Editing Thirty Years' War (section)

=== Outside Europe ===
[[File:Philip II's realms in 1598.png|thumb|right|upright=1.0|The [[Iberian Union]]; Spain's inability to protect Portuguese interests in the 1602 to 1663 [[Dutch–Portuguese War]] was a key factor in the 1640 [[Portuguese Restoration War]].]]

In 1580, [[Philip II of Spain]] also became ruler of the Portuguese Empire, creating the [[Iberian Union]]; long-standing commercial rivals, the 1602 to 1663 [[Dutch–Portuguese War]] was an offshoot of the Dutch fight for independence from Spain. The Portuguese dominated the trans-[[Atlantic]] economy known as the [[Triangular trade]], in which slaves were transported from [[West Africa]] and [[Portuguese Angola]] to work on plantations in [[Portuguese Brazil]], which exported sugar and tobacco to Europe. Known by Dutch historians as the 'Great Design", control of this trade would not only be extremely profitable but also deprive the Spanish of funds needed to finance their war in the Netherlands.{{Sfn|Thornton|2016|pp=189–190}}

In 1621, the [[Dutch West India Company]] was formed to achieve this, and a Dutch fleet captured the Brazilian port of [[Salvador, Bahia]] in 1624. After it was retaken by the Portuguese in 1625, a second fleet established [[Dutch Brazil]] in 1630, which was not returned until 1654.{{Sfn|Van Groesen|2011|pp=167–168}} In 1641, the Dutch seized Portuguese slave trading hubs in Angola and [[São Tomé]], with support from the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Kongo|Kongo]] and [[Kingdom of Ndongo|Ndongo]],{{sfn|Thornton|2020|p=?}}{{page needed|date=January 2025}} whose position was threatened by Portuguese expansion.{{Sfn|Thornton|2016|pp=194–195}} Although those gains proved short-lived, the Dutch retained territories elsewhere, like the [[Dutch Cape Colony|Cape Colony]], as well as Portuguese trading posts on the [[Portuguese Gold Coast|Gold Coast]], in [[Portuguese Malacca|Malacca]], on the [[Malabar Coast]], the [[Moluccas]] and [[Portuguese Ceylon|Ceylon]].{{Sfn|Gnanaprakasar|2003|pp=153–172}}