The story of Salvador in seven moments

Walking through Pelourinho means walking over more than five centuries of history. These are the moments that help explain the city.

1501 — A bay named after a feast day

Portuguese navigators sight the inlet on 1 November, All Saints' Day. The Bay of All Saints gets its name — the second largest on the Brazilian coast.

1549 — The first capital

Tomé de Sousa founds Salvador on the orders of the Portuguese Crown, which wanted to run the colony under a general government. The city would be Brazil's capital for 214 years — longer than Rio de Janeiro and Brasília combined.

16th–18th centuries — The sugar cycle

The sugar mills of the Recôncavo make Salvador one of the richest ports in the Portuguese empire.

16th–19th centuries — A heritage that endured

Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought through the port by force. From that painful history — and the resistance it sparked — came capoeira, Candomblé, the cuisine and much of the music and language Brazil calls its own.

1763 — The capital moves

The colonial government moves to Rio de Janeiro. Salvador loses political weight but remains a cultural and religious centre.

1985 — World Heritage

UNESCO recognises the Historic Centre as a World Heritage Site: the largest ensemble of colonial architecture in the Americas.

Today — The Afro-Brazilian capital

Salvador has the largest Afro-descendant population outside Africa, the world's biggest street carnival and rhythms that play all over the country.

This history is not in the past: it beats in every capoeira circle and every terreiro in the city.