Action of 12–17 January 1640 1640
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 January 1640 – 17 January 1640 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1640 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Brazil | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | South America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Dutch–Portuguese War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Dutch West India Company, Iberian Union | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -7.7470, -34.8130 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of 12–17 January 1640 was a naval battle between a Dutch fleet and a combined Spanish-Portuguese fleet during the Eighty Years' War. The battle took place on the Brazilian coast off Pernambuco and was an attempt by a fleet consisting of approximately eighty vessels transporting about 5,000 soldiers under the command of Portuguese Admiral Fernando de Mascarenhas to land reinforcements to bolster the Portuguese militia besieging the city of Recife. On 12 January this fleet was intercepted by a Dutch task force of about forty ships commanded by Willem Loos. The ensuing battle lasted with occasional breaks until the evening of 17 January, when the Spanish and Portuguese fleet retreated and sailed away to the north.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 12–17 January 1640 (revision 1370425892), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Recife (1630) 1630 · 35 km
- Dutch Brazil 1654 · 35 km
- Second Battle of Guararapes 1649 · 46 km
Other battles of the Dutch–Portuguese War
- Battle off Hormuz (1625) 1625
- Battle of Elmina (1637) 1637
- Battle of Goa (1638) 1638
- Siege of Salvador (1638) 1638
- Siege of Salvador (1638) 1638
- Siege of Malacca (1640–1641) 1640
- Second Battle of Guararapes 1649
- Dutch–Portuguese War 1654
All 12 battles of the Dutch–Portuguese War →
Browse more: battles in Brazil · South America · Early modern battles