conquered and a fort was built there. In June 1633 the island of Itamaracá was occupied and a settlement was founded there; in December 1633 van Ceulen captured the Fort of Reis Magos (Dutch Fort Ceulen) at the mouth of the Rio Grande do Norte. In March 1634 the Dutch occupied a foothold on the “pontal” of Cabo Santo Agostinho. After a short siege the Fort Cabedelo in Paraíba surrendered on 19 December 1634 and the town of Paraíba surrendered a few days later. Now the Dutch controlled the entire coastline from Cabo de Santo Agostinho to Rio Grande.
In March 1635 the Dutch attacked and conquered Porto Calvo. On 8 June 1635, after a siege of three months, the “arraial do Bom Jesus” was also conquered and, a month later, the Fort of Nazaré at Cabo de Santo Agostinho. The Portuguese Governor with over 7,000 persons escaped to the south, but encountered about 500 Dutchmen in the fort at Porto Calvo, which barred his way. He had to attack this place and after a brief siege the Dutch capitulated.
In this attack the Portuguese captured Domingo Fernandes Calabar who was put to death as a traitor. Calabar’s death was a heavy blow to the Dutch. On 24 July 1635 the Dutch reoccupied Porto Calvo, which had been abandoned by the Portuguese on 22 July.
At the beginning of 1636, reinforced by 2,500 men from Portugal, the Portuguese took the initiative. They advanced on Porto Calvo, but its Dutch commander, von Schoppe, evacuated the town. The conquest of Porto Calvo gave the Portuguese the possibility to carry out many raids against Pernambuco, which became rather unsafe for the Dutch. At this time the WIC directorate decided to put a Colonial Governor at the head of the Brazilian colony called Nieuw Holland. Johan Maurits, count of Nassau–Siegen, was the man selected for this office; he was a good choice.
THE GOVERNMENT OF JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU-SIEGEN (1637–1644)
Johan Maurits left Holland on 25 October 1636 and arrived in Recife on 23 January 1637. He was resolved to waste no time in capturing Porto Calvo, which he attacked with a force of 3,000 Dutch soldiers, 1,000 sailors and 1,000 Amerindians on 18 February 1637; the Neapolitan commander Bagnuoli was defeated and the Dutch captured the fort after two weeks of siege. Johan Maurits, sacked the small town of Penedo and built a fort (Fort Maurits) 18 miles from the mouth of the São Francisco River. With the conquest of their first plantation colony, the Hollanders were in need of slaves. Since 1612 they possessed the small fort at Moure on the Gold Coast (presently Ghana), but the Portuguese were the masters of this coast. Indeed, since 1482 they possessed the big fortress of São Jorge da Mina, the most important center of the slave trade. For this aim Johan Maurits sent an expedition to attack Elmina (São Jorge da Mina), the key to the Gold Coast. The fortress capitulated on 28 August 1637. In November 1637 Colonel von Schoppe invaded the province of Sergipe del Rey, and the Neapolitan commander Bagnuoli escaped. In December 1637 also the province of Ceará and the city of Fortaleza were conquered. Now the Dutch controlled half of the then Brazilian provinces. The Portuguese maintained a tenuous control over Salvador and the southern half of Brazil.
However, even Salvador was besieged for a short time in 1638. On 8 April 1638 a Dutch force of 4,600 men (3,600 Dutch and 1,000 Amerindians) attempted to capture Salvador. The Dutch landed, but the garrison of the city was superior in number to the assailants. Johan Maurits decided to risk an assault on 17 and 18 May 1638, which came very near to a success. However, this attack turned out as a major defeat for the Dutch and they retreated on 25–26 May. For as long as the Portuguese held Salvador in their hands, the Hollanders in Brazil would never be in safe condition.
In 1640 Portugal revolted against Spain, restored its independence and the Duke of Bragança was proclaimed King. When Johan Maurits received the news he celebrated it with festivities. But in spite of this the war continued. In 1641 the Dutch reoccupied São Cristóvão (which had been abandoned in 1637), and in November 1641 also the city of São Luís do Maranhão was taken.
An expedition for the conquest of key areas of Portuguese Africa: São Tomé, Angola and Benguela was started. On 23 August 1641 a fleet of 21 ships and 3,000 men under the command of Jol and Henderson anchored off Luanda (Angola) and three days later the city was occupied. Also Benguela (in today’s Angola) was taken and in October the islands of São Tomé (16 October 1641) and Annobon were captured. Finally, in February 1642, the Fort of Axim on the Gold Coast, the last in Portuguese hands was also taken. With these conquests the WIC became the ruler of the whole West African coast. The best slave markets at that time were thus under WIC control.
