The Dutch in Angola.
When Philip of Spain seized upon the crown of Portugal in 1580, that unfortunate country became at once involved in the troubles between Spain and the United Netherlands. No sooner had the destruction of the Armada, in 1588, enabled the Dutch to take the offensive on sea, than they began to compete for a share in the trade of the Portuguese possessions. The Dutch at first kept on the defensive, but in 1598 they and the Portuguese came into hostile collision near the Ilha do Principe; and all efforts to exclude these noxious heretics from sharing in the trade of the Kongo proved futile, more especially as the natives themselves preferred their Dutch visitors to the masterful Portuguese.484
An armistice concluded in 1609 expired in 1621. The Dutch West-India Company was founded in that very year, and thenceforth the Dutch proceeded aggressively. In 1623 they burnt several patachos off the mouth of the Kwanza; in 1629 a Dutch squadron cruised during three months off the coast of Benguella and captured four Portuguese merchantmen, but failed to force their way into the harbour of Luandu. In 1633 two Dutch vessels menaced S. Felippe de Benguella, but were driven off by Lopo Soares Laço, after a stout fight, on November 15th. In 1637, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, the Governor’s brother, captured a Dutch man-of-war of 24 guns. At that time the coast was being regularly patrolled by Portuguese men-of-war,485 and in 1638 the foundations of the Fort S. Miguel were laid on the Morro de S. Paulo, the original site of the city of S. Paulo.
When Portugal recovered her independence, in December, 1640, D. João IV of Bragança at once sent Tristão de Mendoza Furtado to the Hague, with instructions to demand a suspension of hostilities. The West-India Company, which profited largely from a state of war, declared in favour of a definite treaty of peace, but objected to the conclusion of an armistice. The Portuguese envoy had no authority to sign such a treaty; but after protracted negotiations an armistice for ten years was signed on June 23rd, 1641, which was to take force outside Europe as soon as it became known there.
Meantime, the directors of the West-Indian Company had instructed Count John Moritz of Nassau to take advantage of the momentary weakness of Portugal, after her war of liberation, to seize all he could before the terms of the treaty became known.486 Count Moritz, being desirous to increase the supply of slaves for the plantations in Brazil, determined to seize upon Luandu. A fleet of twenty-one vessels was at once fitted out at Pernambuco, and placed under the command of Cornelis Cornelissen Jol, surnamed Houtebeen, or “Wooden leg.” It was manned by nine hundred sailors, and had on board two thousand troops, commanded by Jeems Hindersen. This formidable armament left Pernambuco in June 30th, 1641, sighted Cabo Negro on August 5th, and having captured the Jesus Maria, on a voyage from Madeira, was by her piloted into the harbour of Luandu. On August 24th the Dutch fleet unexpectedly appeared off S. Paulo, surprising its inhabitants in the midst of their rejoicings at the accession of the “liberator king.” S. Paulo, at that time, was a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, including three thousand Portuguese; but the Governor, Pedro Cezar de Menezes, though he was at the head of nine hundred white troops, offered only a feeble resistance; and, accompanied by many of the citizens, he withdrew to the river Mbengu, and subsequently to Masanganu. The booty which fell into the hands of the Dutch included thirty ships and ninety-eight cannon.
They lost no time in gaining the goodwill of the neighbouring sobas, sent an embassy to the King of Kongo (see p. 125), and entertained offers of alliance from Queen Nzinga. Aki musanu (Aca mochana) and Nambu a ngongo (Nabo a ngongo), who had risen upon the Portuguese, were joined by one hundred and fifty Dutchmen, and thus enabled to overcome their enemies, whose leaders, André da Costa and João Vieira, they killed (1642).
In the following year (1643) information was received that the truce had been signed, but the Dutch director very naturally declined to surrender the town. He agreed, however, to suspend hostilities. Pedro Cezar had been instructed by his government to avail himself of the first opportunity to recover the city,487 and it was evidently with a view to this eventuality that he established a camp on the river Mbengu. The Dutch suspected his treacherous design, and at dawn on May 26th, 1643, they surprised his force. Many Portuguese were killed (including Antonio Bruto), while Pedro Cezar himself, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, and one hundred and eighty seven soldiers were taken prisoner. The remainder escaped to Masanganu. The forces assembled there under the captain-major, Antonio de Miranda, were unable to retrieve this disaster, but the Governor, aided by friends, managed soon afterwards to escape.
But though unequal to meeting the Dutch in the field, the Portuguese were still able to enforce their authority upon the natives; and in 1645 Diogo Gomes de Morales led an expedition into Lubolo and Mbalundu (Bailundo), and reduced the kolombos of thirty “Jagas” to obedience.
In 1645, the Portuguese of Brazil, under the leadership of João Fernandez Vieira, rose upon their Dutch oppressors, and in the same year the Dutch occupied S. Felippe de Benguella. The garrison under Antonio Teixeira de Mendonça, the captain-major, and Antonio Gomez de Gouvea, an experienced sertanejo, or backwoodsman, retired northward along the coast. On reaching Kikombo Bay, on July 27th, 1645, they met there Francisco de Sotto-maior, just arrived from Rio de Janeiro with reinforcements. By advice of Gomez, the troops and stores were landed in Suto Bay, near Cabo ledo, and conducted by him in three detachments to Masanganu, without the Dutch becoming aware of their arrival. The Governor, Pedro Cezar de Menezes, returned by the same route to Rio, taking with him a cargo of slaves.
These reinforcements arrived just in time to be employed against Queen Nzinga. That lady had set a black and a white cock to fight each other, and the defeat of the white cock was looked upon by her as a favourable augury for venturing an attack upon Masanganu. But Gaspar Borges de Madureira fell upon her before her forces had been concentrated (January, 1646). She suffered a severe defeat, notwithstanding the presence of Dutch auxiliaries. Her sisters once more fell into the hands of the Portuguese. D. Engracia was strangled soon afterwards for an act of treachery, whilst D. Barbara was kept in honourable captivity until 1657.488
Meanwhile the Dutch had made preparations for an advance up the Kwanza. They had built Fort Mols at the mouth of the river, and another fort higher up. The Governor, Francisco de Sotto-maior, having died of fever in May, 1646, measures for a spirited defence were taken by the three captains-major, Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos da Cunha, Antonio Teixeira de Mendonça, and João Juzarte de Andrada. Muchima, which had been furiously assaulted by the Dutch, was relieved by Diogo Gomes de Morales. But in the following year the Portuguese suffered a reverse at Kawala (Caoalla), and Masanganu itself was threatened by the combined forces of Queen Nzinga, Kongo, and the Dutch.
However a saviour was at hand in this extremity. On August 12th, 1648, Salvador Corrêa de Sá Benevides,489 with nineteen vessels, having on board nine hundred soldiers, cast anchor in the harbour of Luandu, and summoned the Dutch to surrender within forty-eight hours. On their refusal he landed his troops, and after a short bombardment of Fort S. Miguel, to which the Dutch had withdrawn, early on August 15th he delivered an assault, which cost him one hundred and sixty three men, but led to the surrender of a garrison numbering one thousand one hundred men, including French and German mercenaries. When these prisoners had been joined by the three hundred Dutchmen who were with Queen Nzinga, and the garrison of Benguella, which surrendered without a blow, they were shipped off to Europe. The city, in memory of the event, assumed the name of “S. Paulo da Assumpção de Loanda,” for it was on the Day of Ascension of the Virgin Mary that a seven years’ captivity ended. The anniversary of that event is celebrated to the present day by a religious procession.