Argues that Dutch Brazil is integral to Atlantic history and made an impact well beyond the colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil.

Argues that Dutch Brazil is integral to Atlantic history and made an impact well beyond the colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil.

Of all the European powers, the Dutch were considered the most tolerant of minority religious practices in their colonies. In The Expansion of Tolerance, a pair of historians examines this unusual sensitivity in the case of the seventeenth-century Dutch colonies of Brazil. Jonathan Israel demonstrates that religious tolerance under Dutch rule in Brazil was unprecedented. Catholics and Jews coexisted peacefully with the Protestant majority and were allowed freedom of conscience and unfettered private worship. Stuart Schwartz then considers the Dutch example in light of the Portuguese colonies in Brazil, revealing that the Portuguese were surprisingly tolerant as well. This collaboration will be of interest to anyone studying colonial history or the history of religious tolerance.

In 1624 the Dutch West India Company established the colony of Brazil. Only thirty years later, the Dutch Republic handed over the colony to Portugal, never to return to the South Atlantic. Because Dutch Brazil was the first sustained Protestant colony in Iberian America, the events there became major news in early modern Europe and shaped a lively print culture. In Amsterdam's Atlantic, historian Michiel van Groesen shows how the rise and tumultuous fall of Dutch Brazil marked the emergence of a "public Atlantic" centered around Holland's capital city. Amsterdam served as Europe's main hub for news from the Atlantic world, and breaking reports out of Brazil generated great excitement in the city, which reverberated throughout the continent. Initially, the flow of information was successfully managed by the directors of the West India Company. However, when Portuguese sugar planters revolted against the Dutch regime, and tales of corruption among leading administrators in Brazil emerged, they lost their hold on the media landscape, and reports traveled more freely. Fueled by the powerful local print media, popular discussions about Brazil became so bitter that the Amsterdam authorities ultimately withdrew their support for the colony. The self-inflicted demise of Dutch Brazil has been regarded as an anomaly during an otherwise remarkably liberal period in Dutch history, and consequently generations of historians have neglected its significance. Amsterdam's Atlantic puts Dutch Brazil back on the front pages and argues that the way the Amsterdam media constructed Atlantic events was a key element in the transformation of public opinion in Europe.

This book explores the perspective of individuals, families and groups of interest in their daily strive to survive an European pursuit of empire.

From the first encounters between the Portuguese and indigenous peoples in 1500 to the current political turmoil, the history of Brazil is much more complex and dynamic than the usual representations of it as the home of Carnival, soccer, the Amazon, and samba would suggest. This extensively revised and expanded second edition of the best-selling Brazil Reader dives deep into the past and present of a country marked by its geographical vastness and cultural, ethnic, and environmental diversity. Containing over one hundred selections—many of which appear in English for the first time and which range from sermons by Jesuit missionaries and poetry to political speeches and biographical portraits of famous public figures, intellectuals, and artists—this collection presents the lived experience of Brazilians from all social and economic classes, racial backgrounds, genders, and political perspectives over the past half millennium. Whether outlining the legacy of slavery, the roles of women in Brazilian public life, or the importance of political and social movements, The Brazil Reader provides an unparalleled look at Brazil’s history, culture, and politics.

This pioneering history of the Dutch Empire provides a new comprehensive overview of Dutch colonial expansion from a comparative and global perspective. It also offers a fascinating window into the early modern societies of Asia, Africa and the Americas through their interactions.

In this hugely praised narrative, New York Times reporter Larry Rohter takes the reader on a lively trip through Brazil's history, culture, and booming economy. Going beyond the popular stereotypes of samba, supermodels, and soccer, he shows us a stunning and varied landscape--from breathtaking tropical beaches to the lush and dangerous Amazon rainforest--and how a complex and vibrant people defy definition. He charts Brazil's amazing jump from a debtor nation to one of the world's fastest growing economies, unravels the myth of Brazil's sexually charged culture, and portrays in vivid color the underbelly of impoverished favelas. With Brazil leading the charge of the Latin American decade, this critically acclaimed history is the authoritative guide to understanding its meteoric rise.

The story of Dutch Brazil (1631-1654), intriguing in itself, opens a window on a clash of ideas. What is liberty? Is it freedom for a narrow class to run things as it pleases? Or is it an equality of rights for all? By the seventeenth century, the Dutch and Portuguese had diverged on this foundational concept. The invasion of Portugal's prize colony of Brazil by the Dutch Republic can serve to highlight the move to contemporary views. Today both nations are comembers of the European Union, NATO, and other bodies, and embrace democratic norms. What changed? The book examines that issue. It's divided into three parts. The first part discusses liberty, freedom, and equality, and the events in both Portugal and the Netherlands that led up to the Dutch invasion. The second part is an abridged translation of an eyewitness account first published in 1648. By using the perspective of someone with unique access to both sides, we gain a visceral sense of what the shift to individual rights meant at the time. The era was brutal. Religious intolerance was pervasive. Part three covers the aftermath of Dutch Brazil and then some of the key influences that pushed Europeans out of a medieval mindset. Although Europe is the focus due to the historical subject matter, the contributions of indigenous peoples and the African diaspora in shaping Brazil stand out. The full story is little known even in Brazil. A balanced advance of liberty, the author concludes, can mitigate present-day divisiveness.