Bahia
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Bahia (disambiguation).
| ||
| Flag of Bahia | ||
| Image:Brazil Bahia.png | ||
| See other Brazilian States | ||
| Capital | Salvador | |
| Largest City | Salvador | |
| Area | 564 273 km² | |
| Population - Total - Density | 13 070 250 23.2 inh./km² | |
| Governor | Paulo Souto | |
| Demonym | Baiano | |
| HDI (2000) | 0.688 – medium | |
| Timezone | GMT-3 | |
| ISO 3166-2 | BR-BA | |
Bahia is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast.
Contents |
Name
Pronunciation IPA: /Template:IPA/ Template:Ref (the H is not pronounced, and the stress is on the second syllable). The name is an archaic spelling of the Portuguese word meaning "bay" and comes from "a baía de Todos os Santos" (All Saints' Bay), first seen by European sailors on November 1st 1501, All Saints' Day.
History
The Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral landed at what is now Porto Seguro, on the southern coast of Bahia in 1500, and claimed the territory for Portugal. In 1549, Portugal established the city of Salvador, on a hill facing the Bay of All Saints. The city and surrounding captaincy served as the administrative and religious capital of Portugal's colonies in the Americas until 1763. The Dutch held control of Bahia from May 1624 through April 1625. Charles Darwin visited Bahia in 1832 on his famous Voyage of The Beagle.
The state was also the last area of Brazil to join the independent confederation; Some members in the elite remained loyal to the Portuguese crown for a after the rest of the country was granted independence. After several battles, mostly in Pirajá, the provinced was finally able to expel the Portuguese on July 2nd 1823, known as Bahia Independence Day, a great popular celebration. There are some discussions about brazilian indepence, because for almost the "baianos", it really came to happen in Bahia, with the battles, not in september 7, when the imperator declared independency.
Bahia was a center of sugar cultivation from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and contains a number of historical towns dating from this era. Integral to the sugar economy was the importation of a vast number of African slaves; more than 37% of all slaves taken from Africa were sent to Brazil, mostly to be processed in Bahia before being sent to work in plantations elsewhere in the country.
Bahia today
As the chief locus of the early Brazilian slave trade, Bahia is considered to possess the greatest and most distinctive African imprint, in terms of culture and customs, in Brazil. These include the Yoruba-derived religious system of Candomblé, the martial art of capoeira (especially the style of capoeira de angola), African-derived music such as samba, afoxé, and axé, and a cuisine with strong links to western Africa. Bahia is the birthplace of such noted Brazilian artists, writers and muiscians, as Dorival Caymmi, João Gilberto, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso,and his sister Maria Bethânia, the source of the Tropicália movement (a native adaptation from the hippie movement, including a musical movement), during the 60's, Daniela Mercury, Ivete Sangalo, Carlinhos Brown, and home to internationally famous groups like Olodum, Ara Ketu, and Ilê Aiyê. The first rock'n roll singer in brasil is also from bahia, his name is Raul Seixas, named maluco beleza "crazy beauty". During the XIX century, a great brazilian poet, named Castro Alves, in Bahia, and wrote his most famous poem, "Navio negreiro", about the slavery, an masterpiece in brazilian romantism. Also Gregório de Matos, during the XVII, was one of the first brazilian writers, like Priest Antonio Vieira and a lot of others great writers and poets that, from bahia, contributed to expand the portuguese language in the brasilian territory.
In boxe fights, the "baianos" are very proud of their chapions, like "Acelino Popó Freitas", world chapion in middle weight, and, in the past, "Elder Jofrey", who won during the 50,s.
There also are indigenous tribes, such as the Pataxó, who reside on the southern Atlantic coast and in the state's interior.
The state's geographical regions comprise the mata atlântica or remnants of the Atlantic coast forests; the recôncavo region radiating from the Bay (the largest in Brazil), the site of sugar and tobacco cultivation; and the planalto, which includes the fabled sertão region of Bahia's far interior. Brazil's second longest river system, the São Francisco, runs from the Atlantic along the state's northern border down through the planalto into the neighboring southern state of Minas Gerais.
Bahia is the main producer and exporter of cacao in Brazil. In addition to important agricultural and industrial sectors, the state also has considerable mineral and petroleum deposits. Another major industry is tourism: Bahia's long coastline, beautiful beaches and cultural treasures make it one of Brazil's chief tourist destinations.
Other important cities in the state include Ilhéus, the birthplace of one of Brazil's major 20th century writers, Jorge Amado; the old island city of Itaparica, on the island of the same name, in the bay; Cachoeira; Vitória da Conquista; and Lençóis, in the Chapada Diamantina region.
See also:
- List of cities in Brazil (all cities and municipalities)
Notes
- Template:Note The presented pronunciation is in Brazilian Portuguese. In European Portuguese the pronunciation is: /Template:IPA/.
External links
| States of Brazil | Image:Flag of Brazil.svg |
|---|---|
| Acre | Alagoas | Amapá | Amazonas | Bahia | Ceará | Espírito Santo | Goiás | Maranhão | Mato Grosso | Mato Grosso do Sul | Minas Gerais | Pará | Paraíba | Paraná | Pernambuco | Piauí | Rio de Janeiro | Rio Grande do Norte | Rio Grande do Sul | Rondônia | Roraima | Santa Catarina | São Paulo | Sergipe | Tocantins | |
| Federal District: Brazilian Federal District | |
