Dutch Johan Maurits van Nassau
born June 17, 1604, Dillenburg, Nassau
died Dec. 20, 1679, Cleves, Brandenburg
Dutch colonial governor and military commander.
He fought after 1621 in the campaigns of his cousin Frederick Henry , prince of Orange, against Spain. As colonial governor in Brazil, recently conquered from Portugal, he secured control of vast areas for the Dutch West India Company in 1636–44, bringing the Dutch empire in Latin America to the peak of its power. He also sponsored the seizure of Angola (1641) and of several key ports on the western African coast to supply slaves for Brazilian plantations, and he led a Dutch army in 1665 in the Anglo-Dutch Wars .