Pará in Brazil
The Pará Crisis (16 January-2 February 1837) was a political crisis in the Brazilian Empire that occurred when the Netherlands declared war in hopes of annexing the Pará region of northern Brazil. The war ended on 2 February, a day after Brazil defeated Bolivia in the brazilian Liberation of Bolivian Amazonas.
History[]
The state of Pará was made up of Amapa, Macapa, Obidos, Oriximina, and Manaus, located in northern Brazil. The Brazilian Empire gained control over these regions after declaring independence from Portugal, and the infant country managed the regions as best as they could. However, the Netherlands (which owned Dutch Guyana to the north) wanted to expand its empire and conquer the Pará region, although the United States' Monroe Doctrine of 1823 warned European powers not to attempt to colonize any more lands, or else they would intervene in the war.
On 16 January 1837, the Netherlands declared war on the Brazilian Empire, following Bolivia's victory at the First Battle of San Ignacio. The Netherlands did not have an army in Dutch Guyana, and Brazil built up large armies. Following the Brazilian victory over Bolivia at the Second Battle of San Ignacio on 1 February 1837, causing Bolivia to surrender, the Netherlands offered to make peace with Brazil, hoping to avoid the loss of Guyana. Brazil generously accepted the peace offer, and the crisis was defused. The Netherlands failed in their attempt to colonize more lands, and Brazil remained a strong country.