The official 'foundation' of Salvador in 1549 marked the beginning of the permanent occupation of the country by the Portuguese which lasted until 1823. Salvador in the state of Bahia became the capital city of Brazil and with the introduction of sugar plantations at the end of the 16th century it grew and continued to grow throughout the 17th century. Brazil's slave trade began because the plantation economy required a strong workforce, which was imported from West Africa. For the next three centuries, Salvador, a port city, became the most prosperous and important slave trade centre not only in Brazil but throughout the Americas, with wealth coming from the sugar cane and tobacco plantations that sprang up in the areas around Salvador. Between 1807 and 1835 there were a number of slave rebellions. Following the 1807 uprising the city of Salvador introduced legislation that prohibited slaves from walking in the streets after dusk without the permission of their masters. The eighteenth century also saw the growth of coffee based economy and the discovery of gold and diamonds in southern and central Brazil. The state of Bahia lost its primary economic significance to the Portuguese Crown and, in the 19th century, Salvador was replaced by Rio de Janeiro as the capital of Brazil. Throughout these centuries, Bahia was shaped by numerous different cultures and the African influence, with its candomblé religion, was by far the strongest. Today Bahia is the most visited state and the Bahian economy is the fastest growing in Brazil. This state has vast mineral resources, including gold, making it one of the richest states in Brazil. Bahia is now one of the most populated states of Brazil, with more than 12 million inhabitants. The population of Salvador today is approximately 80% black as it was Brazil's main slave port, where Africans were brought mostly from the Gold Coast and Angola.

Resistance to enslavement came in the form of rebellions and insurrections. In the early 1600s a group of around forty men and women (originally Bantu from Congo and Angola) escaped from their masters and settled in Palmares (land of the palm trees) in the interior of the northeastern state of Alagoas. They formed a Quilombo, communities of liberated Africans (or Maroons), which embodied the highest ideals of resistance. The objectives were not just revenge or escaping to the hills but to establish areas where Africans had political control and could defend themselves against their enemies. African religions such as Obeah and Vodum were important as organising tools. Led by Zumbi (see below for details), Palmares remained an independent nation inside Brazil for almost 100 years, until 1695 when Zumbi was captured and executed on November 20, 1695. Throughout Brazil there were many other small quilombos (small groups hidden in the forests were known as mocambos), where Africans found refuge and lived their culture in liberty. The history of Quilombo dos Palmares still inspires many black activists today who are fighting for their liberation, human rights, dignity, respect and equality.

Zumbi was the leader of Quilombo dos Palmares. He was a strong, courageous and determined man, who is still considered a hero by many African-Brazilians today. As the leader of the Quilombo of Palmares, Zumbi kept his community united and strong in the face of colonial opposition. Government officials were threatened by his leadership powers and the unity that the people in his community had developed. The imperial government was afraid that many slave owners would lose all of their slaves if they learned about Zumbi and his community. For this reason the Governor of the nearby city gave an order for the assassination of Zumbi. He was assassinated on November 20th, 1695 and since 1995 this day is celebrated as National Black Consciousness Day in Brazil. Zumbi left behind a spirit of courage and many African-Brazilian movements use him as an example in fighting for civil rights today.

The Male Revolt is perhaps the most significant slave rebellion in Brazil, which took place in 1835 in the city of Salvador. On a Sunday during Ramadan in January 1835 some 600 black slaves and freed men, inspired by Muslim teachers (Muslims were called males in Bahia at this time), and bearing talismans containing texts from the Koran, rose up against the government. Brazilian slaves knew about the revolution in St Domingue (as Haiti was then known - see Haiti section for more details) and wore necklaces bearing the image of President Dessalines, who had declared Haitian independence. Fearful that the whole state of Bahia would follow the example of St Domingue and rise up and revolt , the authorities quickly sentenced four of the rebels to death, sixteen to prison, eight to forced labour, and forty-five to flogging.

Carnaval is the most traditional celebration in Brazil. It was begun by followers of the Catholic religion, who started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival the night before the first day of Lent. Since Catholics don't eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale - which means "to put away the meat." As time passed, carnivals became quite famous and the practice spread. Carnaval has been greatly influenced by Brazil's important African traditions of parading through villages dressed in costumes and masks. Circling villages is believed to bring good fortune, to heal the sick, and to amend relationships with angry relatives who had passed onto the next world. Carnaval has also borrowed from the African tradition of the bringing together of objects (beads, shells, fabric, leaves, feathers) to represent a significant idea or spiritual force. In Brazil Carnaval is at its height in Rio de Janeiro and lasts for four nights and three days, during which time masses of people congregate in the streets and squares, in celebration of the country's diverse cultural backgrounds. It is usually held in February and Carnaval is the high point in the year to experience the cultural heritage of Brazil.

Brazilian music has always been characterized by great diversity and, shaped by musical influences from three continents, is still developing new and original forms. Samba, one of the most popular dances in Brazil (reaching the height of popularity in the 1930s), is a mixture of Spanish bolero with the rhythms of African music. It is rooted in the music and dance traditions of Angola, the country from which many of the enslaved Africans brought to Brazil had come. The term samba is believed to have derived from the Kimbundu term samba, a reference to the Umbigada belly button-touching dance step found in many African circle dances. This African dance and associated music are two of the numerous elements that were fused to create samba in Rio de Janeiro during the early twentieth century, and each region of Brazil is said to have its own form of samba. Other more recent musical forms are the more subdued bossa nova, popular in the 1950s and Tropicalismo which is a mix of musical influences that arrived in Brazil in the 1960s and led a more electric samba. More recently, the lambada, influenced by Caribbean rhythms, became internationally popular in the 1980s.

Capoeira is a martial art and dance that was created in Brazil by enslaved Africans. Many people believe that Capoeira was a disguise for training and building strength in preparation for battles and uprisings, and was therefore a tool of resistance. Many accounts propose that slaves disguised their fighting games as a dance so slave masters would not see that in actuality, they were cleverly training themselves in an art that could disarm, confuse and defeat an opponent of any size-without weapons. Others suggest that this was impossible because not all slaves were free to practice their arts, coupled with the fact that slave traders separated Africans from the same region to minimize the chances of a rebellion. In spite of this, it established for slaves a symbol of and weapon for their freedom. Capoeira, like many cultures of subversion, owes its existence and increasing popularity to its ability to adapt throughout the years while keeping the integrity of its philosophy intact. Over the course of time, instruments were added to the game to complete the camouflage of this martial art: the berimbau (a stringed instrument made of a gourd, a piece of wire, string and a bow), the atabaque (drum), the pandeiro (tambourine) and sometimes, the reco-reco, the caxixi and the agogo (a two tone bell). Europeans realised the power of Capoeira and outlawed the art, making it punishable by death. Capoeira is now a global phenomenon and is said to have given rise to break-dancing.