The colony of Pernambuco in Brazil had been granted, in trust, to Matias's brother, Duarte de Albuquerque Coelho, under the system of hereditary captaincies (capitanias) established by the Portuguese crown as a way to administrate their overseas possessions.

Once Bahia had fallen, Portuguese resistance was first reorganized under the self-appointed leader of the provisional government, Bishop Marcos Teixeira, who recruited about two thousand men and later, under the captain of nearby Recôncavo, Francisco Rolim de Moura.

When he first received word of his appointment, Albuquerque's first instinct was to gather his forces and march to the relief of occupied Bahia, but he was cautioned to bide his time.

The West India Company was well aware of the Spanish relief force, but, due to bad weather, a Dutch fleet could not be sent to aid Bahia.

However, Spain was embroiled in the Thirty Years' War, and, while the Dutch threat to Brazil was considered credible, resources were more likely to be devoted to military operations on the European continent and to shore up the defenses of the gold- and silver-producing colonies that fed the Caribbean treasure fleets.

Albuquerque returned to South America in 1629 with the meager resources the King's treasury could spare for the defense of Brazil, – a bit of money, in silver coin, and twenty-seven Portuguese soldiers.

Albuquerque and his smaller force was compelled to retreat, but, before doing so, they managed to burn the sugar warehouses at the port of Recife, preventing the Dutch West India Company from using them and denying them the profit of their contents.

He re-organized the Portuguese-Spanish defense on high ground at a place called Arraial Velho do Bom Jesus, about halfway between Olinda and Recife, and, in doing so, he established a fortified position that was quite easily defended, and its well-chosen location, for the most part, confined the Dutch within the towns.

Some of these attacks on Arraial were masterminded by a man named Domingos Fernandes Calabar, a mulatto born in Porto Calvo, Alagoas, then within the colony of Pernambuco.