suggested by Gabriel Soares de Sousa in 1587, from the fact that, at the time, the captaincy was "so powerful (...) that there are more than one hundred men in it who have from 1,000 to 5,000 cruzados of income, and some from 8,000 to 10,000 cruzados. From this land many rich men came out to these kingdoms that were very poor". Around the beginning of the 17th century, the Capitaincy of Pernambuco was the largest and richest sugar-producing area in the world. During the Dutch invasions in Brazil (1630-1654), the city of Recife (Mauritsstad) was the capital of the Dutch possessions in Portuguese America, called New Holland. When Count Maurice of Nassau, administrator of the Dutch domains, landed in New Holland on January 23, 1637, he was with artists and intellectuals such as the painter Frans Post and the humanist Elias Herckmans, along with 350 soldiers. Nassau's government in Pernambuco had as its main actions the investments in the infrastructure of Recife, the establishment of the political alliance with the sugarmill lords by increasing the sugar production and the reducing the taxes levied on them, establishing religious freedom. After the end of Maurice's government in 1644, the harmonious climate between the Dutch and the sugarmill lords ceased to exist, and the latter began to act to expel them, which was achieved with the Pernambuco Insurrection of 1654. Revolts that occurred in Pernambuco One of Pernambuco's best-known historical facts is that it has been the scene of several revolts, among which the most prominent are the Mascate War (1710-1711), the Pernambuco Revolution (1817), the Confederation of the Equator (1824). Mascate War After the Dutch invasion, many merchants from Portugal - pejoratively called "mascates" - settled in Recife, bringing prosperity to the town. Its development was viewed with suspicion by the Olindenses, largely economically struggling sugarmill lords. As Recife, at the time subordinate to Olinda, grew in importance, the merchants began to claim their political-administrative autonomy, seeking to free themselves from Olinda and the authority of its City Council. In 1709, Recife officially became independent from Olinda, which left the sugarmill landlords unhappy. After many fights between the Olindenses and Recifenses, the ruler Félix José de Mendonça became responsible for putting an end to this conflict, and did so in 1711, when he stipulated the imprisonment of all the Olindense landlords involved in the war and equalized the two cities politically.