The Second Battle of Guararapes was a conflict between Dutch and Portuguese forces in 1649 at Pernambuco that ended in a resounding Portuguese victory and was one of the final nails in the coffin of Dutch Brazil. February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ... Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Brazilian Northeast. ... Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ... Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Brazilian Northeast. ... During the 17th century, Dutch traders established trade posts and plantations throughout the Americas; actual colonization, with Dutch settling in the new lands was not as common as with settlements of other European nations. ...

Though the Dutch West India Company fielded a larger, better equiped force, they suffered morale problems as most of their army was made up of mercenaries from Europe (primarily Germany) who felt no real passion for the war in Brazil, as opposed to the Native Americans and Portuguese settlers who considered Brazil to be their home and were fighting for a patriotic cause. The Dutch force was also unused to fighting in the dense jungle and humid conditions of the country, wearing thick, brightly coloured European clothing and heavy metal armour which inhibited their dexterity. Contemporary accounts describe Dutch troops at the battle as "pale and sickly". The Dutch army at Guararapes were armed with pikes, cannon and an assortment of bladed weapons. It is thought by historians that the use of short blades by the Dutch was an attempt to imitate previously successful Portuguese weaponry and tactics. Dutch West India Company (Dutch: West-Indische Compagnie or WIC) was a company of Dutch merchants. ... Morale measures the degree to which people hold to belief. ... A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for money, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... Patriotism is a feeling of love and devotion to ones own homeland (patria, the land of ones fathers). ... Jungle refers usually to a forest. ... Humidity is the quantity of moisture in the air. ... A hoplite wearing a helmet, a breastplate and greaves (and nothing else). ... Dexterity is a term referring primarily to the ability of a person to gracefully coordinate their movements. ... Pike can mean: A pole weapon, see pike (weapon) A carnivorous fish, see pike (fish) A programming language, see Pike programming language Stream cipher Pike (cryptography) A male elf character (skilled with his namesake weapon) in the comic book Elfquest Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, see Pi Kappa Alpha Pike is... A small cast-iron cannon on a carriage A cannon is a modern day rifled machine gun with a calibre of 20 mm or more (see autocannon). ... For other uses of the word blade, see Blade (disambiguation) A blade is the part of a sword that is used to cut (as opposed to the hilt). ... Tactics is the collective name for methods of winning a small-scale conflict, performing an optimization, etc. ...

The Portuguese force was made up of an assortment of Native Americans, blacks and whites who knew, and had experience fighting in, the difficult Brazilian terrain. They would weaken Dutch troops with fusillades of musketfire from behind trees, and then charge with mêlée weapons. A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth-bore long gun. ... Melée generally means hand-to-hand combat or mano-a-mano. ...

The Dutch had expected the enemy to march down the well established coastal roads, and thusly formed a lines of defence covering these roads. However, the Portuguese force used a series of minor trails to reach Pernambuco, appearing out of the wetlands to the west and Guararapes hills (from which the battle derived its name) and flanking the Dutch. After several hours of fighting, the Dutch retreated northwards to Recife, leaving their artillery behind. Following the Dutch retreat, the Portuguese army marched into Pernambuco. A subtropical wetland in Florida, USA, with an endangered American Crocodile. ... Recife (population 1. ...

References

• DBM Colonial Portuguese (http://tetrad.stanford.edu/newfiles/DBMColonialPortuguese.html)
• Irene's Country Corner - Brasil (http://www.irenescorner.com/home/braziliancorner/history/history02.htm)