Portuguese expelled French from Maranhão and founded Belém near the mouth of the Amazon River. The crown created the province of Maranhão, directly subordinated to the home government (1621). Maranhão was independent of Brazil until 1777.
Slave-raiding parties (bandeirantes) penetrated the interior from São Paulo and attacked Spanish Jesuit missions on the upper Paraná (Guaira), forcing their transfer farther south and establishing Portuguese control of the region.
A Dutch armada captured Recife and Olinda. The Dutch West India Company, a commercial corporation with investments in colonial commerce and slave trade and in privateering expeditions, named Prince Maurice of Nassau-Siegen governor. He extended Dutch control from the São Francisco River to Maranhão and established religious tolerance. Portuguese resisted in the countryside but Domingo Fernandes Calabar, a mulatto leader, gave support to the Dutch and they overcame Portuguese resistance. War between Portugal and Holland continued in Asia, where Portugal lost most of its colonies. Many slaves took advantage of the Dutch invasion to flee and form quilombos (fortified maroon villages) in remote areas beyond the reach of colonial authorities. Palmares, a territory between Alagoas and Pernambuco, was the most important quilombo, where a maroon society based on small tenancies and agriculture developed with a population of about 8,000, though some estimates go as high as 20,000.
Departure of Prince Maurice ended policy of religious tolerance. Calvinist pastors preached against Catholics, causing widespread discontent among Portuguese.
Conflicts between the Portuguese Jesuits and the bandeirantes erupted as the former attempted to protect the Indians from enslavement. Colonists expelled Jesuits from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Expansion of cattle ranching in central Brazil. New expeditions of extermination against Gê and Tupi tribes depopulated Bahian countryside. Expeditions against the quilombo of Palmares intensified.
Conflict between Spain and Portugal over control of the left bank of the Rio de la Plata (Banda Oriental). The Portuguese founded Colonia and the Spanish, Montevideo (1726). The territory changed hands frequently during the remainder of the colonial period.
