Editing Piet Pieterszoon Hein (section)

=== Dutch West India Company ===
After capital had been raised for the Dutch West India Company, the company's directors, the Heeren XIX, devised the [[Groot Desseyn]] in October 1623.<ref>Den Heijer 1994, pp. 35, 36</ref> The plan was to first seize the capital of Brazil, São Salvador da Bahia (Salvador), and then the main Portuguese fort on the coast of Angola, São Paulo de Loanda (Luanda). In this way, the company would control both the lucrative sugar plantations in Brazil and the Atlantic slave trade.<ref>Tim Wachelder (17 December 2008). "De eerste WIC expeditie". Retrieved 18 April 2012.</ref> Control of the trade itself was necessary because of the high mortality rate from the plantations' harsh conditions and tropical diseases such as malaria.

In the same year Piet Hein became vice-admiral of the new [[Dutch West India Company]], and sailed to the [[Caribbean|West Indies]] the following year. In [[Colonial Brazil]], he briefly captured the Portuguese settlement of [[Salvador, Brazil|Salvador]], personally leading the assault on the sea fortress of that town. In August with a small and undermanned fleet he sailed for the African west coast and attacked a Portuguese fleet in the strongly defended bay of [[Luanda]], but failed to capture any ships.{{sfn|Reine|2003|p=69}}