Print from steel engraving titled Fort de Guillaume de Nassau / Feste Wilhelm's von Nassau, published in a volume of L'Univers, Histoire et description de tous les peuples, Paris, approx. page size 21 x 13 cm, approx. image size 16 x 8.5 cm, nice hand coloring.

John Maurice of Nassau

born June 17, 1604, Dillenburg, Nassau [Germany], died Dec. 20, 1679, Cleves, Brandenburg

byname The Brazilian, Dutch Johan Maurits Van Nassau, De Braziliaan

Dutch colonial governor and military commander who consolidated Dutch rule in Brazil (1636–44), thereby bringing the Dutch empire in Latin America to the peak of its power.

The son of John, count of Nassau-Siegen-Dillenburg, John Maurice fought in the campaigns of his cousin, the Dutch commander Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, against Spain after 1621. On Frederick Henry's recommendation, John Maurice was, in 1636, named kapitein-generaal (governor-general) of the Dutch colony in Brazil, which had recently been conquered from Portugal. As governor, he secured control for the Dutch West India Company of vast areas of Brazil from Sao Luís in the north to Sergipe, bordering Bahia state, in the south. He also expanded Dutch influence in the Caribbean and sponsored the seizure of Angola (1641) and of several key ports on the west African coast in order to secure trade and supply African slaves for Brazilian plantations.

John Maurice was a capable general and an able and humane administrator. He tried to reconcile the Portuguese plantation owners, vital to the colony's economy, to Dutch rule, but his efforts were undercut by intolerant Calvinist ministers and by the arousal of Portuguese nationalist feelings after Portugal's liberation from Spain in 1640. He resigned in 1644, after the Dutch government refused him the financial support he needed to maintain control in the colony. A revolt against Dutch rule broke out the next year.

In 1647 John Maurice accepted the position of Statthalter (governor) of Cleves, Mark, and Minden from Frederick William the Great, elector of Brandenburg. He led a Dutch army in 1665 in the second Anglo-Dutch War against England's ally Christoph Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster, and was named commander of forces in Friesland and Groningen by William III, prince of Orange, in the Dutch War (1672–78) against France. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Seneffe (1674) and retired the next year. His house in The Hague, the Mauritshuis, designed for him by Pieter Post, still displays a splendid collection of Dutch paintings.

Dutch Brazil

Dutch Brazil, also known as New Holland, was the northern portion of Brazil, seized by the Dutch during the Dutch colonization of the Americas. From 1630 onward, the Dutch Republic came to control almost half of Brazil, with their capital in Recife. The Dutch West India Company (WIC) set up their headquarters in Recife. The governor, Johan Maurits, invited artists and scientists to the colony to help promote Brazil and increase immigration. The Portuguese won a significant victory at the Second Battle of Guararapes in 1649. On 26 January 1654, the Dutch surrendered and signed the capitulation, but only as a provisory pact. By May 1654, the Dutch demanded that the Dutch Republic was to be given New Holland back. On 6 August 1661, New Holland was formally ceded to Portugal through the Treaty of The Hague.