Watch FMovies. Two historians, the Brazilian Kalina Vanderlei and the German Sabrina van der Ley, met in Recife in March 2009 to investigate the roots and contradictions of the myth about the Dutch invasion of Pernambuco in the 17th century. Nassau (who ruled Dutch Brazil from Recife between 1637 and 1644) is defined by some residents of Recife as "the best mayor the city has ever had." To this day, that time is remembered as better than the present. But why would a people miss an invader?