Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
B
Bahia (Salvador)
The full name of this city, in English trans-
lation, was City of the Holy Savior on the
Bay of All Saints. It was erected on the coast
of B
RAZIL
at the point sighted by P
EDRO
Á
LVA R E S
C
ABRAL
in 1500 and on the bay
that was visited by Amerigo Vespucci a few
years later. After years of comparative
neglect of the land that it claimed in the
Americas, Portugal commenced the coloni-
zation of the region in the 1540s. The city
and its adjacent interior were assigned to
the
donatário
(proprietor) Tomé de Sousa.
Under the terms of his land grant he brought
over Portuguese settlers and established a
town on the bay, from which it was infor-
mally known as
Bahia
throughout the colo-
nial period. Although the
donatário
system
proved ineffective and was soon abandoned
in favor of direct government from Portu-
gal, Bahia grew to be a substantial city and
the seat of government for all the Portu-
guese dependencies in the Western Hemi-
sphere. It reached its apex of commercial
dominance and architectural splendor dur-
ing the 18th century, in the so-called Golden
Age of Brazil, when discovery of gold and
diamonds in the interior sustained an afflu-
ent class of traders and officials. A less dra-
matic but steadier supply of sugar and coffee
from the plantations of the interior consti-
tuted, along with other natural products,
the main exports from Bahia. Its geographi-
cal position and political policy led to the
transfer of the new viceregal regime to Río
de Janeiro in 1763. Despite a consequent
falling off of Bahia's prestige and power, it
remained a significant outpost of the Portu-
guese Empire until the Brazilian declaration
of independence in 1823. Bahia, in fact, did
not recognize the declaration at first and
did not formally sever its ties with Portugal
until 1824. The city is now known as Salva-
dor, capital of the state of Bahia.
Bailén, Battle of (Baylen)
(1808)
Following Napoléon's invasion of Spain in
spring 1808 and the occupation of M
ADRID
by his brother Joseph Bonaparte, who was
proclaimed King J
OSEPH
I, French forces
moved southward. A
NDALUSIA
and adjacent
regions were still under the control of a
junta loyal to the imprisoned F
ERDINAND
VII. This de facto government in the south
appointed General Francisco Castaños
(1756-1852), the commander of troops at
G
IBRALTAR
, as captain general of Andalusia
and ordered him to repel the enemy's
advance. Gathering a large force of regulars
and volunteers, Castaños quickly planned
the splitting of the French expedition and
the isolation and defeat of its separate com-
ponents. The French commander, General
97
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