Siege of Salvador (1638)

Siege of Salvador
Part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil

Drawing of the Carmo Gate of the fortified city of Salvador, Bahia (c. 1759)
DateApril – May 1638
Location12°58′S 38°30′W / 12.967°S 38.500°W / -12.967; -38.500
Result Portuguese-Spanish victory[1][2]
Belligerents
 Portugal
 Spain

Dutch Republic Dutch Republic

Commanders and leaders
Giovanni di San Felice
Luís Barbalho
John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen[2]
Johan van der Mast[3]
Strength
1,000[3] 4,600 (3,600 Dutch troops and 1,000 Brazilian auxiliaries)[4] or 6,000[5]
30[2] or 45[4] ships
Casualties and losses
Light 500 killed[6]
30 captured[2]
Large amount of abandoned military equipment[6]
Siege of Salvador (1638) is located in Brazil
Siege of Salvador (1638)
Location within Brazil
Siege of Salvador (1638) is located in South America
Siege of Salvador (1638)
Siege of Salvador (1638) (South America)

The siege of Salvador was a siege that took place between April and May 1638, during the Dutch–Portuguese War and Eighty Years' War. The governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil, John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, commanding the army of the Dutch West India Company, with vastly superior forces and a supporting fleet under Johan van der Mast, put the city of Salvador under siege. The Portuguese and Spanish defenders, commanded by Giovanni di San Felice, Count of Bagnolo, and Luís Barbalho, managed to resist the Dutch attacks until they gave up taking the city and withdrew with several casualties.[7]

  1. ^ Queiroz, Padre Fernão de, Vida do Venerável Irmão Pedro de Basto, Oficina de Miguel Deslandes, Lisboa, 1689, p. 315
  2. ^ a b c d Guedes, Max Justo, História Naval Brasileira, Ibrasa, Rio de Janeiro, Segundo Volume, Tomo IA, 1986, p.488
  3. ^ a b Dorato, Hernâni, Dicionário das Batalhas Brasileiras, Ministério da Marinha, Rio de Janeiro, Segundo Volume, Tomo IA, 1990, p.228
  4. ^ a b Marley 2008, p. 193.
  5. ^ Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1898). Armada española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón (in Spanish). Vol. IV. Madrid, España: Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval.
  6. ^ a b Marley 2008, p. 194.
  7. ^ Marley 2008, pp. 193–194.