Discovered in 1503, founded in 1549 by
the Portuguese as one of the first settlements in Brazil, and until 1763
the country's capital, Bahia (as Salvador is often called since it is
the capital of Bahia State) has been long on quaintness and local color
for years. However, propelled by vast economic development and several
international class resort hotels, Salvador has become one of
Brazil's most important tourist destinations.Bahia, an interesting survivor of colonial days, in a two tiered town that undulates like a series of waves from the Atlantic which it fronts and is packed with the flavor and color of the Brazilian North, which can be likened to our South. It's for those looking for authentic native touches - like lateen-rigged sailboats (saveiros), pastel-colored houses, huge stone fortresses and grandly baroque, gilded churches (165 in all) - colonial charm highlighted by an explosion of hi-rise condos and office buildings. It's a
delightful shopper's mart for Bahian silver jewelry (nothing quite
like the penca, a charm necklace), beads, basketry, mats, stunning
dolls, woven hammocks, carvings - and more.The Bahian cuisine, an unique African-Brazilian blend, is considered tops - definitely a pleasurable variation. 17Th and 18th-century styles of dress are still worn by black, cigar-smoking women street vendors, still seen in their magnificence in the folklore dances. Voodoo (candomble) is practiced - you can see the real thing.
Now, however, Salvador has even more going for it. Nearby, a new "industrial Brasilia" has been built, a movement that heralds the transformation of the impoverished, agricultural northeast into an industrial giant. Plush hotels have transformed a fascinating city into a lovely beach resort as well. thus, Bahia has become a major tourist and business attraction of international repute.
Colonized by an impoverished band of Portuguese noblemen and soldiers of
fortune who struck it rich in the gold mines and diamond fields. Bahia
soon became home to tens of thousands of African slaves
imported to work the mines, the huge sugar and coffee plantations. And
from a multitude of ebony Venuses, the gay adventures, now wealthy
Senhores without woman from home, selected mistresses whom they freed
and installed in elaborate homes and on whom they lavished gold and
jewels, silks and satins and other luxuries. Soon the wealth and
importance of a Senhor was measured by the richness with which his
mistresses were adorned; fingers were loaded with rings, arms with
bracelets, hair with diadems; bodies were swathed in the richest velvets
and Italian laces, Chinese silks, oriental shawls. At sundown, bedecked
black beauties paraded their finery and riches in elaborate, horse-drawn
carriages.Slaves brought with them many religious cults and superstitions which became interwoven with Catholic ritual; even today there are traces of this unique mixture of voodooism and Catholicism. The tiny human fist (figa) and whiskbroom you see on dolls or as jewelry charms are voodoo symbols; the figa wards off the evil eye, the broom brushes away the spell of an enemy. Many bead arrangements in a necklace have their particular significance.