WIC in Brazil / Then & Now, 13 mei 19.30h. Amstelkerk Amsterdam

The unforseen consequences of colonialism. How WIC’s rule in Pernambuco lingers on today

In 1630 the Dutch West Indian Company (WIC), under the lead of Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, conquered the Portuguese colony of Pernambuco in the North-Eastern part of what we know today as Brazil. Although the Dutch had to hand over their conquered properties back to the Portuguese in 1654 already, their short stay still has consequences today. Unlike the Portuguese, who settled safe and sound on the hills inland, the Dutch established the city of Mauritsstad in the low laying river delta; conditions they were familiar with and that were profitable for the trade foreseen. Today however this location of the city -now known as Recife- is highly problematic, due to sea-level rise. Now, these water challenges bring the two countries together again. To protect their properties from Portuguese counter attacks and possible other invaders the WIC constructed an extensive defense line of fortresses along the Atlantic shores of Pernambuco. Most of the remaining forts of the Dutch rule are standing idle today. What relevance can they bring to a current society? This lecture evening will be conducted in English.

Birdseye view of Recife

Research on this theme was started by dr. Hannadea van Nederveen Meerkerk (MoWIC) more than a quarter of a century ago. For more information on the achievements of Foundation MoWIC, please scroll down.

Program

18h30 Meal  19h30 Introduction by Daan Lavies  19h35 400 years of Dutch Brazil by Oscar Hefting and Q&A  20h15 Pause  20h30 Designing for Extremes by Mila Avellar Montezuma and Q&A 21h15 End

The Lectures

400 Years of Dutch Brazil – Oscar Hefting

In 2030 it will be remembered that 400 years ago a part of Brazil was under Dutch rule. The Dutch West India Company (WIC) attempted, between 1630 and 1654, to gain a share in the lucrative sugar trade. To this end, it captured Olinda, the Portuguese capital of northeastern Brazil, as well as a coastal stretch of approximately eight hundred kilometers. In addition to Olinda, the Dutch built their own capital, Mauritsstad (today’s Recife), a city in the river delta that was familiar to them. Of the eighty fortifications that the WIC built or used, some are still visible today, and in some cases even still in use. Other forts from that period have been built over or remain hidden in the jungle. Modern techniques offer new opportunities for archaeological research. In addition, access to archives has improved significantly in recent years, creating prospects for new insights. In the years leading up to 2030, attention will be devoted to the position of Dutch Brazil in the Atlantic world through research, publications, education, and exhibitions. In this way, the connection between the two countries will be further strengthened.

Designing for Extremes: How a Dutch-Brazilian Cooperation reshaped a climate hotspot into a City-Park – Mila Avellar Montezuma

In the year 2037 Recife will commemorate the start -400 years ago- of its Dutch-designed Renaissance city plan. Yet, at the same time the amphibious city, being the world’s 16th climate hotspot, faces permanent submergence. This lecture explores 15 years of Recife Exchanges, a cultural South-North cooperation reframing water as heritage and as a strategic asset for adaptation. Co-evolving into a socio-political movement, blue-green infrastructure interacts with urban morphology to catalyze a cultural paradigm shift: designing a long-term vision for an amphibian deltaic metropolis. Highly participatory governance repositions our shared past into collaborative tackling future resilience challenges on both sides of the Atlantic, reimagining water-sensitive urbanism and spatial justice from municipal to national-scale.

About the speakers

Oscar Hefting studied archaeology at the University of Amsterdam, where he specialized in Dutch colonial fortifications. He was a member of the excavation team at Fort Orange in Brazil in 2002–2003, where a 17th-century Dutch fort (1631) was identified beneath an 18th-century Portuguese fort.

As Director of the New Holland Foundation, he coordinates the Atlases of Dutch Brazil, Dutch North America, and Dutch West Africa—comprehensive inventories of historical and archaeological material. In this role, Hefting aims to organize exhibitions and promote the conservation of Dutch heritage overseas.
Where fortifications once served to divide people, Hefting now promotes their use, and that of shared heritage, to bring cultures together.

Mila Avellar Montezuma is an Architect, Urbanist, and Landscape Designer with an MSc Water Science and Engineering, specialized in Sustainable Urban Water Management and Climate-Resilient Cities from UNESCO-IHE, TU Delft, and IHS Erasmus, and a post-graduation in Urban Heritage Strategies for Water Challenges (IHS, TU/Delft, RCE).

