Tension at the top: From Fort Maurits to the heart of a colonial power struggle

The contested origins of Fortaleza

Fortaleza Brazil The Brazilian state of Ceará is one of the poorer regions of Brazil. The GDP per capita is just a third of that of the people in the state of Sao Paulo, and not even a fifth of those in the district around the capital of Brasilia.

Echoes of empire: On Itaparica, where Dutch ambition met Machiavellian brutality

Vera Cruz Brazil Standing on Itaparica Island today, with the sea breeze brushing past the ramparts of the old fort of São Lourenço, it’s easy to be lulled by the slow rhythms of Bahia. But beneath these waters and stones lies a deeper, darker current; one that stretches back to a fleeting empire built on commerce, ambition, and blood.

A secretary’s plea for a colonial vision

The Hague The Netherlands You are standing in the Binnenhof, the heart of the Dutch Republic. Imagine this is the winter of 1642; narrow windows filter the pale northern light into the vaulted chambers. Stone floors echo with quiet footsteps. The thick oak doors are shut, but beyond them, the States-General is in session, a body of burghers, regents, and envoys who hold the fate of an empire in their hands.

How a dinnerless palace ended a colonial reign

Amsterdam The Netherlands It was the spring of 1642, and the corridors of the Dutch West India Company headquarters were quiet, dimly lit by daylight slanting through small windows, the air heavy with the scent of parchment and pipe smoke. Behind closed doors, a handful of directors, merchants, not monarchs, reviewed ledgers and letters from the tropics. Among them, one decision had begun to crystallize. It would not be announced with trumpets. There would be no open confrontation. But it would collapse a court across the ocean.

Tension at the top: From Fort Maurits to the heart of a colonial power struggle

Teot nio Vilela Brazil Stand on the windswept grounds of Fort Maurits today, near the banks of the São Francisco River in northeastern Brazil, and it’s hard to imagine the colonial drama that once unfolded here, where cannon fire echoed across the mangroves and Dutch banners flew over newly conquered land. This was not only a frontier of empire, but also the outer edge of a conflict that would shake the very foundations of colonial governance in Dutch Brazil.