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Salvador

City in BrazilOn a small, roughly triangular peninsula in north-eastern Brazil, Salvador separates the Bay of All Saints, the largest bay in Brazil, from the open Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the state of Bahia.

What it's known for

Portuguese settlers led by Tomé de Sousa founded Salvador in 1549, and it was Brazil's first capital until 1763, when the colonial government moved to Rio de Janeiro. Its cuisine, music and architecture make it a centre of Afro-Brazilian culture, and its Carnival is one of the largest in the world.

Fun facts

  1. Its full original name was São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, which means 'Holy Saviour of the Bay of All Saints'.
  2. In 1873 the city built the Lacerda Elevator, Brazil's first elevator, to link the upper town with the lower town at the foot of a cliff about 85 m high.
  3. The colonial historic centre, around the Pelourinho district, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Finding it on the globe

Follow Brazil's Atlantic coast about 1,200 km north-north-east from Rio de Janeiro to a large bay: Salvador is on the peninsula between the bay and the ocean.

Easy to mix up

Salvador is not San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador in Central America. It was Brazil's first capital, but Brazil's capital has been Brasília since 1960.

Sources: Wikipedia: Salvador, Bahia, Wikipedia: List of national capitals