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 Bahia - History

When the Portuguese first arrived in Brazil, April 22^nd 1500, they landed on the soil today known as Bahia. In Portuguese (Brazil's Official Language) the word "bay" is translated "baia".

Portuguese explorers founded Salvador, Bahia’s capital, in 1549. The city lays in a peninsule located in between "All Saints Bay" and the Atlantic Ocean. Every time people talked about Salvador, they referred to it as, "the province with the bay in it".

The colonization of the territory began in the Recôncavo - that is in the coastal region - where sugarcane and tobacco were grown for export and other crops raised for the settlers' food. In the semiarid interior, cattle raising was considerably stimulated in the 18^th century, when the discovery of gold and gems in the Diamantina Upland attracted more settlers.

When the Empire of Brazil was proclaimed in 1822, Bahia was still controlled by forces loyal to Portugal; but on July 2, 1823, Brazilian troops occupied Salvador, and Bahia became a province of the empire. In 1889, under the republic, Bahia became a state of the Brazilian Federation.

During the 19^th century there was a revival of agriculture: it was the golden age for sugarcane, coffee also was grown on a large scale, cotton production increased, and the forests of the south were turned into profitable plantations of cacao. Rubber plantations were developed at the beginning of the 20^th century.

The Bahian government cut non-necessary expenses, privatised some of its companies, and paid most of its debts. With a healthy government, Bahia could sustain its development, and get international credit from Banks all over the world, thus financing its future debts.

In 1992, the United Nations turned Salvador City (and some of its surrounding historical towns) in not only a Brazilian, but also a United Nations territory. The ancient areas of Salvador that had become slums, received investments of dozens of US$ millions in order to restore more than 600 old buildings, churches, museums forts etc. The tourism that was not even part of the Bahian economy, became a priority.

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