Salvador

Port, resort, and naval base, capital of Bahía federal unit (state), northeast Brazil, on the inner side of a peninsula separating Todos los Santos Bay from the Atlantic Ocean; population (2000 est) 2,439,900; metropolitan area (2000 est) 3,018,300. Chief industries include oil refining, petrochemicals, cigar-making, and tourism; fruit, cocoa, sisal, soybeans, and petrochemical products are exported. The city is built on two distinct levels; the Cidade Alta (upper city), the site of the original settlement where there are many examples of colonial architecture, such as the Convento de São Francisco (1701; Convent of Saint Francis); and Cidade Baixa (lower city), comprising the commercial, financial, and port district. It was the first capital of Brazil 1549–1763, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Salvador was founded in 1549 by the Portuguese as a fortification against invasion by the Dutch and French. Cultivation of sugar cane and tobacco in the surrounding region, and its situation on the trade routes of the New World, contributed to making Salvador the most important city in the Portuguese empire after Lisbon. It also became a centre for the slave trade, the workforce for the plantations having been obtained from the west coast of Africa; as a result there is a very noticeable African influence in the city to the present day.