From the beginning Johan Maurits described Brazil as a beautiful country and he fell in love with it. He was favourably inclined towards the Portuguese planters (moradores) and tolerated the Roman Catholic priests. He gave the colony a form of representative local government through the creation of municipal and rural councils. He developed the country; built streets, bridges and roads in the city of Recife. On the neighbouring island of António Vaz he founded a new town called Mauritsstad or Maurícia, where the first astronomic observatory and meteorological station in the Americas were built on two large sites (called Boa Vista and Vrijburg), which included zoological and botanical gardens. He was a “Maecenas”. In Nieuw Holland famous artists like Frans Post and Albert Eckhout and scientists like Piso, Marcgraf and others arrived from Holland.
The Dutch were, at this time, the masters of the Atlantic Ocean and Recife was, like Batavia in the East, the capital of the WIC (West Indische Compagnie) empire. In 1642, they were masters of Nieuw Amsterdam (today’s New York) and the Nieuw Nederland colony in North America. In the Caribbean they possessed the islands of Curação (today’s Curaçao), Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Saba, Tobago, St. Croix. In the Wild Coast (today’s Guiana and Suriname) they possessed colonies on the Essequibo River and the Berbice River, the islands of St. Helena (a VOC possession) and Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic and the colony of Nieuw Holland or Dutch Brazil. On the West African coast they held the castles of Arguin (Mauritania), Gorée (Senegal), Axim, Butri, Shama, Elmina, Moure (all on the Gold Coast), the islands of São Tomé and Annobon in the Gulf of Guinea; the ports of Luanda and Benguela in Angola.
The Dutch subjects in Brazil were divided into two categories: Those employed by the WIC (soldiers, bureaucrats, Calvinist ministers) called “dienaaren” and the others (settlers, merchants, artisans, and tavern keepers) called “vrijburghers” or “vrijluiden”. Many of these were ex–soldiers, who had married and settled down, but there were also people who had emigrated from the Netherlands to seek a new life in Nieuw Holland. The free–burghers and traders were the economic pillar of the colony, and most of the trade was under their control. But notwithstanding this, the Burgher community in Brazil was too scant for the WIC purposes. In the colony there was also a flourishing Jewish community of 1,450 souls in 1644. The total white civilian population of “vrijburgher” was about 3,000. The Dutch control on Brazil was always endangered, and the WIC failed in its aim of colonization. The majority of the colonists were Portuguese moradores with a different religion and language, who were always ready to revolt against the “heretics”. In October 1642 the province of Maranhão revolted and after one year of fighting the Dutch troops retreated. In April 1642 the directors of the WIC wrote to Johan Maurits, informing him to return to Holland in spring 1643. He was not happy for that and postponed his departure until May 1644.
THE END OF A “NIEUW HOLLAND”
Deprived of the leadership of Johan Maurits, the WIC lost the control over the colony. After his departure the Portuguese planters revolted against Dutch rule and after the battle of Tabocas (3 August 1645), which ended with a Dutch defeat, the Dutch were forced on the defensive. The Portuguese gained control of the “várzea”. The Portuguese forces attacked Serinhaem and the Dutch garrison surrendered on 6 August 1645. On 13 August 1645 the Dutch fortress of the Pontal de Nazaré at Cabo de Santo Agostinho also surrendered.
On 2 September 1645 the “moradores” of Paraíba rose against the Dutch and the Fort of Porto Calvo surrendered on 17 September, followed on 18 September also by Fort Maurits on the São Francisco River. On 22 September Sergipe del Rey in turn rose against the Dutch and at the end of the year 1645 the Dutch possessed only Recife and in its vicinity the Forts of Cabedelo (Paraíba), Ceulen (Rio Grande do Norte), the islands of Itamaracá and Fernando de Noronha.
Due to Recife’s siege by the Portuguese since August 1645, the Johan Maurits palaces and parks and many other buildings at Mauritsstad were razed to the ground for a better defense of Recife. In the besieged capital there were about 8,000 men, but in June, July and August 1646 a relief Dutch fleet reached Recife. In November 1646 Fort Maurits was reoccupied by the Dutch, but the following April the place was abandoned. In February 1647 a Dutch expedition of 26 ships and 2,400 men occupied the island of Itaparicá in the Bay of Todos os Santos. This was to be the last “coup de main”.
