Landscape in Brazil

From 1630 the Dutch West India Company (WIC) conquers parts of Brazil and ousts the Portuguese based there. Foiling the enemy is a main task of this trading company, and Portugal belongs to Spain in this time. The Dutch take over the profitable sugar production. Sugar is
cultivated on plantations, like the one in this painting. Enslaved Africans work there under wretched conditions. What is presented as an idyll to the Dutch, is actually a hellish reality for them.