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When the Portuguese first arrived in Brazil, they landed on the soil of the place today known as Bahia. In Portuguese the word "bay" is translated by "baia". Salvador, Bahia state's capital, was founded in a peninsula located in between "All Saints Bay" and the Atlantic Ocean in 1500's. Every time people talked about Salvador, they referred to that area as, "the province with the bay (baia) in it". Later on the province would be officially named "The province of Bahia" (the province of the bay), the spelling of the word "bay" (baia) was changed in order to make province's name unique. Salvador-Bahia became Brazil's first capital back when the country was one of Portugal's colonies, an remained like that for over 200 years until it was transferred to Rio, and finally to Brasilia. Salvador was founded by Portuguese explorers in 1549. Its landscape is very similar to the one in Lisbon (Portugal's capital). The city was geographically closer to Portugal than most Brazilian towns, which was crucial for its indication as the capital of the Portuguese Colony of Brazil. In the 1500's Salvador became not only the capital, but the most important port of the Americas. Almost every single slave sent to Brazil had to go through the famous slave markets of Bahia, where farmers from all over the country bought their work force.
Salvador went through an economic boom due to importance of its sugarcane plantations. During 1600 /1700 era Salvador was one of the world's most prosperous cities. As a consequence of that, hundreds of buildings such as large houses, forts, lighthouses, palaces, churches (365 of them), monasteries, and even a couple of castles were built within All Saints Bay area. One day eventually, the economic cycle of the sugarcane declined. While gold mines were found in the southeast, not only Bahia, but all the northeastern provinces went through a long period of economic recession. The transfer of the colony's capital from Salvador to Rio De Janeiro was one of results of the northeastern decadence.
During the 18/19th centuries regional differences within Brazil were already enormous. The southeast was prosperous, Rio was an impotent city, and the states of Sao Paulo and Minas were developing in a very fast pace due to the coffee based economy implemented at the time. The Northeast was archaic, poverty was found in every single street corner from the largest to the smallest town. Salvador and Recife were already the 2 largest cities of the northeast back then, but that had little importance when compared to the socio-economic problems those cities were going through. Salvador was impoverished and abandoned, but its beauty survived. The Bahian people used music, dance, and other forms of art as a way to escape from the struggles of their everyday life. Some of Brazil's all time best poets, musicians, writers, and painters were born in the extremely religious, decadent, and profane Bahia of that time in History.
Early on the 20th century Brazil received immigrants from all over the world. Germans, Dutch, Polish, Ukrainian, Swiss, and Hungarians settled in small towns all over the south, southeast, and Midwest of the country. The Portuguese, Jews, Koreans, Arabic, Italians, Chinese, Romanian, and Japanese, settled on larger cities such as Sao Paulo. Immigrants brought progress with them, they moved to Brazil to make it better, the northeast had almost no immigrants since the Portuguese, meaning, no progress for centuries in a roll.
In the 1970's the national government ordered (Brazil was living under a dictatorship at the time) companies to install some of their factories in the northeast in order to diminish regional differences. At that point, the northeast was totally agricultural, so to have a few factories in the region was a huge deal for its people. The petrochemical district of Camacari-Bahia was created miles west of Salvador to absorb some of the upcoming factories, today Camacari holds the largest petrochemical complex on the southern hemisphere, a huge oil refinery was installed along with hundreds of factories. The idea of having industrial districts was a success in Camacari which resulted on the creation of several other industrial districts in Bahia state including Aratu, Subaé, Ilheus, Eunapolis etc. In the 1980's Brazil went through a decade of instability and stagnation, but Bahia state flourished as factories were being stalled, irrigation projects were starting to be implemented, and tourism was starting to bring some profit to the Bahian people.
The 90's came with the election of Antonio Carlos Magalhaes (ACM) as governor of Bahia State. ACM, started a very ambitious project that has changed the face of the state. When governor, he paid the State's debts, creating a surplus in the budget of over 1 billion dollars a year, which helped him get credit on behalf of the state from the world's largest banks. ACM has also started the process of attracting investments in tourism, industry, infra-structure from both Brazilian and foreign investors. Bahia has attracted over 34 billion dollars in investments in the period of 1997-2003 by subsiding taxes, financing investments, and assisting investors very efficiently. Automobile plants such as Kia, Skoda, and Hyundai will build cars in the state, plus; 38 shoe manufacturers, 5 beer companies, hundreds of hotels, waterparks, malls, computer and electronic manufacturers, etc have announced future investments in the state. Bahia also made tourism a main priority, as you can see through the huge investments the state has made to improve the its infra-structure. Restoring hundreds of historical sights, stimulating the opening of hundreds of hotels and tourist complexes, Sauipe is a resort town being constructed with an investment of over US$200 million; resorts, pousadas, and waterparks, are proof of the Governor's good job. Massive investments are being currently made by Cesar Borges (Bahia's current Governor), and by Antonio Imbasahy (Salvador's Mayor) to turn Salvador into one of the world's greatest tourist attractions, .. check it out!
