Facts about Salvador
Salvador (in full, São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos, is a city on the northeast coast of Brazil. Its name means, "Holy Savior of All Saints' Bay". Salvador is the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is the first colonial capital of Brazil. the city is one of the oldest in the country and in the New World Salvador is the third most populous Brazilian city, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and it is the most populous city in Northeastern Brazil. It is notable in Brazil for its cuisine, music and architecture. Its metropolitan area is the wealthiest in the northeastern region. Over 80% of the population of Metropolitan Region of Salvador is of Black African origin, and African influence in all cultural aspects of the city turns it into the epicenter of "Negro culture" in Brazil. The historical center of the Salvador, frequently called the Pelourinho, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. The city is home to the Federal University of Bahia. Baía de Todos os Santos (All Saints Bay) was first encountered by Europeans and christened in 1502. In 1510, a ship, containing the Portuguese settler Caramuru, wrecked near the borough of Rio Vermelho. In 1534, Francisco Pereira Coutinho founded a town near Barra borough, called Vila Velha, Portuguese for "Old town". In 1549, a fleet of Portuguese settlers headed by Tomé de Sousa, the first Governor-General of Brazil, established Salvador. Built on a high cliff overlooking All Saints bay as the first colonial capital of colonial Brazil, it quickly became its main sea port and an important center of the sugar industry and the slave trade. The city became the seat of the first Catholic bishop of Brazil in 1552, and is still a center of Brazilian Catholicism. By 1583, there were 1,600 people residing in the city, and it quickly grew into one of the largest cities in the New World, surpassing any colonial American city at the time of the American Revolution in 1776. Salvador was the capital city of the Portuguese viceroyalty of Grão-Pará and its province of Bahia de Todos os Santos. The Dutch Republic captured and sacked the city in May of 1624, and held it along with other north east ports until it was re-taken by the Portuguese in April of the following year. Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and remained so until 1763, when it was succeeded by Rio de Janeiro. The city became a base for the Brazilian independence movement and was attacked by Portuguese troops in 1812, before being liberated on July 2, 1823. By 1948 the city had some 340,000 people, and was already Brazil's fourth largest city. By 1991 the population was 2.08 million. The city was, for a long time, known as "Bahia" (bay), passing this name to all the lands near it, naming the state of Bahia. The city is also known as "Roma Negra", Portuguese for "Black Rome", because it is said that Salvador da Bahia has 365 churches, and it is a center of Candomblé, an African-derived, syncretic New World religion. Salvador's other nickname is "Capital da Alegria" or "Capital of Joy", because of its large carnaval. Rio Branco Palace, this is where, in 1549, Brazil's first governor Thomé de Souza lived, and it was also the administrative center for the Kingdom of Portugal. It was reinaugured in 1919 when it was given its present name, The Rio Branco Palace. Today, it is the home of the Pedro Calmon Foundation of the State of Bahia and the Governor's Memorial. Salvador is governed by a prefeito (mayor). The city also has a body of 41 vereadores (municipal deputies), who meet in the Camara Municipal de Salvador. The Municipal Chambers is a historical structure built around 1660. According to the IBGE of 2007, there were 3,416,000 people residing in the Metropolitan Region of Salvador. As of 2007, the population density was 6,422 inh./km². Most of the population is in part descended from Black African slaves, who were mainly Yoruba speakers from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Benin. As of March 2007, there were 481,293 vehicles in Salvador. As of May 2007, there were 4 daily newspapers in Salvador. Salvador is the second most popular tourist destination in Brazil. Ford Motor Company has a plant in the Salvador Metropolitan Area, in the city of Camaçari, assembling the Ford Courier, Ford EcoSport and Ford Fiesta. The GDP for the city was R$ 22,145,303,000 (2005). The per capita income for the city was R$ 8,283 (2005). Salvador is also home to the oldest, continuous gay rights and human rights organization in Brazil, the Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB). Established by Dr. Luiz Mott in 1980 and currently headed by Marcelo Cerqueira, GGB has played a central role in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality movement both in Bahia and across Brazil, and has helped to educate the local population on HIV and AIDS prevention and human rights abuses. Salvador's gay pride parade is now one of the largest in Brazil. The supermodel Adriana Lima is also from the city of Salvador. |
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