A new Portuguese fleet of 15 ships and 3,800 men left Portugal on 18 October 1647 under the command of António Teles de Menezes, Count of Vila–Pouca de Aguiar and governor of Brazil. On 7 November 1647 another Portuguese fleet of 7 ships and 600 men left Lisbon under the command of Salvador Correia de Sá e Benavides, although his final objective was Luanda. On 13 December 1647 the Dutch evacuated Itaparicá.
A new Dutch fleet under Witte de With left Holland the day after Christmas 1647 and arrived – in Recife in March 1648. In the night of 17–18 April 1648 a Dutch squadron of 5,000 men under Commander von Schoppe attacked the Portuguese forces in the “várzea” and scored a first success. However, in the morning of 19 April 1648 the Portuguese (only 2,200 men) launched an attack at the Guararapes, which turned out to be an overwhelming victory. The Dutch left 500 dead and 556 wounded. Shortly thereafter the Portuguese reoccupied Olinda.
The Dutch in Recife were again besieged. On 12 May 1648 Salvador Correia de Sá with 15 ships and 2,000 men left Rio for Luanda in an attempt to retake it. He succeeded in retaking Luanda on 24 August 1648. At the end of the year 1648 the Dutch forces in Brazil totaled about 6,000 white men and 600 Amerindians.
On 18 February 1649 a Dutch force of 3,500 men occupied the Guararapes. The Portuguese commander Francisco Barreto marched against them with a force of 2,600 men and the subsequent battle of 19 February was a overwhelming victory for the Portuguese, and the Dutch left 957 dead.
A Dutch expedition under Mathias Beck landed in April 1649 in Ceará, which had been abandoned at the end of 1643 and founded a new fort called Schonenburgh.
Map of Dutch Brazil in 1641. Author Marco Ramerini
In February 1650 the situation of the Dutch at Recife, closely besieged by land, was very precarious, and the 3,000 men garrison was demoralized. There were about 8,000 civilians, of which roughly 3,400 were vrijburghers, 600 were Jews and 3,000 to 4,000 were Amerindians or Negroes. The shortage of food and provisions was the worst enemy. The strength of the garrisons of Nieuw Holland was about 4,000 men including the garrisons in Paraíba and in Rio Grande do Norte.
On 20 December 1653 a Portuguese fleet of 77 ships appeared off Recife. Meanwhile and unlike the situation during 1650 the depots of the town were full of provisions, but at this time the garrison was quite unprepared to offer resistance.
On 22 January 1654 the Dutch asked for terms of surrender, and on 26 January 1654 the capitulation was signed. Not only Recife but all the places still in Dutch hands were included: Paraíba, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Itamaracá, Fernando de Noronha. The Portuguese made their triumphal entry into Recife on 28 January 1654 and the WIC never recovered from the loss of Nieuw Holland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Various Authors, “Tempo dos Flamengos e outros tempos. Brasil século XVII”, 351 pp., Fundação Joaquim Nabuco – Editora Massangana, 1999, Recife, Brazil, Seminário Internacional em comemoração aos 500 anos do descobrimento, 18 articles on Dutch Brazil. Index: Tambores de Marte em Guararapes; Nassau: uma perspectiva cultural em Pernambuco; Nassau no Recife: aspectos culturais da ocupação do espaço urbano; António Vieira e o tempo dos Flamengos: retórica anti-holandesa e alvitrismo político económico; A revelação do Brasil por João Maurício de Nassau; Flamengos e Ibéricos no Nordeste Brasileiro; Padroado Português e missionação nos tempos dos Flamengos; Igreja sociedade e poder; Presença Flamenga no Nordeste; Calvinismo Holandês e libertade religiosa; Igreja, reforma, contra-reforma e estado em Pernambuco no sêculo XVII; Pernambuco e Angola; A cidade do Recife – urbanismo lusitano e holandês; Portugal e Holanda no Pernambuco setecentista; Luís Cardoso; Pernambuco na história da companhia geral do comércio do Brasil; Réflexions sur les géopolitiques atlantiques – le cas du Brésil au XVIIème siècle; Algumas notas críticas sobre a história da restauração portuguesa (1640-1668).
– Barlaeus, Gaspar “História dos feitos recentemente praticados durante oito anos no Brasil”, prefácio de José Antônio Gonçalves de Mello, Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife, 1980, Recife, Brazil. Gaspar van Baerle, alias Gaspar Barlaeus (1584-1648) was a humanist, who accompanied Count Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen to Brazil in order to write the history of his administration for the Dutch Crown in Pernambuco (1637-44). The result was this book, a major title in rare Brasiliana, published in Latin (Amsterdam 1647). The printer and publisher, Johann Blaeu, included 55 prints after drawings by Frans Post in the first edition. They covered many cities in Northeastern Brazil other than Pernambuco, but also important places in Portuguese Africa and Chile.