Salvador's local government is also expanding its international airport to 4 times its current size, it's building the city's subway system, and will have implemented sewer and treated water for 100% of its population by 2003. Houses with basic infra-structure are being provided to hundreds of thousands of poor families as a government effort to get rid of the city's slums. All Saints bay is now cleaned up from pollution, along with all rivers that flow to it. The city government is also investing 38 million dollars in a ultramodern marina, capable to receive 20 transatlantic at once, bringing even more tourists to this wonderful town!
Salvador is also a place with unusual modern skyscrapers. Many of the city's architects won international awards for their creations. Salvador also provides its tourists with 8 great malls (Iguatemi mall has 508 stores, Barra Mall has 350, etc), shows in an everyday basis, bars, discos, waterparks, desert sand dunned beaches, and of course history, a lot of history!
While the old section of the city lays by All Saints Bay, the modern section is located by the Atlantic ocean. Salvador grew tremendously in the past decade, lagoons were cleaned of pollution, gardens reflourished, and fountains rebuilt. The city's coco tree lined waterfront has been going through a period of changes for the better. Sidewalks, gardens, gyms, bicycle tracks, parks, and hundreds of patronized little bars were built. Soon some of the waterfront's largest events such as the Aeroclube Plaza Show will be inaugurated (bars, discos, amusement parks).
Although the city of Salvador has many ultramodern constructions that will blow your mind away, along with breath taking ancient architecture, the city's biggest treasure is the local people! Their warmth and kindness will stay in your mind forever!
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Bed and Breakfast Hotels
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Salvador - Pousada Encanto de Itapoan Pousada Encanto de Itapoan is a lovely hotel located in the Itapoan area of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. The hotel is set 50 meters from the beach of Itapoan itself, and it is within a couple of minutes of two other world-renowned Brazilian beaches, those of Stella Maris and Flamengo. Salvador - Villa da Barra Beach
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Typical Bahiá Beach scene |
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Mangue Seco -the towns official name is Santa Cruz da Bela Vista - is the most northerly village along the coast of Bahia.Made famous by the Jorge Amado novel - TIETA DO AGRESTE, and the television series TIETA based on the novel (1989), and later the movie version, starring Sônia Braga. Fame boosted tourism in Manque Seco. |
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approx. US$ 10 to 40 p/night | |||||
Morro de São PauloMorro de São Paulo, like Ceará's Jericoacoara, has finally been 'discovered'. Soon it may turn into another Canoa Quebrada, but its stunning beaches, clear water, and traquil (as yet) fishing village still make Morro de São Paulo a deserving destination. The village consists of but a single street. Lodging is available in a number of simple pensions or you can rent a house from the locals.
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CamamuRio Acaraí > NOTE: Cap. Andre Barbosa - FELIZ NATAL - 073 255-2200
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approx US$ 20 - 50 | |||||
CajaíbaThis tiny mainland town is where craftsmen still build the massive wooden Bahia schooners!
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Barra GrandeBarra Grande is a scenic two hour boat trip from Camamu which passes first through the placid Baía de Camamu, a mangrove-lined waterway where fishermen tend their crab pots and silvery needlefish flit across the surface of the water like skipping stones. RAIA Três Coqueiros - Camilo Silva Reis 073 255-2112 - VILLAGE BARRA GRANDE
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approx. US$ 30, cabanas - US$ 15, and some campsites US$ 50 | |||||
TRANSCOTransco sits on a bluff above the beach, with an ever-burgeoning number of pousadas, bars, and organic-chic cafés. Brazilian celebrities like singers gal Costa and Elba Ramalho now own homes nearby.
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CaravelasNear the extreme southern tip of the State of Bahia, some 890 km from Salvador. A pleasant colonial port at the mouth of the Rio de Meio. caravelas is the jumping-off point for trips to the Pargue National Marinho dos Abrolhos. ISLAND BOATS: Abrolhos Turismo - day trips approx. US$ 95, overnight US$ 140; Paradise Abrolhos - day trips approx. US$ 95, overnight US$ 140; Abrolhos Embarcações - overnight US$ 140
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Hotels
approx. US$ 30
Praias approx. US$10 - US$20
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Electronic
mail address |
Office/
and Personal phone USA: (985) 594-0147 |
Please send me mail telling me what you think about this page and how I might improve it.
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Developing special interest individual and group tour packages for the State of Bahia - Brazil!
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Guide to Brazil: Amazon Pantanal, Coastal Regionsby Alex Bradbury, Geoffrey Roy (contributor), Ric Goodman List
Price: Availability: This book usually ships within 24 hours Paperback - 256 pages 2nd edition (September 1997) Globe Pequot Pr; ISBN 1898323593; Dimensions (in inches): 0.82 x 8.55 x 5.37
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From AndeTUR's Webmaster: This book has been an excellent reference
for me and there are quotations from it all over this website.
For anyone wanting to tour this region, this could be their bible.