Bahia () is one of the 26
states of Brazil
The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Brazil, Federat ...
, located in the
Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
,
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
, and
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
) and the 5th-largest by area. Bahia's capital is the city of
Salvador (formerly known as "Cidade do São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos", literally "City of the Holy Savior of the Bay of All the Saints"), on a
spit of land separating the
Bay of All Saints from the Atlantic. Once a stronghold of supporters of direct rule of Brazil by the Portuguese monarchy, and dominated by
agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
,
slaving, and ranching interests, Bahia is now a predominantly
working-class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
industrial and agricultural state. The state is home to 7% of the Brazilian population and produces 4.2% of the country's GDP. It is divided into 417 municipalities. The state has a strong tourism power in several regions of its territory, for example: Salvador,
Morro de São Paulo,
Porto Seguro,
Ilhéus,
Alto Cariri National Park,
Itacaré
Itacaré is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Cocoa bean, cocoa zone of the state of Bahia in Brazil, south of Salvador, Brazil, Salvador.
Geography
Itacaré is located 70 km north of Ilhéus where the Rio de Contas, which come ...
,
Lençóis-
Chapada Diamantina,
Bom Jesus da Lapa,
São Desidério etc.
Geography
Bahia is bordered on the east by the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. The
Bay of All Saints is the largest bay on the Brazilian coast. Under the
Brazilian Empire, it was bounded on the north by the
Rio Real and by the
Jequitinhonha on the south, but Bahia now comprises an irregular shape bound by other
states of Brazil
The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Brazil, Federat ...
, some of which were formed from it. In the north, it is now bordered (from east to west) by
Sergipe,
Alagoas
Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
,
Pernambuco
Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
and
Piauí. In the northwest, it is bordered by
Tocantins. In the southwest, it borders
Goiás
Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...
, and in the south it is bordered (from east to west) by
Espírito Santo and
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
.
The state is crossed from west to east by
many rivers, but the most important is the
São Francisco, which starts in
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
and runs through western Bahia before emptying into the Atlantic between
Sergipe and
Alagoas
Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
. Formerly plied by
paddlewheel steamers, the river is only navigable to small modern craft but is still vital to the arid west since it continuously supplies water during seasons. The
Sobradinho Dam created one of the largest reservoirs in the world; other major hydroelectric projects along its length include the
Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex and the Itaparica or
Luiz Gonzaga Dam.
Regions

Bahia's geographical regions comprise the
Atlantic Forest; the maritime region (''Recôncavo'') radiating from the Bay of All Saints, the site of
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
and
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
cultivation; and the ', which includes the ' region of Bahia's far interior. The state has the
Diamantina Tableland ('), which divides it into two distinct geographical zones. The rain falls regularly in the eastern section. The western area is more arid and its predominate vegetation the '. The natural aridity was greatly worsened over the 19th century by the cowboys' habit of starting wildfires each year to improve the quality of the grass. The
Chapada Diamantina National Park is home to picturesque '.
Climate
Bahia's climate is tropical. It has the longest coastline of the country: 1,103 km long (685 miles; north coast: 143; Bay of All Saints: 124; and southern: 418). With 68% of its territory located in the
semi-arid zone, the State presents diversified climates and an average rainfall that varies from per year, depending on the region.
History
The
Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral sighted
Monte Pascoal ("Easter Mountain") near
Itamaraju and landed at what is now
Porto Seguro on the southern coast of Bahia in 1500, claiming the territory for
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
. In 1549, Portugal established the city of
Salvador on a hill facing the
Bay of All Saints. The city and
surrounding captaincy served as an administrative capital of
Portugal's colonies in
the Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
until 1763. It remained the
religious
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
capital of
Brazil's Roman Catholic hierarchy, with
its archbishop serving as the
national primate until 1907.
Salvador holds the country's
oldest cathedral and first medical college (1810), and an engineering school was established in 1899.
Bahia's captaincy was the first to fail, with its lands reverting to the
Portuguese crown in 1549. While
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
was united with
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, the
Dutch West India companies tried to conquer Bahia but was unsuccessful in the area, with
Dutch Brazil
Dutch Brazil (; ), also known as New Holland (), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americas. The main cities of the colony were the c ...
restricted to the area from
Pernambuco
Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
Northward.
Bahia was a center of
sugarcane cultivation from the 16th to the 18th centuries and contains a number of historic towns, such as
Cachoeira, dating from this era. Integral to the sugar economy was the importation of a vast number of
African slaves: more than a third of all
slaves taken from Africa were sent to Brazil, mostly to be processed in Bahia before being sent to work in plantations elsewhere in the country.
