Guyana Campaign
| Guyana Campaign | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
| Kingdom of Portugal | Dutch Republic | Kingdom of France | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
|
Admiral Paes Admiral Teixeira dos Santos |
Dutch Navy Dutch Army |
French Navy French Army | ||||||||
The Guyana Campaign of 1714 was a military confrontation between Portugal, Netherlands and France in the Guianas and Suriname area. Although war was not declared, it was a bloody campaign whose repercussions were a brief annexation by Brazil and the limitation of Dutch rule.[1]
This conflict was characterized by being extremely rapid but demonstrated the cunning of the Portuguese Navy and the Portuguese military initiative, characterized by the use of bandeirantes in military strategies. The Campaign was the idea of Admiral Luís Paes, a Portuguese military man largely forgotten by History due to the fact that he refused to receive certain orders from King João V of Portugal. As a result, he was arrested and the campaign ended up failing.
The Bandeirantes invade Dutch territory
Admiral Luís Paes began his campaign from the Brazilian city of Belém, at the time an important port in northern Brazil. He ordered the Bandeirantes from the Xingu River trading post to enter Dutch territory and be spotted. The Portuguese flag was raised in Apetina, a village with few Dutch troops who offered no resistance. In Paramaribo, some time later, messengers arrived from Apetina, stating that the Portuguese wanted to take over the region.
Then, on April 26, 1714, Dutch troops commanded by Colonel Van den Bos advanced towards the South, without stopping until they saw Apetina. It was there that the Bandeirantes “fled” to the interior of Brazil and the Dutch pursued them. Clearly, this was a trap. The Dutch found themselves in the Amazon, a territory frequently traveled by the bandeirantes from the north. Malaria was one of several diseases that affected the troops. Everything got worse when local tribes began to fight the invaders with great success. The Dutch troops dispersed. It is known that some returned to Dutch territory three months after leaving and that the others died in the forest.
Master play
With the abandonment of the fortifications on the coast of Suriname and Guyana (British), the Dutch fleet was stopped in Paramaribo. Admiral Paes commanded the Portuguese fleet and bombarded the coast. There was a slight occupation to which no resistance was offered.
Meanwhile, the troops that returned from the South gathered resistance and began traveling to the North, with the aim of expelling the invaders. Admiral Paes, learning this from his infiltrated spies in Brokocando, abandoned the coast and burned the military stores. He sent a Portuguese delegate to French Guiana and informed the Governor of Guyana that the Dutch were weak and that an invasion would take the Dutch by storm. Despite finding it strange, the French fell for Admiral Paes' elaborate plot. The French invaded Dutch territories and the rebellion was put down without the loss of a Portuguese. However, the War of the Spanish Succession had left repercussions throughout America and the French continued to be seen as great enemies by the Dutch for about two years.
The Truth Behind the Trick: Divide and Conquer
With French troops being fought by the colonists, the French army was spread across the Guianas and Suriname. When the French found they did not need a navy, they left the fleet in Cayenne. It was there that the Portuguese fleet destroyed the French fleet and imposed a blockade on the Guianas and Suriname. The Dutch Antilles were not aware of what was happening and, therefore, the Dutch fleet in the Antilles, more powerful than that of Admiral Paes, was stopped. The land invasion took place using ships with infantry troops. Although the French army was larger than the Portuguese, the division made it fragile and in less than two months, the entire region had fallen into Portuguese hands.
Abandonment and occupation
A small spontaneous colonization began, something that Admiral Paes did not intend. His plan was to sell the territories to England and hand over the money to the State. However, the King prevented this and ordered the abandonment of the region, leaving Dutch, French and even Portuguese settlers at their mercy. On August 20, 1714, Admiral Paes, contrary to the King's orders, tried to sell Suriname to the Dutch. However, the King dismissed him from his services and Admiral Teixeira dos Santos was left in charge of the fleet.
The region was abandoned by Portuguese troops and shortly afterwards, the Dutch fleet arrived in Paramaribo and reconquered the region. Unlike the Dutch territories, French Guiana did not change in any aspect, with the French fleet arriving in the region a month later. The English only occupied the region years later, but the Guianas Campaign changed the concentration of populations, a fact that led to the English occupation in the 19th century.[2]
The development of the Guianas Campaign.
Post-campaign
There was great economic development with the return of the Dutch and French. In the 19th century, there was once again the Portuguese-Brazilian occupation of the region, which lasted a few years, instead of a few months.
References
- Guichard, Raul (2017-07-24). "Notas Sobre as Notas de Pé-de-Página". Review of Business and Legal Sciences (24): 7. doi:10.26537/rebules.v0i24.994. ISSN 1646-1029.
Sources
- VAN JUIL, Hans "La campagne du Suriname par les portugais", Bibliothèque Nacionale de France
- TEIXEIRA DOS SANTOS, Manuel "Memories of Admiral Teixeira dos Santos", Porto Editora, May 16, 1951
- SANTANA, Lucílio "Luso-Portuguese Campaigns", Editora do Brasil, August 13, 1936
This article "Guyana Campaign" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Guyana Campaign. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ Ishmael, Odeen (2015-02-13). The Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue (Volume Two). Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-5035-3128-4. Search this book on
- ↑ Guichard, Raul (2017-07-24). "Notas Sobre as Notas de Pé-de-Página". Review of Business and Legal Sciences (24): 7. doi:10.26537/rebules.v0i24.994 (inactive 2023-12-26). hdl:10400.22/8330. ISSN 1646-1029.
