Fortress of Our Lady of Pleasures of Pau Amarelo

The Fortress of Our Lady of Pleasures of Pau Amarelo, popularly known as Forte do Pau Amarelo, is located on Pau Amarelo beach, in the present-day municipality of Paulista, about sixteen kilometres north of the historic centre of Olinda, on the coast of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil.

In the context of the second of the Dutch invasions of Brazil, this beach was the place chosen for the anchoring of the fleet of the Dutch West India Company, of sixty-five vessels, under the command of admiral Hendrick Corneliszoon Lonck (14 February 1630). On the following day, a force of seven thousand two hundred and eighty men was landed under the command of colonel Diederick van Waerdenburch; they marched overland and conquered Olinda and Recife.

Machine-translated from “Forte de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres do Pau Amarelo” on the Portuguese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fortress of Our Lady of Pleasures of Pau Amarelo ranks #7,789 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #61 of the 80 mapped in Brazil. Founded 1745, it is older than 19% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 556 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Brazil compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Portuguese) ↗