The state was the last area of the country to join the
Empire of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...
, as members in the local elite remained loyal to the
Portuguese crown after the rest of the country proclaimed
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
under on 7 September 1822. Control of the province was disputed in several battles, mostly in Pirajá, before the Portuguese were fully expelled on 2 July 1823. It became a Brazilian state in 1889.
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
visited Bahia in 1832 on
his famous voyage on the ''
Beagle''. In 1835, Bahia was the site of an urban
slave revolt, the
Malê Revolt of 1835 by the predominantly Muslim
West African slaves at the time. The term ''malê'' was commonly used to refer to Muslims at the time from the
Yoruba word ''imale''. The revolt is particularly notable as the greatest slave rebellion in the history of the Bahia. Under the
Empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
, Bahia returned 14 deputies to the general assembly and 7 senators; its own provincial assembly consisted of 36 members. In the 19th century,
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
, and
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
plantations joined those for sugarcane and the discovery of
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s in 1844 led to large influx of "washers" (') until the still-larger deposits in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
came to light. A smaller boom hit
Caetité in 1872 upon the discovery of
amethyst
Amethyst is a Violet (color), violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek from - , "not" and (Ancient Greek) / (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from Alcohol into ...
s there. The cattle industry of the interior led to the development of
Feira de Santana before collapsing in a series of droughts.
Politics
Historically, Bahia's politics and that of the country have been closely intertwined, initially due to Salvador's status as the first capital of Brazil. During the
imperial period, several prime ministers originated from Bahia; during the early years of the Republic, Bahia produced some noteworthy national figures, such as
Ruy Barbosa, Cezar Zama, and Aristides Spínola, amongst others.
During the
First Brazilian Republic (''República Velha'') the biggest name in the state's politics was José Joaquim Seabra, also known as J. J. Seabra; the
Vargas era and the subsequent re-democratization period saw the rise of
Juracy Magalhães and
Otávio Mangabeira, respectively. During the
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
, the governorship of
Antônio Carlos Magalhães (also known by his initials, ACM) marked the politics of Bahia for three decades, with one brief defeat in 1980 by
Waldir Pires. Despite this defeat ACM later occupied many other public offices; he died in 2007 while serving as senator. ACM's wide-reaching influence in the state's politics has been dubbed "Carlismo", and is considered an example of a larger phenomenon called
coronelismo ("colonel-ism").
After the end of military rule in Brazil in 1985, the government of the state of Bahia oscillated between two parties, the ''Partido da Frente Liberal'' (PFL, now the
Democrats) and the
Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). The
Workers' Party
Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...
(PT) was elected to the governorship in 2007 and has held it ever since, through five successive elections (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022).
Government structure
As a
federative unit of Brazil, Bahia has its own three branches of government (executive, legislative, judiciary), which are operated by the
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
, the
Legislative Assembly and the
Court of Justice of the State of Bahia, respectively. Elected terms last four years, with state and federal elections being held simultaneously. The governor of the state is limited to two consecutive terms. The Legislative Assembly is composed of 63 state deputies. At the federal level, Bahia is represented by
three senators and
39 federal deputies. Municipal elections are held two years after the state and federal elections.
The state capital is the city of
Salvador, but once a year the capital is moved to
Cachoeira in recognition of the city's importance in the struggle for the
independence of Brazil
The independence of Brazil comprised a series of political and military events that led to the independence of the Kingdom of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves as the Empire of Brazil, Brazilian Empire. It is c ...
.
There are 10,110,100 registered voters, according to data from 2012, making Bahia the state with the fourth highest number of voters in the country. Most voters reside in the capital (and most populous city), Salvador.
All 29
parties registered in Brazil have chapters in Bahia.
Demographics
According to
IBGE data of 2022, there were 14,141,626 people residing in the state. The population density was . Urban population: 67.4% (2006); Population growth: 1.1% (1991–2000); Houses: 3,826,000 (2006). The last National Census in 2022 showed the following numbers: 8,103,964
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black.
In the ...
(
Multiracial
The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more
races (human categorization), races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicity, ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used ...
) people (57.3%), 2,772,837
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
people (19.60%), 3,164,691
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
people (22.4%), 83,658
Amerindian people (0.6%).
According to ''Instituto Socioambiental'', there are 14 Indigenous groups in the state: Atikum, Kaimbé, Kantaruré, Kiriri, Pankaru, Pankararé,
Pataxó, Pataxó Hã-ha-
hãe, Payayá, Truká, Tumbalalá,
Tupinambá, Tuxá and Xukuru-Kariri.