– Bezerra, Rubens Borges, “Moedas holandesas em Pernambuco, Dutch coins in Pernambuco”, 136 pp., illustration, Gráfica e Editora, 1980, Recife, Brazil.
– Boxer, Ch. R., “The Dutch in Brazil 1624-1654”, xiii, 327 pp., 4 maps, Oxford University Press 1957, London, United Kingdom. A complete study on the Dutch presence in Brazil. I think, it is the best about Dutch Brazil.
– Cabral de Mello, E., “Olinda restaurada, guerra e açucar no Nordeste 1630 – 1654”, 470 pp., Topbooks Editora, 2° edição, 1998, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Di Pace, Vittorio, “Napoletani in Brasile nella guerra di liberazione dall’invasione olandese: 1625-1640”, 129 pp., [42], con tavole, illustrazioni, Casa Editrice Fausto Fiorentino, 1991, Naples, Italy.
– Doria, Gino, “I soldati napoletani nelle guerre del Brasile contro gli olandesi, 1625-1641”, in: Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, a.57, 31 pp., Ricciardi editori, 1932, Napoli.
– Edmundson, “The Dutch on the Amazon and Rio Negro in the Seventeenth Century”, English historical review: 1903, Vol. XVIII, pp. 642 – 663 and 1904, Vol. XIX, pp. 1 – 25. Article dealing with the Dutch settlements in the Amazon basin.
– Edmundson, “The Dutch power in Brazil. The struggle for Bahia 1624-1627”, English historical review: 1896, Vol. XI, 231 – 259 pp.
– Edmundson, “The Dutch power in Brazil. The first conquest”, English historical review: 1899, Vol. XIV, 676 – 699 pp.
– Girão, Raimundo, “Matias Beck, fundador de Fortaleza”, 168 pp., Imprensa Oficial do Ceará, 1961, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
– Gonçalves de Mello, J. A. Neto, “Tempo dos Flamengos: influência da ocupação holandesa na vida e na cultura do Norte do Brasil” 337 pp., José Olympio, 1947, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Dutch heritage in Northern Brazil. Index: Os Holandeses e a vida urbana, os Holandeses e a vida rural, atitude dos Holandeses para com os Negros e a escravidão, atitude dos Holandeses para com os Índios e a catequese, atitude dos Holandeses para com os Portugueses e os Judeus e as religiões católica e israelita.
– Herkenhoff, Paulo, “Brasil e os Holandeses 1630-1654”, 272 pp., color plates, maps, plans, GMT Editores Ltda., 1999, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Beautifully illustrated volume on Dutch influence in Brazil in the 17th century. Essays covering Art, Architecture, Urbanism, Cartography, Science and Religion.
– Krommen, Rita, “Mathias Beck e a Cia. das Índias Ocidentais: o domínio holandês no Ceará colonial”, 310 pp., illustrations, Casa de José de Alencar, 1997, 1. edition, Fortaleza, Brazil. Tese de Graduação apresentada à Universidade de Colónia.
– Nederveen Meerkerk, H. van, “Recife. The rise of a 17th-century trade city from a cultural-historical perspective”, 459 pp., illustrations, van Gorcum, 1989, Assen-Maastricht, The Netherlands. The history of architecture in Recife of the years of Dutch occupation.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The French ports of Normandy, especially Rouen and Dieppe, had a flourishing textile industry and thus became the principal competitors in trade for Portugal in Brazil in the 16th century. Due to the presence of vast forests of “Pau Brasil” on the Brazilian coast (used in the process of cloth colouring) the French soon started to trade with the Indians. The first voyage took place in 1503-1504, when the ship “Espoir” reached the Brazilian coast. After this first contact the French expeditions became more frequent.
In 1531 two French ships and 120 men under the command of Jean Dupéret landed on the Brazilian coast. On the island of Santo Aleixo (near Recife), named by the French “Ile Saint-Alexis”, they built a fort and a trading centre. This French settlement was short-lived. The Portuguese captured the French ships on their return voyage to Europe and in December 1531 they put the French fort under siege, which forced the French garrison to surrender.