As a practitioner and researcher across public, academic and private sectors, Mila is deeply committed to advancing extreme climate adaptation through a research-by-design approach, with a focus on nature-driven technological strategies. She has been developing water-adaptive projects mainly in Brazil, Netherlands, China and Bangladesh.

Practical information

Costs The lecture costs €5 per person (free for ICOMOS members). Coffee, tea, and water are included; other drinks are available for purchase. Meal You are welcome to join us for dinner at 18:30. Unless stated otherwise, this will be an Indonesian rijsttafel. The cost is €15 per person. Coffee, tea, and water are included; other drinks are available for purchase. Please note: registrations or cancellations for the dinner must be made at least 48 hours in advance. Location Amstelkerk (Amstelveld 10, Amsterdam)

REGISTER HERE

Additional note:

MoWIC & the Dutch colonial past in Brazil

The topics of this ICOMOS lectureevening align neatly with the aims of the Dutch Foundation MoWIC / Monuments of the Dutch West India Company, established in 2000, initially with the focus on “Nieuw Holland”, the vestiges of the Dutch presence in colonial Brazil (1630-1654) and safeguarding its local remains. Today, MoWIC organises the Vrijburgh Conferences which highlight different aspects of WIC’s biography and the effects of Dutch colonisation of the Americas and the West-African coastlands. The conferences are named after Fort Vrijburgh, built in 1636 on command of Prince Johan-Maurits van Nassau-Siegen in Mauritsstad, today Recife.
Read more: https://www.mowic.org/

The above mentioned archeological research projects around Fort Orange, where initiated and led by dr. Hannadea van Nederveen Meerkerk. For more information on these MoWIC-projects see:
– Trilha and Ponte
– Fort Oranje
Thereafter, MoWIC continued with several additional projects in Brazil:
– Medicina Popular
– Dutch blue-white tiles at the Convento de Santo Antônio do Recife
– Museo Ao Ar Livre Casa de taipa
– Huis Vrijburgh
– Bom Conselho tres cavernas

In addition projects have been initiated in Curaçao and since 2016 seven editions of the MoWIC Vrijburgh Conferences have been organised.
– Vrijburgh Conferenties

After 22 years of full engagement for MoWIC and its aims by the board members of MoWIC and its president dr Hannadea van Nederveen Meerkerk, the presidency of MoWIC was handed over in 2022 to drs Dunya Verwey, programcurator of Museum Geelvinck. (read more: Bestuursoverdracht MoWIC)

In the run-up of the commemoration of 150 years abolishment of slavery in Suriname and the Caribeans in 2023, a new Vrijburg Conference was organised on 10 June 2023 “De Verbeelding van het Slavernijverleden / the Portrayal of Slaveries’ Past”, with keynote speaker writer and historian Cynthia McLeod.

In 2024, MoWIC moved again its focus on Brazil in lieu of the ICOMOS General Assembly and Symposium in Orou Preto. The contact with parties in Recife were renewed. Special attention was given to the potential of restoration of the Dutch tiles at the Convento de Santo Antônio do Recife. Due to personal circumstances the intended trip to Recife in November 2024 was not materialised.

During 2025 MoWIC worked on a potential conference in lieu of the festivities connected with the birth of todays New York. The Hinlopen family, linked to the Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis, after which Museum Geelvinck was named, has a close connection to the first settlement and establishment of New Netherland.

This plan was abandoned in favour of a follow-up Vrijburg Conference on how to mend Paramaribo’s wounded heart: the gaping holes of the houses burnt down in the historic inner city in April 2025. By bringing together all the relevant expertise in the field of restoration and community building in places were only ashes can testify on the memories of past living heritage. This MoWIC-conference intended for 2027 follows previous efforts by the RCE and Stadsherstel, and will involve relevant ICOMOS entities, including the new Caribbean Transnational Committee.

The WIC has many facets and its effects on the colonized territories at the time, linger on still today. MoWIC sees as its task – given its limited capacity in financial means and human effort – to highlight these facets as relevant parts of the whole picture of an exploitative colonial infrastructure within the triangle of three continents and spanning four centuries: the Americas, Africa and Europe, from the 16th century well into the 20th millennium.

Besides the above, MoWIC also has given attention to the decaying water pits in Curacao, reviewing the imagination of slavery representation in Dutch museums, and the remains of Dutch presence in West-Africa. MoWIC is already looking ahead to its possible contribution to the commemoration of 400 years Dutch-Brazilian relationship in 2030.

For more information on MoWIC, please do not hesitate to contact Dunya Verwey: verwey@geelvinck.nl and 0654794606.