|
According to
tradition, on 1 November 1501, All Saints' Day, the
Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed into the bay, which was
accordingly named Baía de Todos os Santos. In 1549 Tomé de Souza came
from Portugal bringing city plans, a statue, 400 soldiers and 400
sealers including priests and Prostitutes. He founded the city in a
defensive location: on a clifftop facing the sea. After the first Year,
a city of mud and straw had been erected, and by 1550 the surrounding
walls were in place to protect against attacks from hostile Indians.
Salvador da Bahia became the capital of the new lands and remained
Brazil's most important city for the next three centuries.
During
its first century of existence the city depended upon the export of
sugar cane, but tobacco cultivation was later introduced and cattle
ranching proved profitable in the sertão. The export of gold and
diamonds mined in the interior of Bahia (Chapada Diamantina) provided
Salvador with immense wealth. The opulent baroque architecture in the
city is a testament to the prosperity of this period.
Salvador
remained the seat of government until 1763 when, with the decline of the
sugar-cane industry, the capital was moved to Rio. Overlooking the mouth
of Baía de Todos os Santos, which is surrounded by the recôncavo,
Brazil's richest sugar and tobacco lands, Bahia was colonial Brazil's
economic heartland. Sugar, tobacco, sugarcane brandy and, later, gold
were shipped out, whilst slaves and European luxury goods were shipped
in.
After
Lisbon, Salvador was the second city in the Portuguese Empire: the glory
of colonial Brazil, famed for its many goldfilled churches, beautiful
colonial mansions, and numerous festivals. It was also renowned, as
early as the 17th century, for its bawdy Public life, sensuality and
decadence, so much so that it became known as the Bay of All Saints...and
of nearly all sins!
The
first Black slaves were brought from Guinea in 1538, and in 1587
historian Gabriel Soares estimated that Salvador had 12,000 Whites, 8000
converted Indians and 4000 Black slaves. A Black man was worth six times
as much as a Black woman in the slave market. The number of Blacks
eventually increased to constitute half of the population and the
traditions of Africa took root so successfully that today Salvador is
called the African soul of Brazil.
In
Salvador, Blacks preserved their African culture more than anywhere else
in the New World. They maintained their religion and their spirituality,
albeit wrapped in the outer layer of Catholicism. African food
and music enriched the houses of Black and White. Capoeira, the dance of
defiance, developed among the slaves. Quilombos, runway slave
communities, terrified the landed aristocracy; and uprisings of Blacks
threatened the city several times.
In
1798, the city was the stage for the Conjuração dos Alfaiates (Conspiracy
of the Tailors), which intended to proclaim a Bahian republic. Although
this conspiracy was quickly quelled, the battles between those who
longed for independence and those loyal to Portugal continued in the
streets of Salvador for many years. It was only on 2 July 1823, with the
defeat in Cabrito and Pirajá of the Portuguese troops commanded by
Madeira de Melo, that the city found peace. At that time, Salvador
numbered 45,000 inhabitants and was the commercial center of a vast
territory.
For
most of the 19th and 20th centuries the city stagnated as the
agricultural economy, based on archaic arrangements for land
distribution, organization of labor and production, went into
uninterrupted decline.
Only
recently has Salvador begun to move forward economically. New industries
such as petroleum, chemicals and tourism are producing changes in the
urban landscape.
Excerpts
from "Black Beuty - News form Brazil".
| 
