Second only to Rio in the
magnificence of its natural setting
on the mouth of the enormous bay of
Todos os Santos,
SALVADOR is
one of that select band of cities
which has an electricity you feel
from the moment you arrive. Its
foundation in 1549 marked the
beginning of the permanent
occupation of the country by the
Portuguese
, though it wasn't easy for them.
The Caeté Indians killed and ate
both the first governor and the
first bishop before succumbing, and
Salvador was later the scene of a
great battle in 1624, when the Dutch
destroyed the Portuguese fleet in
the bay and took the town by storm,
only to be forced out again within a
year by a joint Spanish and
Portuguese fleet.
Much of the plantation wealth of
the Recôncavo was used to adorn the
city with imposing public buildings,
ornate squares and, above all,
churches. Today, Salvador is a
large, modern city, but significant
chunks of it are still recognizably
colonial. Taken as a whole it
doesn't have the unsullied calm of,
say, Olinda but many of its
individual churches, monasteries and
convents are magnificent, the finest
colonial buildings anywhere in
Brazil.
The other factor that marks
Salvador out is immediately obvious
- most of the population is black.
Salvador was Brazil's main slave
port, and the survivors of the
brutal journey from the Portuguese
Gold Coast and Angola were
immediately packed off to city
construction gangs or the
plantations of the Recôncavo;
today, their descendants make up the
bulk of the population. African
influences are everywhere.
Salvador is the cradle of candomblé
and umbanda, Afro-Brazilian
religious cults that have millions
of devotees across Brazil. The city
has a marvellous local cuisine
, much imitated in other parts of
the country, based on African
ingredients like palm oil, peanuts
and coconut milk. And Salvador has
possibly the richest artistic
tradition of any Brazilian city;
only Rio can rival it.
A disproportionate number of
Brazil's leading writers and poets
either were either born or lived in
Salvador, including Jorge Amado, the
most widely translated Brazilian
novelist, and Vinícius de Morães,
Brazil's best-known modern poet. The
majority of the great names who made
Brazilian music famous hail
from the city - João Gilberto, the
leading exponent, with Tom Jobim, of
bossa nova; Astrud Gilberto,
whose quavering version of The
Girl from Ipanema was a global
hit; Dorival Caymmi, the patriarch
of Brazilian popular music; Caetano
Veloso, the founder of tropicalismo;
the singers Maria Bethânia and Gal
Costa; and Gilberto Gil, who was at
one time secretary of culture in the
city government. The city's music is
still as rich and innovative as
ever, and bursts out every year in a
Carnaval that many think is
the best in Brazil.
