page_title: Military history of South America
section_title: Dutch, English and French conquests
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of South America / European invasion / Dutch, English and French conquests
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of the Island of Villegaignon, in en:Rio de Janeiro, en:Brazil, depicting en:Fort Coligny under attack by Portuguese forces under en:Mem de SÃ¡. en:sr:Ð¡Ð»Ð¸ÐºÐ°:Ile-de-villegagnon.jpg
context_page_description: The military history of South America can be divided into two major periods - pre- and post-Columbian - divided by the entrance of European forces to the region. The sudden introduction of steel, gunpowder weapons and horses into the Americas would revolutionize warfare. Within the post-Columbian period, the events of the early 19th century, when almost all of South America was marked by wars of independence, also forms a natural historical juncture. Throughout its history, South America has had distinct military features: it has been geographically separated from many major military powers by large oceans; its unique terrain has imposed major logistical challenges, and privileged naval lines of communications.
context_section_description: The remaining European nations had to content themselves with seizing relatively small territories, usually based on isolated forts or islands along the coast. The Dutch, working through the Dutch West India Company built fortified plantations in modern-day Guyana, displacing the local Caribs, but found themselves in fierce competition with the neighbouring English plantations. Eventually European land swapping would result in the creation of Dutch Guiana and British Guyana. French Guiana was settled by the French in 1604, although its earliest settlements were abandoned in the face of hostility from the local tribes and tropical diseases; even two hundred years later, the French sheltered along the coast on the islands called the Iles de Salut or the "Islands of Salvation".
  Further south, the Dutch West India Company attempted to take part of Brazil as New Holland, resulting in thirty years of conflict with the Portuguese until finally being sold to Lisbon in 1661. France made several attempts to expand into South America, neither of them tremendously successful. From 1555 to 1567, French Huguenots made an attempt to establish the colony of France Antarctique in what is now Brazil, making an alliance with the Tamoio and Tupinambá Indians of the region, who were fighting the Portuguese, before being overcome by their more powerful neighbours. From 1612 to 1615, a second failed French attempt to seize part of the Brazilian coast was made in present-day São Luís, Brazil.
caption: France Antarctique under Portuguese attack (1560)
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