History of Recife

The city of Recife is the capital city of the state of Pernambuco, in the country of Brazil. Recife is a popular tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. The city of Recife, and the state of Pernambuco, have a rich and varied history. The state of Pernambuco was originally inhabited by the various races that were indigenous to the area.

In the middle of the fifteenth century, around the year 1534, the Portuguese settled in the area. The Hereditary Captaincies was created by King Joao the third, the ruling king of Portugal, to divide the country of Brazil into areas that could be controlled by him through his appointees. These captaincies were given to affluent Portuguese entrepreneurs, whose job was to use their own assets and resources to build a colony for the King of Portugal. Pernambuco was one of the few captaincies that prospered and flourished. The Dutch East India supported the sugar mill industry in the area, and by the mid sixteen hundreds, thousands of tons of sugar were being shipped each year from the Pernambuco area.

At first the labor needed for the sugar industry was supplied by the native people, but the work was very demanding, and frequently fatal. To solve the labor problem in Pernambuco, African slaves were imported starting in the late sixteen hundreds to be used instead of the natives. Some of the slaves imported from Africa escaped from the sugar plantations, and they eventually established island communities that were called mocambos.

In the year 1630, the Dutch took possession of the state of Pernambuco, and the area of Recife. The Dutch settlers liked the area of Recife because the geography reminded them of their homeland. The occupation by the Dutch was strongly opposed from the start, and the native Brazilian people, as well as settlers that came before the Dutch, gave strong resistance to the occupation. Because of this, the Dutch occupation of Pernambuco was never complete. At the start of the occupation by the Dutch, the Count of Nassau was appointed the ruler over the area, and his government built the city of Recife.

Recife was built on delta islands which were similar to the topography in Holland. At this point, political focus switched to Recife, and there was a port in the city for commodity exporting. Ever since this time, Recife has been the main city in the state of Pernambuco for exporting goods.