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The Portuguese conquest of the French Guiana was military operation performed in 1809, against Cayenne, capital of the French South American colony of French Guiana, in the scope of the Napoleonic Wars. The operation was performed by a combined expeditionary force that included Portuguese (from Portugal and from Colonial Brazil) and British military contingents. The operation was part of a series of attacks on French held territory in the Americas during 1809 and due to commitments elsewhere, the British Royal Navy was unable to send substantial forces to attack the fortified river port. Instead, appeals were made to the Portuguese government, which had been driven out of Portugal the year before during the Peninsula War and was resident in Brazil. In exchange for providing troops and transports for the operation, the Portuguese were promised Guiana as an expansion of their holdings in Brazil for the duration of the conflict. The British contribution was small, consisting solely of the minor warship HMS ''Confiance''. ''Confiance'' however had a highly effective crew and an experienced captain in James Lucas Yeo, who was to command the entire expedition. The more substantial Portuguese contingent consisted of 700 regular soldiers of the colonial Army of Brazil - led by Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Marques de Elva Portugal -, 550 marines of the Royal Brigade of the Navy detached in Brazil and several warships to act as transports and provide offshore artillery support.〔FERREIRA, Fábio. A política externa joanina e a anexação de Caiena: 1809-1817. In: REVISTA TEMA LIVRE.〕 The French defenders were weakened by years of Royal Navy blockade and could only muster 400 regular infantry and 800 unreliable militia, formed in part from the territory's free black population. As a result resistance was inconsistent and despite Cayenne's strong fortifications, the territory fell within a week. It is considered to be the baptism of fire of the Brazilian Marine Corps, as there was a participation of the Royal Brigade of the Navy that would give origin to it.〔LEIVAS, Luís Cláudio Pereira; GOYCOCHÊA, Luís Felipe de Castilhos. A Conquista de Caiena. In: História Naval Brasileira. v.2. t..II.〕 ==Background== During the Napoleonic Wars, French colonial territories in the Caribbean were a drain on both the French and British navies. The fortified harbours on the islands and coastal towns provided shelter for French warships and privateers that could strike against British trade routes at will, forcing the Royal Navy to divert extensive resources to protect their convoys.〔Gardiner, p. 75〕 However, the maintenance and support of these bases was a significant task for the French Navy. It had suffered a series of defeats during the war that left it blockaded in its own harbours and unable to put to sea without attack from British squadrons waiting off the coast.〔Gardiner, p. 17〕 Cut off from French trade and supplies, the Caribbean colonies began to suffer from food shortages and collapsing economies, and messages were sent to France in the summer of 1808 requesting urgent help.〔James, p. 206〕 Some of these messages were intercepted by the patrolling Royal Navy. Based on the description in those messages of the low morale and weak defences of the Caribbean territories, the decision was taken to eliminate the threat from the French colonies for the remainder of the war by seizing and occupying them in a series of amphibious operations. Command of this campaign was given to Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, who focused his initial efforts on Martinique, gathering a substantial force of ships and men at Barbados in preparation for the planned invasion.〔Woodman, p. 242〕 While the main British forces concentrated in the Leeward Islands, smaller expeditionary forces were sent to watch other French colonies, including the small ship ''HMS Confiance'', deployed to the northern coast of South America under Captain James Lucas Yeo.〔Gardiner, p. 77〕 Supplementing this meagre force were reinforcements provided by Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, the commander of the Brazil Station who had negotiated with the Portuguese government, then situated in Brazil, where they had been forced to relocate in 1808 following the French invasion that began the Peninsula War.〔 Smith had secured the assistance of a Portuguese squadron, consisting of two armed brigs, ''Voador'' (24 guns) and ''Vingança'' (18 guns), an unarmed brig, ''Infanta don Pedro'', and the unarmed cutter ''Leio''.〔Esparteio (1976), pp.41, 51, 52, 83.〕 This force carried at least 550 regular Portuguese soldiers, supplemented by sailors and marines on board the ships, all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Manuel Marques.〔 Yeo, who was to retain overall command of the operation, joined the Portuguese force off Belém in early December 1808. On 15 December he attacked the coastal districts of Oyapok and Appruage, seizing both without resistance, in preparation for the advance on Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana.〔James, p. 209〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portuguese conquest of French Guiana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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