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BAHIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 210 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAHIA , or SAo See also:

SALVADOR, a maritime See also:city of See also:Brazil and See also:capital of the See also:state of Bahia, situated on the See also:Bay of All See also:Saints (Bahia de Todos os See also:Santos), and on the western See also:side of the See also:peninsula separating that bay from the See also:Atlantic, in 13° S. See also:lat. and 38° 30' W. See also:long. Pop. (189o) 174,412; (est. 1900) 200,000. The commercial See also:section of the city occupies a long, narrow See also:beach between the See also:water-See also:line and bluffs, and contains the See also:arsenal, See also:exchange, See also:custom-See also:house, See also:post-See also:office, railway station, See also:market and See also:principal business houses. It has narrow streets badly paved and drained, and made still more dirty and offensive by the See also:surface drainage of the upper See also:town. Communication with the upper town is effected by means of two See also:elevators, a circular See also:tramway, and steep zigzag roads.. The upper town is built on the western slope of a See also:low See also:ridge, the backbone of the peninsula, and rises from the edge of the bluffs to altitudes of 200 to 260 ft. above the See also:sea-level, affording magnificent views of the bay and its islands. There are wider streets, comfortable residences, and attractive gardens in this See also:part of the city. Here also are to be found the churches, See also:schools, theatres, asylums, and hospitals, See also:academies of See also:law and See also:medicine, See also:governor's See also:palace, public library, and museum, and an interesting public See also:garden on the edge of the See also:bluff, overlooking the bay. The city is served by four See also:street-See also:car lines, connecting the suburbs with both the upper and See also:lower towns. In 1906 contracts were made to reconstruct some of these linesifor electric See also:traction.

The See also:

railways radiating from the city to inland points are the Bahia & Alagoinhas which is under construction to Joazeiro, on the Sao Francisco See also:river, a See also:short line to Santo Amaro, and two lines—the Bahia Central and the See also:Nazareth tramway—extending inland from points on the opposite side of the bay. The See also:port of Bahia, which has one of the best and most accessible harbours on the See also:east See also:coast of See also:South See also:America, has a large coastwise and See also:foreign See also:trade, and is also used as a port of See also:call by most of the steamship lines trading between See also:Europe and that See also:continent. Bahia was founded in 1549 by See also:Thorne de Souza, the first Portuguese governor-See also:general of Brazil, and was the seat of colonial See also:administration down to 1763. It was made the seat of a bishopric in 1551, and of an archbishopric in 1676, and until 1905 was the See also:metropolis of the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church in Brazil. The city was captured in 1624 by the Dutch, who held it only a few months. Always conservative in See also:character, the city hesitated in adhering to the See also:declaration of See also:independence in 1822, and also to the declaration of the See also:republic in 1889. Much of its commercial and See also:political importance has been lost, also, through the decay of See also:industrial activity in the state, and through the more vigorous competition of the agricultural states of the south. (A. J.

End of Article: BAHIA

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