First Battle of Guararapes The First Battle of Guararapes was a battle fought between Dutch and Portuguese forces at the hill of Guararapes ( near the actual city of Jaboatão dos Guararapes ) during the Insurreição Pernambucana . The first battle of Guararapes is symbolically considered the origin of the Brazilian Army , because it was the first time where whites , blacks and Indians ( main Brazilian ethnicities at the time ) joined forces to fight for Brazil instead of Portugal . Giving origin to Brazilian nationalism that culminated on Brazilian independence two centuries later . History . Background . The first battle Guararapes , happened during the Insurreição Pernambucana , a resistance movement against the Dutch presence in northeastern Brazil , that began after 1640 . The Battle occurred in a period withoud direct intervention of the Portuguese government . Nevertheless , the Portuguese in Brazil take up arms to expel the Dutch from northeastern Brazil . Early in 1948 , a powerful force composed of 5 , 000 soldiers and 5 cannons is sent from the Dutch Recife south towards the region of Bahia . However , as they learn that Recife was surrounded they march back north to try to relieve the pressure that the Portuguese impose against the city . However a Portuguese force composed of 2 , 200 soldiers is sent to intercept the returning Dutch army to prevent them to reach Recife , they intercepted the Dutch in the Hill of Guararapes . The Battle . At the beginning of the fight , Von Schoppe may have realized that he would have to fight a much stronger force than the one he had defeated in Barreta . Also , the opportunity to choose the proper place to meet a superior force was crucial for the Portuguese victory . The terrain was damp , mostly swamp , and did not allow for the classical in - line formation of European armies . Forced into a narrow front , the Dutch ' s advantages had been almost nullified . The Portuguese forces were divided in five terço s commanded by Francisco Barreto de Menezes , Fernandes Vieira , Filipe Camarão and Henrique Dias . André Vidal de Negreiros was the commander of the fifth terço kept in reserve . Barreto de Menezes concentrated his efforts on the space between the East face and the main swamp . In the center , Fernandes Vieira ' s terço had the mission to penetrate as deep possible into the enemy ' s formation . On the right flank , Filipe Camarão would use the long experience of the natives in fighting in the swamped terrain . Henrique Dias would use the " terço dos negros " ( black ' s terço ) to keep the Dutch from advancing and then avoiding the spear head advance from being flanked . Limited by the lack of space for maneuver , Von Schoppe concentrated most of his forces on the space between the east face and the main swamp . Three of his battalions were face - to - face against the terços of Vieira and Camarão , while two other battaltions of his would try to flank the advancing forces and would be contained by the terço of Dias . Two Dutch battalions would not be allowed to maneuver and would stay back , out of action . The closed space also did not allow the use of firearms to its full potential and maximized the use of native weapons and the short sword . Diogo Lopes Santiago , a possible eye witness of that event , gives his gruesome account of that encounter : " " ( . . . ) and as they ran away , our soldiers would follow them with their swords with cuts and slashes , cutting legs , arms , heads , some killing , others wounding badly , laying on the field bodies without arms , trunks without heads ( . . . ) holding their sword in the middle of those squadrons , piles of enemies , giving spokes to some and to others death , showing the sword , tinted in blood . " " Aftermath . At least a thousand Dutch were killed or wounded in the fight . The battle was crucial to the Dutch presence in Brazil , one year later the Dutch and Portuguese forces would clash in Guararapes again , leading to another Portuguese victory and , subsequently , leading to the recapture of the city of Recife .