The
most popular destination in southern Bahia is the resort
area around the
town of Porto Seguro, where Cabral "discovered" Brazil
in 1500. Founded in 1526, it has some claim to being the oldest
town in Brazil, and buildings still survive from that period.
The story goes that in 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral and his men,
alerted to the presence of land by the changing colour of
the sea and the appearance of land birds, finally saw a mountain
on the horizon, which must have been Monte Páscoal,
to the south of today's Porto Seguro. First landfall was
made on Good Friday, on a beach to the north of Porto Seguro,
and
the anchorage Cabral used was probably the cove where the
village of Santa Cruz de Cabrália now stands. The
Indians were friendly at first, though they might have been
better
advised
otherwise, since Cabral claimed the land for the king of
Portugal, and thus began over three centuries of Portuguese
rule. Hostels in Porto Seguro |
ROOMS BRAZIL
