SALVADOR HISTORY |
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The early settlement of Salvador was founded in 1549 by Thomé de Souza. It
quickly became the main Brazilian sea port and the first capital of
Portuguese Brazil, a center of the sugar industry and the slave trade. The
city became a bishopric in 1552. The cathedral still standing today was
completed in 1572. By 1583, there were 1,600 people residing in the city.
Salvador was the capital city of the Portuguese vice-kingdom of Grão-Pará
and its province of Bahia de Todos os Santos. The Dutch captured and sacked
the city in May of 1624, and kept it until it was re-taken by the Portuguese
in April of the following year. |
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Salvador was the capital of Brazil 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 officially
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.
In the 1990s, a major city project cleaned up and restored the old downtown
area, the Pelourinho.
Salvador was the birthplace of noted musician Gilberto Gil. Gil later went
on to be a city council member. |
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