Why did the Netherlands attack Portuguese Brazil in the 1600s?

The Netherlands attacked Portuguese Brazil in the 1600s primarily as a strategic move in their broader campaign of economic warfare against Spain and Portugal.1

Several key factors drove these incursions:

• Political Union: From 1580 to 1640, Portugal was united with Spain under the same monarch. Because the newly independent Netherlands was at war with Spain, Brazil became a target as a possession of the Spanish-Portuguese crown.23
• Economic Interests: The Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621 specifically to strike at Iberian colonies in the Americas and Africa. The Dutch sought to control the highly profitable sugar industry, which had made Brazil the world's largest sugar producer by the 17th century.134
• Resource Control: To sustain their own plantation operations, the Dutch needed consistent access to enslaved labor. Consequently, they targeted Portuguese Brazil and Angola to secure both the sugar-producing lands and the slave trade routes that supplied them.54

The Dutch successfully captured Salvador in 1624 and held Pernambuco from 1630 to 1654, before being expelled by a local rebellion.23