table). Portuguese Pernambuco under the Hapsburgs The period 1580―1630 when the Dutch invaded Pernambuco has been labeled the “Golden age of Pernambuco. This golden age coincided with the assumption of the crown of Portugal by the Spanish Hapsburgs (1580 to 1640). The Spanish Empire as background During the reign of Philip II of Spain (in Portugal, Philip I) the Hapsburgs ruled most of Europe and European colonies worldwide. Philip II ruled all the Spains, he was the effective master of Flanders, Artois, and Franche-Comté disputed ruler of Holland and Zeeland. He was king of Naples and Sicily and through his control of Sardinia and Milan, kept regular communication with his cousins in Austria, thus, the Hapsburgs almost encircled France. When he assumed the crown of Portugal his domains in Africa included Oran, Ceuta, Tangier, the Canaries plus he gained various islands including Madeira, the Azores, Cabo Verde, and of course the Portuguese outposts in Africa and the Far East. Pernambuco, as did all of Brazil and other Spanish royal domains enjoyed both the privileges and penalties of being appurtenant to the empire of the Hapsburg In the late Sixteenth Century, Pernambuco benefited from the rule of Philip II (of Spain). As the Seventeenth Century advanced Pernambuco would experience the penalties of belonging to the same empire, particularly with the invasion of the Dutch in 1630. The internal affairs of the Captaincy In the late Sixteenth Century, the Portuguese continued to expand their settlements in Brazil. Whereas Bahia, under the aegis of the governors-general, was a base for the very successful expansion of Portuguese Brazil Southward into what would become the heart of modern-day Brazil, Pernambuco was a base for the somewhat less successful expansion of Portugal into the areas to the North. These attempts to settle areas North of Pernambuco are important to the history of Pernambuco for several reasons. First, the Potiguar people inhabited a large stretch of the coast North of Pernambuco, and while those Potiguar nearest Pernambuco frequently traded peacefully with the Portuguese, most often the Potiguar allied with the French as they repeatedly tried to establish French outposts or settlements on the coast North of Pernambuco. This alliance constituted a continuing threat to Pernambuco. Many Pernambucans including Martim Leitão, Manuel de Mascarenhas Homem, and Jeronimo de Albuquerque Maranhão figured in expeditions against the French and the Potiguar and these expeditions began at least as early as