[Illustration: FERNAO DE MAGALHAES (FERDINAND MAGELLAN).
Who first discovered the passage to the Pacific named after him.]
In the north of the colony the new situation led to a somewhat curious
and paradoxical state of affairs. The Dutch had overrun Northern Brazil
for the sole ostensible reason that it was a possession of Spain. Now
that Portugal had freed herself from Spain, and that Brazil in
consequence was once again a purely Portuguese possession, all reason
for the Dutch occupation of the coast of Brazil was at an end. In Europe
the situation was this: The Dutch and the Spaniards had been for
generations at deadly enmity, while the rivalry between the Portuguese
and the Spaniards had induced a hostility rather less deadly, it is
true, but, nevertheless, sufficiently keen for the purposes of war.
Thus, with the freedom of Holland from Spain, and with the liberation of
Portugal from Spain, the situation of the two, once vassal countries,
was identical. They had an interest in common in preserving themselves
from the rapacity of Spain.
This was all very well in Europe, but in South America matters worked
out very differently in actual practice. The Dutch were now firmly
established in Northern Brazil, having their headquarters at the town of
Recife, or Pernambuco.
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