Born in Dillenburg (Germany) in the Holy Roman Empire in 1604, Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen was the firstborn son of the marriage of Johan VII van Nassau-Siegen (1561-1623) to Margaretha van Holstein (1583-1658). In turn, Johan VII was the son of Johan VI van Nassau-Dillenburg (1535-1606), brother of Willem I (1533-1584), of Zwijger (the Silent), Prince of Orange, and one of the main leaders who worked for the formation of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Boxer, 2004: 94-95; Mello, 2006: 22-27; Mout, 1979: 14-17).
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New Christians
New Christians, descendants of Jews or Jews converted to Catholicism, played a prominent role in the colonization of the Americas, specifically in what would become Brazil. Despite the suffering generated by the dispersion at the end of the 15th century, due to the expulsion of Jews from Castile and Aragon (1492), followed by the expulsion …
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