The Rerum per octennium in Brasilia (1647) by Caspar van Baerle (1584-1648), better known by his Latinized name Caspar Barlaeus, has long been considered by specialists as the most significant description of Dutch Brazil and one of the most intriguing works of Dutch seventeenth-century Humanism and Geography. Chances are, however, that more people are familiar with some of the books’ stunning pull-out maps based on the work of naturalist Georg Marcgraf (1610-1644) and landscapist Frans Post (1612-1680), such as the map of Pernambuco decorated with a drawing of a sugar mill, than with Barlaeus’ accompanying account of the history, flora, fauna, and inhabitants of Brazil. As images and maps require different translation than texts, the Rerum per octennium in Brasilia’s original Latin publication, and later Dutch translation for that matter, precluded it from gaining a widespread readership among contemporary scholars and students. The current meticulous translation by Blanche T. van Berckel-Ebeling Koning, including a helpful introduction and biography of Caspar Barlaeus, as well as the before-mentioned coloured maps, finally makes this important account available to a wider audience.

Caspar Barlaeus’ The History of Brazil is foremost a politically motivated tribute to the governorship of Count Johan Maurits van Nassau (r. 1636-1644). Upon his return to the Dutch Republic, Johan Maurits sought to gain politically from his experiences abroad by commissioning an account of his administration of Dutch Brazil that celebrated his accomplishments and brushed over his failures. To imbue this discourse with authority and weight he approached Barlaeus, one of the preeminent Latinists and Humanists in the Republic and a professor of classical philology and philosophy at the Arthenaeum Illustre, the predecessor of the University of Amsterdam. Barlaeus, who never set foot in the New World, constructed his account from the personal documents provided by Johan Maurits, the available published works on Brazil, and his own classical knowledge. Unsurprisingly, he dedicated the book to Johan Maurits and praised the “brilliance of [his] supreme rule and military glory” (1). As Benjamin Schmidt has described in his fascinating study Innocence Abroad (2001), which explores Dutch seventeenth-century imagination and the New World, The History of Brazil is both a valuable source of information on the history, environment, and people of Brazil as well as a work of political propaganda.Footnote ¹

Although the book was commissioned by and dedicated to Johan Maurits, it is not a biographical history. Instead, it explores the history of his administration in the broader context of the Dutch war effort and expansion into the Iberian dominated Atlantic World. Barlaeus organized his account chronologically, setting the stage by discussing the origins of the Dutch Revolt against Hapsburg Spain (1568-1648), which eventually led to the founding of the West India Company (1621), and the partial conquest of Portuguese Brazil (1624-1654). The fourteen chapters that comprise the heart of the book essentially deal with five main themes. First, Barlaeus extensively details the military effort against the Iberian states and the struggles with the settlers and indigenous peoples of Brazil. Secondly, these chapters emphasize the global context of Dutch ambitions. While the account focuses on Brazil, it also includes lengthy descriptions of expeditions to the Caribbean, Chile, and Africa. The organization of Johan Maurits’ administration, the plantation system, and the exploitation of the colony are other major themes. Fourth, Barlaeus spends a significant part of the book on describing the nature, flora, fauna, and inhabitants of Dutch Brazil. And finally, Barlaeus in true Humanist fashion presents Johan Maurits as a civilizing patron who oversaw and stimulated the arts and sciences, infrastructural projects, and the creation of botanical gardens and palaces. The book ends with an appraisal of Johan Maurits’ tenure as Governor-General in which accomplishments are accredited to him and most setbacks to the insufficient backing of the West India Company.

Barlaeus’ hand is omnipresent in The History of Brazil. It is not merely that he presents a highly uncritical history of Johan Maurits’ governorship; it is also his authorial voice, often in the first person, that makes it self-evident that this is a work of propaganda. Barlaeus’ Humanist background set The History of Brazil apart from other works of Dutch discourse at the time. Throughout the book, he compares himself and his compatriots with the ancient Romans and Greeks. For instance, he declares that where ancient historians “filled their pages with Athens, Sparta, Carthage, [and] Rome” and their opponents, such as the “Assyrians, Persians, [and] Phoenicians”, his history deals with “Olinda, Pernambuco, Mauritiopolis, [and] Sâo Jorge de Mina” and adversaries by the names of “Tapuyas, Mariquitas, Potigars, Caribs, [and] Chileans” (1). Barlaeus’ implication is self-evident; the seventeenth-century Dutch were the powerful heirs of Rome and Athens. Not surprisingly, he argued that the Dutch had also learned from the Phoenicians, Romans, and Greeks that “freedom for merchants to trade where they wished always guaranteed more power” (8). Similar comparisons can be found throughout the book with regards to military organization (35), sugar cultivation (70), and slavery (179-181), to name just a few examples. In Barleus’ account, Johan Maurits, in particular, is often compared to Roman Emperors, such as Diocletian for planting gardens for the entertainment and leisure of the inhabitants of Mauritiopolis, the capital of Dutch Brazil named after the Governor-General just as Constantinople was named after Emperor Constantine (141-143). Interestingly, the Humanist Barlaeus stated that the Dutch “had far surpassed the Romans, for the regions to which we go are immensely distant, and the men we fight are far more savage and uncivilized” (20).

The History of Brazil is of course much more than a work of propaganda; it provides the reader with valuable information on Brazil in the colonial era. It contains detailed descriptions of Portuguese settlers and the indigenous inhabitants of Brazil, the administration of Johan Maurits, the founding of Mauritiopolis, the sugar economy, and the lush environment. But most interestingly, it places the history of Dutch Brazil within a broader Atlantic context. The most intriguing example of this Atlantic perspective is the importance that slavery and the slave trade play within this larger history. Barlaeus’ describes Africans and slaves as barbarians compared to the civilized Dutch (58), speculates about the origins of their skin colour (62), justifies the institution of slavery by referring to Roman practices (48), explains why Africans are better suited for work in the sugar mills than Europeans (124), and finally echoes Seneca by stating that slaves are human beings that need to be treated with clemency and moderation (180).

In sum, the translation of Barlaeus’ The History of Brazil is an incredibly valuable source for any scholar or student interested in colonial Brazil, the early modern Atlantic World, the history of the plantation system, African slavery and the slave trade, environmental studies, and Humanist Studies.