The European powers were sometimes drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local political authorities. These alliances, often complicated, involved both Europeans attempting to enlist or persuade their closest allies to attack rival European ports and their African allies, or conversely, various African powers seeking to recruit Europeans as mercenaries in their inter-state wars, or as diplomats to resolve conflicts. Another way conflicts with the local inhabitants was avoided was through marriage. European men often created alliances with the local African people through a practice known as cassare or calisare derived from the Portuguese casar meaning "to marry." Dutch men and other Europeans would marry African women whose families had ties to the Atlantic slave trade. In this way, both Africans and Europeans benefited from each other and allowed for peaceful trading partnerships. African wives could receive money and schooling for the children they bore by European men. Wives could also inherit slaves and property from their husbands when they returned to Europe or died.