The French made three other attempts to establish settlements in Brazil. The first attempt was in Rio de Janeiro (1555-1560), the second in Ibiapaba-Ceará (1590-1604), the third in São Luís do Maranhão (1612-1615).
FRANCE ANTARCTIQUE 1555-1560
In the 1550s the area from Cabo Frio to Rio de Janeiro was under French rather than Portuguese control. For about five years between 1555 and 1560 the French maintained a base on a little island in the Bay of Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro): Fort Coligny.
The Calvinist Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon was sent to Brazil in 1555 in order to materialise the French presence there. On 14 August 1555, with three ships, 600 sailors and colonists (French term: colons), he started for Brazil.
The French expedition arrived on 10-15 November 1555 in the Bay of Guanabara and landed on a deserted island, today Villegagnon island. Here Fort Coligny was built and good relations were established with an adjoining Indian village. The members of this first expedition were mainly Bretons and Normans and they were fairly subdivided between Catholics and Protestants.
A short time later, on 7 March 1556, arrived a second expedition of three ships with 190 men. The colony had good development prospects, but the hard and intolerant rule of Villegagnon stopped the promising growth of the colony. Villegagnon’s oppressive rule obliged a large number of colonists to leave the colony. Among others, some Huguenots returned to France, where their reports brought about the abandonment of an expedition of 700-800 colonists.
In 1559 Villegagnon also returned to France, leaving the command of the colony to his nephew Bois-le-Comte. Portugal, not disposed to tolerate the French presence in his possessions, sent an expedition of 120 Portuguese and 1.000 Indians under the command of Mem de Sá, Governor General of Brazil (1558-1570). After two days and two nights of savage fighting the Portuguese destroyed the French colony on 16 March 1560. The surviving 70 Frenchmen and their 800 Indian allies, demoralised, abandoned the fort and sheltered among other Indians.
Like W.J. Eccles writes in his book “France in America”: “For a century, French traders had challenged the Portuguese hold on this vast region, with little or no aid from the Crown. But for religious dissension in Rio de Janeiro and the unfortunate character of Villegagnon France rather than Portugal might well have established a vast empire in South America.”
IBIAPABA 1590-1604
In 1590 under the command of Adolf Montbille a French expedition settled in Ibiapaba (Viçosa-Ceará Here the Frenchmen established a settlement and a fort, and they traded “pau Brasil” with the Indios that had settled in the vicinity of the French trading station.
The French stayed here in peace with the natives for about 14 years, but in 1604 a Portuguese expedition under Pero Coelho attacked the settlement and, after a fierce battle, forced the Frenchmen to surrender.
SÃO LUIS DO MARANHÃO 1612-1615
On 19 March 1612 three French ships left from the French port of Canacale to Maranhão. These ships were the “Regent” under the command of Rasilly and La Ravardière, the “Charlotte” under the command of the Baron de Sancy and the “Sainte-Anne”.
On 24 June the ships arrived at the island of Fernando de Noronha, where they stayed until July 8. Here they found one Portuguese and 17 or 18 Indian slaves. All were removed to Maranhão. On 29 July the French landed on the island “Pequena do Maranhão”, which was found deserted. This island was named by the French Ile de Sainte-Anne. From here the French moved to the island “Grande do Maranhão”, where they found some ships from Dieppe and Le Havre with 400 Frenchmen that were trading with the Indians. Here the Capuchins built the convent of Sainte Françoise and near it a fort, named Fort Saint-Louis, was also built. On 20 December 1612 the missionary chapel was inaugurated.
Here the French lived in peace for nearly two years. In 1613 the leaders of the settlements resolved to return to France in search for reinforcements. After some attempts at the Court they succeeded in preparing a reinforcement expedition. At Easter 1614 the ship “Regent” with 300 Frenchmen left for Maranhão. On 14 June the ship cruised along the Portuguese fort of Ceará, and on 18 June the expedition arrived at “Buraco das Tartarugas” or Jaracoará, where another Portuguese fort was to be found. Despite the obstacles the French reinforcements arrived unharmed in Maranhão.
Due to the continuous presence of French ships in the area the Portuguese built several forts to control the coast with the purpose to stop the French with their trading. In 1611 or 1612 the Portuguese had founded the fort of Ceará, named Nossa Senhora do Amparo; in August 1613 they also founded the fort of Jaracoará, named Nossa Senhora do Rosário.
