The Portuguese Empire, also known as the Portuguese Overseas or the Portuguese Colonial Empire, was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and later overseas territories, governed by Portugal. It was one of the longest-lived colonial empires in European history, lasting almost six centuries from the conquest of Ceuta in North Africa in 1415, to the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to China in 1999. The empire began in the 15th century, and from the early 16th century it stretched across the globe, with bases in Africa, North America, South America, and various regions of Asia and Oceania.
Equinoctial France was the contemporary name given to the colonization efforts of France in the 17th century in South America, around the line of Equator, before "tropical" had fully gained its modern meaning: Equinoctial means in Latin "of equal nights", i.e., on the Equator, where the duration of days and nights is nearly the same year round. The settlement was made in what is now known as the Bay of São Luis and lasted for 3 years.
The Dutch colonial empire comprised the overseas territories and trading posts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies—mainly the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company—and subsequently by the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), and by the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands after 1815. It was initially a trade-based system which derived most of its influence from merchant enterprise and from Dutch control of international maritime shipping routes through strategically placed outposts, rather than from expansive territorial ventures. The Dutch were among the earliest empire-builders of Europe, following Spain and Portugal and one of the wealthiest nations of that time.
The Second Battle of Guararapes was the second and decisive battle in a conflict called the Insurrection of Pernambuco, between Dutch and Portuguese forces in February 1649 at Jaboatão dos Guararapes in Pernambuco. The defeat convinced the Dutch "that the Portuguese were formidable opponents, something which they had hitherto refused to concede." The Dutch still retained a presence in Brazil until 1654 and a treaty was signed in 1661.
The First Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on 1 October 1777 between Spain and Portugal. It settled long-running territorial disputes between the two kingdoms' possessions in South America, primarily in the Río de la Plata region.
In the Treaty of Aranjuez, Spain agreed to support France in its war with Britain. This was in return for assistance in recovering its former possessions of Menorca, Gibraltar and Spanish Florida.
The Treaty of El Pardo signed on 11 March 1778 sought to end conflict between Spain and Portugal in the Río de la Plata region, along the modern boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. It confirmed Spanish ownership of Colonia del Sacramento, now in Uruguay, while Portugal ceded possession of strategically important territories in Africa, now the modern state of Equatorial Guinea. In return, Spain withdrew from lands to the north, most of which are in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Spanish–Portuguese War between 1762 and 1763 was fought as part of the Seven Years' War. Because no major battles were fought, even though there were numerous movements of troops and heavy losses among the Spanish invaders, the war is known in the Portuguese historiography as the Fantastic War.
The naval Battle of the Abrolhos took place on 12 September 1631 off the coast of Pernambuco, Brazil, during the Eighty Years' War. A joint Spanish-Portuguese fleet under admiral Antonio de Oquendo defeated the Dutch after a six-hour naval battle.
The recapture of Bahia was a Spanish–Portuguese military expedition in 1625 to retake the city of Bahia in Brazil from the forces of the Dutch West India Company (WIC).
The action of 12–17 January 1640 was a naval battle between a Dutch fleet and a combined Spanish-Portuguese fleet during the Eighty Years' War. The battle took place on the Brazilian coast off Pernambuco and was an attempt by a fleet consisting of approximately eighty vessels transporting about 5,000 soldiers under the command of Portuguese Admiral Fernando de Mascarenhas to land reinforcements to bolster the Portuguese militia besieging the city of Recife. On 12 January this fleet was intercepted by a Dutch task force of about forty ships commanded by Willem Loos. The ensuing battle lasted with occasional breaks until the evening of 17 January, when the Spanish and Portuguese fleet retreated and sailed away to the north.
The Battle of Tacuarembó was a battle between the Luso-Brazilian forces under the command of José de Castelo Branco Correia, Count of Figueira, and the Artiguist forces of Andrés Latorre in Tacuarembó, modern-day Uruguay.
The siege of Salvador was a siege that took place between April and May 1638, during the Dutch–Portuguese War and Eighty Years' War. The governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil, John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, commanding the army of the Dutch West India Company, with vastly superior forces and a supporting fleet under Johan van der Mast, put the city of Salvador under siege. The Portuguese and Spanish defenders, commanded by Giovanni di San Felice, Count of Bagnolo, and Luís Barbalho, managed to resist the Dutch attacks until they gave up taking the city and withdrew with several casualties.
The Capture of Cayenne was a minor military event on the 22 September 1667 during the final stages of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The French settlement of Cayenne under the French Governor Lefebvre de Lézy was captured in an assault by English sailors and troops of Rear Admiral Sir John Harman's squadron. The English then occupied the settlement stripping it of anything of value before departing two weeks later.
The Battle of São Vicente was a minor naval engagement that took place off São Vicente, Portuguese Brazil on 3 February 1583 during the Anglo–Spanish War between three English ships, and three Spanish galleons. The English under Edward Fenton on an expedition having failed to enter the Pacific, then attempted to trade off Portuguese Brazil but were intercepted by a detached Spanish squadron under Commodore Andrés de Equino. After a moonlit battle briefly interrupted by a rainstorm the Spanish were defeated with one galleon sunk and another heavily damaged along with heavy losses. Fenton then attempted to resume trading but without success and thus returned to England.
The Battle of Barbados also known as the Action of Carlisle Bay was a military action that took place off the Caribbean island of Barbados on 29 April 1665 just before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. It was fought between an English force defending against an attacking Dutch force led by Michiel de Ruyter. Although De Ruyter destroyed much of an English convoy at Carlisle Bay his fleet was severely damaged and was unable to launch an invasion of the island.
The Action at Tamanana, 9 September 1645 refers to a Portuguese fleet attempting to enter the bay of Tamandaré, but getting in a fight with a Dutch fleet, and getting taken down badly. Some escaped Portuguese left an account of the battle behind.
The Conquest of Paraíba refers to the attempts by Dutch forces in 1630 to seize control of Paraíba, Brazil, from the Portuguese, mainly for the lucrative sugar cane market.
The Campaign of Porto Calvo, alternatively recognized as the Fall of Porto Calvo, denotes a military expedition directed by John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, aimed at the capture of Porto Calvo. This endeavor proved successful as Prince John Maurice effectively secured control over the entire region.
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