On 26 October 1614 a Portuguese force of 500 men (Portuguese and Indians) arrived on terra firme near the French settlements with the intent of driving the French out. The Portuguese encamped in Guaxenduba and there they built a fortified camp called Forte de Santa Maria. The French of Maranhão, being superior in number, decided to take the initiative and on 19 November 1614 7 ships, 50 guns and an armed force of 200 Frenchmen and 1.500 Indios attacked the Portuguese fort. The attack was, however, an overwhelming defeat for the French.
On 27 November 1614 a one-year armistice was signed with the purpose to permit the Kings of France and Spain to settle the issue diplomatically. It was also decided to send Portuguese and French emissaries to Europe to explain the question. Thus the ship “Regent” left for Europe with on board the Portuguese and French emissaries on 16 December 1614. The result of this mission is not known.
However, reinforcements for Maranhão never arrived from France. Meanwhile, on 1 November 1615, a Portuguese fleet of 9 ships and several hundred men under the command of Alexandre de Moura arrived in front of the French settlements. The Portuguese landed on the island “Grande do Maranhão” and entrenched themselves on the promontory of São Francisco. The fortification was named “Quartel de São Francisco”. On 3 November 1615 the French – already demoralized – surrendered without fighting.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Parkman, Francis “Pioneers of France in the New World” University of Nebraska Press, 1996
– Daher, Andréa “Les Singularités de la France Équinoxiale : Histoire de la mission des pères capucins au Brésil (1612-1615)” Préface de Roger Chartier., Paris, Champion, coll. « Les Géographies du Monde », 2002, 346 p.
– Thevet, André “Les singularités de la France antartique” 1558, new ed. (Paul Gaffarel, ed.) 1878
Written by Robbert Kock. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Since the Spaniards arrived in Chile in 1535, Valdivia was one of the first cities, which the Spanish colonists founded. The city, founded in 1552, was named after the Spanish explorer Pedro de Valdivia. He became the first governor of Chile from 1541 till 1553. The main reason for the Spanish colonization in the area was gold. In fact in the area they found many gold mines. The first contact of a Dutchman with Chile was in the year 1600, when a Dutch pirate called Sebastian de Cordes captured Valdivia from the Spaniards. He left the place after a few months.
The Dutch West-India Company (in Dutch: “Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie” or WIC) had always wanted to have parts of Chile, because they also wanted to trade in gold. But the Dutch East-India company (in Dutch: “Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie” or VOC) was also interested in this type of trade.
The Dutch decided to send an expedition to Chile. The leadership of the expedition was entrusted to Hendrick Brouwer, a Dutch General, who had been in service of the VOC. He had been a commander of a fleet of ships and he was the “Opperhoofd” (Governor) of the Dutch post in Deshima/Japan. He had discovered a new sea route to Dutch India, and he had been Governor General of the VOC. Brouwer was a men who treated his men with great rigour. His assistant was Elias Herckmans, who had worked with the WIC, having made his mark with the capture of Dutch Brazil.
In 1642 the expedition finally left from Dutch Brazil towards Chile. The route was for Cape Horn through the Le Maire Strait. The tasks, which the Company gave Brouwer, were: To capture the first gold mines, to capture the city of Valdivia, to discover the island of Santa Maria and to make alliances with the Indians. Moreover Brouwer had to find out, if it was possible to capture Peru.
When the Dutch arrived in May 1643, they didn’t need to do much to capture Chiloé island from the Spaniards. Brouwer had also met an Indian tribe: the “Araucaniers”. The Indians hadn’t liked the Spanish colonists, because the Spaniards wanted their gold. Brouwer said that he wanted to get rid of the Spaniards as well. Thus they became ‘partners’. Everything seemed to go well until General Hendrick Brouwer died on 7 August of the year 1643 in Puerto Inglés.
The much milder vice-general Elias Herckmans took over the command. He arrived in Valdivia on 24 August and easily captured the city of Valdivia. Hendrick Brouwer’s body was buried in Valdivia, which was called after him “Brouwershaven”. The death of Brouwer was the first evidence that the expedition would be a failure. Two things went wrong: Elias Herckmans let the Indians know that he and the other Dutch were looking for gold. This meant the end of their cooperation. He was soft to his men, eventually causing them to start a mutiny. This circumstance let him decide to go back to the Dutch part of Brazil, when no more progress turned out. The only thing, which the expedition had found out was that they got to know that “Staten Island” (Isla de los Estados de la Tierra del Fuego) wasn’t a part of the unknown “Southland”, but an island.
Herckmans and the Dutch expedition left Valdivia on 28 October 1643 for Dutch Brazil. The expedition had failed. After the Dutch expedition the Spaniards returned to Valdivia and built stronger forts, because they didn’t want to have an attack of another European country again. Brouwer’s body was disinterred and burned.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Various Authors “Colección de Historiadores de Chile y de Documentos relativos a la Historia Nacional. Tomo XLV. Los Holandeses en Chile”
x+438 pp. Imprenta Universitaria, 1923 , Santiago, Chile.
Index: “Población de Valdivia : motivos y medios para aquella fundación, defensas del Reino del Perú para resistir las invasiones enemigas en mar y tierra, paces pedidas por los indios rebeldes de Chile, acetadas y capituladas por el gobernador ; y estado que tienen hasta nueve de Abril del año de 1647 A. D. Philipo IIII N. S., el piadoso Rey Católico de las Españas y Emperador de las Indias / por el Padre Maestro Fray Miguel de Aguirre. Lima : Casa de Julián Santos de Saldaña, 1647”
– “Journael ende historis verhael van de Reyse gedaen by Oosten de straet le Maire, naer de Custen Chili, onder het beleyt van den Heer Generael Hendrick Brouwer, inden jare 1643 voor gevallen, etc.”
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos: by Pedro Gonçalves. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
In 1680 the Portuguese founded along the northern bank of the River Plate (Río de la Plata/Rio da Prata) opposite Buenos Aires the fortress of Colónia do Sacramento (today Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay).
The city was of strategic importance in resisting to the Spanish. Spaniards conquered the Fortress already in the year of its foundation, but the following year they were forced to return it by the Provisional Treaty of Lisbon. The Portuguese ruled Colónia do Sacramento until 1705. During the War of Spanish Succession the city was taken by the Spaniards again.
In 1713, with the Treaty of Utrecht, Colónia returned to the Portuguese until 1762. During the Seven Years’ War it was occupied by the Spaniards through the First Cevallos expedition, but the following year with the Treaty of Paris (1763) the city was returned to the Portuguese.
Ruins of the monastery, Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Author and Copyright Pedro Gonçalves
In 1777, during the Spanish-Portuguese War, the Second Cevallos expedition reconquered the city, which remained in Spanish hands until 1811, when it joined the Liga Federal, a confederal state, considered to have been the predecessor of modern Uruguay. In 1817 the Portuguese took up the city for the last time and held it until the independence of Brazil in 1822. Colonia del Sacramento became a part of independent Uruguay in 1828.
The well-preserved urban landscape illustrates the successful fusion of the Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles. The town is a UNESCO world heritage site since 1995.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Anonymous “Historia Topographica E Bellica Da Nova Colonia De Sacramento Do Rio Da Prata” 2012, Ulan Press
– Assunção, Fernando O.; Cravotto, Antonio “Colonia del Sacramento, patrimonio mundial” 1996, Montevideo: UNESCO
– Rela, Walter “Colonia del Sacramento, 1678-1778: Historia política, militar y diplomática” 2011, Editorial Académica Española
San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck
The Indios Guaraní of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil would have been another indigenous people victim of the colonial conquest in South America, if the Jesuits would haven’t been able to persuade the King of Spain to grant that vast region to their care.
The Jesuits promised to the King generous rewards, in the form of tributes, in exchange of the exemption from the “encomiendas” (hard labour to which were subjected all the other Indios), assuring that the region would have been an Imperial dominion thanks only to the Gospel power.
Therefore, for about 150 years, the Jesuits succeeded in protecting the Guaraní from the raids of the slave-hunters from São Paulo (Paulistas). They founded several missions or “reducciones” and developed a kind of evangelisation a bit peculiar for that time. They put into practice the precepts of the Gospel, isolated the Guaraní from the bad influences of the Europeans and developed the creativity of the Indios.
The Jesuits, in the 17th and 18th Centuries, achieved this bold experiment in religious colonisation. The Reducciones encompassed the vast zone of today’s Argentina, Paraguay, southern Brazil and Uruguay. They were one of the most singular creations of the Catholic missionary activity.
San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
The first settlement had founded in 1609. Many other Jesuit Missions were established along the rivers, in the Chaco, Guaira and Paraná territories. The first missions were founded in Brazil, but due to the continuous raids of the Paulistas, were soon abandoned (1640s.).
Guided by the Jesuits, the Indios had advanced laws, they founded free public services for the poor, schools, hospitals, established birth control, and suppressed the death penalty. A kind of society based on the principles of the primitive Christianity had been established. All the inhabitants of the “reducciones” worked in the “tupambae”, land property of the community, and all the products which they produced were fairly divided among them.
The Guaraní were very skilled in handicraft works, sculpture, woodcarving etc.; the “reducciones”, were the first “industrial” state of the South America. Indeed, such advanced products as watches, musical instruments, etc. were produced in the “reducciones”. The first typography of the New World had been built in the reducciones. The working day was about 6 hours (in Europe at that time was of 12-14 hours), and the free time had been dedicated to music, dance, bow-shot contests and to prayer. The Guaraní society was the first in history of the world to be entirely literate.
The main settlements had been on the Rio Paraná along the border of the present Argentina and Paraguay. These missions reached their apogee in the first half of 18th century, gathered around about 30 missions, between 100.000 and 300.000 Indios converted to Catholicism.
San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
The Jesuit missions assumed almost full independence, as if they were real nations. The “reducciones” were centres of the community life. The main buildings, like the church, the college, the church yard were concentrated around a wide square. The Indios’ houses were faced on the other three sides of the square. The village was also provided with a house for the widows, a hospital, and several warehouses. In the centre of the square, rose on a tall base, remained a huge cross and the patron Saint statue, for which the mission was named. Some “reducciones” numbered up to 20.000 inhabitants.
Trouble started in 1750s, when the King of Spain ceded to Portugal a portion of the territory where the missions were located. The Portuguese, who wanted to take economic advantage of these zones and of the work of the Indios, caused the so-called Guaraní wars which concluded in 1756 with the Indios defeat. The Jesuit Missions ended in 1767, with the expulsion of the Jesuits. During that time, the last missions also emptied and the Indios returned in the forest.
Today, of that time, are left the beautiful ruins of some of the “reducciones”, and the indigenous language: the Guaraní, that is today the only native language to be the official language of a South American nation: Paraguay. The Indios Guaraní almost disappeared as they are now, reduced to only 50.000 people. The remains of the reducciones, are one of the most interesting chapters of the colonial history, with some of the most remarkable examples of art of the 17th. and 18th. centuries in South America.
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Map of the Guaranì Jesuitical Missions "Reducciones" in Argentina and Paraguay. Author Marco Ramerini
Map of the Guaranì Jesuitical Missions "Reducciones" in Brazil and Argentina. Author Marco Ramerini
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The ruins of 8 missions are in Paraguay:
San Ignacio Guazù (1609)
Santa Rosa de Lima (1698)
Santa Maria da Fé (1647)
San Cosme y Damian (1652) it had also an astronomic observatory.
Santiago (1651)
Itapua today Encarnacion.
Jesus de Tavarangué (1685) UNESCO world heritage.
Santissima Trinidad de Paranà (1706) UNESCO world heritage.
The ruins of 15 missions are in Argentina:
San Ignacio Mini (1632) UNESCO world heritage.
Santa Ana (1637) UNESCO world heritage.
Nuestra Senhora de Loreto UNESCO world heritage.
Santa Maria la Major UNESCO world heritage.
Candelaria, Corpus, San Carlos, San José, Martires, San Javier, Conception, Apostoles, Santo Tomé, Yapeiu, La Cruz.
The ruins of 7 missions are in Brazil:
Sao Miguel Arcanjo (das Missoes) (1687) the chief mission of the seven in Brazil that is a UNESCO world heritage site. Close there were the missions of Santo Angelo (1706), Sao Francisco de Borja (1682), Sao Nicolau, Sao Luiz Gonzaga, Sao Lourenço Martir (1690), Sao Joao Batista (1697).
Chiquitos missions (Bolivia):
San Francisco Javier, Conception, Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Rafael, San José. UNESCO world heritage site.
Taruma missions:
Between the Guaranì e Chiquitos missions, there were the missions of Taruma: Sao Joaquin (1747), San Estanislao (1747), Belen (1760).
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San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
San Ignacio Miní, Misiones, Argentina. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Caraman, Philip “The lost paradise: the Jesuit Republic in South America” 1976, New York: Seabury Press
– Gomez, Alcide Antonio “Ruinas Jesuiticas de San Ignacio Mini. Los treinte pueblos” San Ignacio Mini, Argentina
– Cunninghame Graham, R.B. “A Vanished Arcadia: Being Some Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay 1607 to 1767” 1924, London, William Heinemann
– Ganson, Barbara “The Guarani under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata” 2003, Stanford University Press
– Gomez, Alcide Antonio “Ruinas Jesuiticas de San Ignacio Mini. Los treinte pueblos” San Ignacio Mini, Argentina