Historically, the population was estimated at 1.45 million in the 1870s and was 1.92 million at the time of the 1890 Brazilian census.
Public safety
Bahia has one of the highest crime rates in the country, having four of the ten most violent cities in Brazil. Gun violence in the state more than doubled from 2004 to 2014, ranking first out of the 26 states of Brazil. In 2014, the state also had the highest number of murders in the country.
Largest cities
Education
Educational institutions
* Centro Universitário da Bahia (FIB; University Centre of Bahia)
*
Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública (EBMSP; Bahian School of Medicine and Public Health)
* Federal do Vale do São Francisco
* Instituto Federal da Bahia (IFBA)
* Instituto Federal Baiano (IFBAIANO)
* Universidade Católica de Salvador (UCSal; Catholic University of Salvador)
*
Universidade do Estado da Bahia (UNEB; Bahia State University)
*
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS; State University of Feira de Santana)
* Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC; State University of Santa Cruz)
* Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (Uesb; State University of Southwest of Bahia)
*
Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA; Federal University of Bahia)
* Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB; Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia)
* Universidade Salvador (Unifacs; Salvador University)
Culture

As the chief locus of the early Brazilian slave trade, Bahia is considered to possess the greatest and most distinctive African imprint, in terms of culture and customs, in Brazil. These include the
Yoruba-derived religious system of
Candomblé, the
capoeira
Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, capoeira music, music, and spirituality.
It likely originated from enslaved Mbundu people, of the Kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. The ...
(martial art emerged in
Quilombo dos Palmares, located in the state of
Alagoas
Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
), African-derived music such as
samba
Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...
(especially Brazilian samba precursor, the samba-de-roda),
Samba-reggae,
afoxé
The afoxé is an Afro Brazilian musical instrument composed of a gourd (''cabaça'') wrapped in a net in which beads or small plastic balls are threaded. The instrument is shaken to produce its musical noise.
A similar instrument is the she ...
, and
axé, and a cuisine with strong links to western Africa, mainly in Salvador.
In the interior of the state, there is the traditional culture of the ''vaqueiros'' among agricultural communities. From the 1550s onward, in Bahia, these farmers were integral to the process of expansion away from the coasts of Brazil. And the emphasis of the
Tropicália movement.
Arts
Bahia is the birthplace of many noted Brazilian artists, writers and musicians. Among the most well-known musicians are
Dorival Caymmi,
João Gilberto
João Gilberto (born João Gilberto do Prado Pereira de Oliveira – ; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he w ...
,
Astrud Gilberto,
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...
,
Gilberto Gil,
Tom Zé,
Raul Seixas,
Pepeu Gomes,
Neguinho do Samba,
Margareth Menezes,
Daniela Mercury,
Carlinhos Brown
Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas, known professionally as Carlinhos Brown (Brazilian Portuguese: /kaʁˈlĩɲus bɾaw̃, -iɲuʃ/, 23 November 1962), is a Brazilian singer, percussionist, and record producer from Salvador, Bahia. His musica ...
,
Ivete Sangalo, and
Pitty.
[cite web , url= http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0015822 , title= They Don't Care About Us , work= Musicnotes.com , date= August 25, 1999 , publisher= Alfred Publishing Co , access-date= April 28, 2010]
During the 19th century, one of Brazil's greatest poets, the Bahian
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
poet and playwright
Castro Alves, a native of the ''recôncavo'' city of
Cachoeira, penned his poem, ''Navio negreiro'', about slavery; the poem is considered a masterpiece of Brazilian
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
and a central
anti-slavery text.
Other notable Bahian writers include playwright and screenwriter
Dias Gomes,
Gregório de Matos, who wrote during the 17th century and was one of the first Brazilian writers, and Fr.
António Vieira
António (or Antônio) Vieira (; 6 February 160818 July 1697) was a Portuguese Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest, diplomat, orator, preacher, philosopher, writer, and member of the Royal Council to the King of Portugal.
Biogr ...
, who during the colonial period was one of many authors who contributed to the expansion of the Portuguese language throughout the Brazilian territory.
One of Brazil's most prominent writers of the 20th century,
Jorge Amado
Jorge Amado ( 10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, includi ...
, was born in the southeastern Bahian city of
Itabuna, and resided for many years in Salvador. His major novels include ''
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon''; ''
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands''; and ''Tieta, the Goat Girl'', all of which became internationally renowned films. Other notable authors from Bahia include the fiction writers
João Ubaldo Ribeiro and historic writer
Euclides da Cunha, who wrote "
Os Sertões".
In the visual and plastic arts, one of the best known Bahian figures was the multigenre artist and
Argentinian native Hector Julio Páride Bernabó, also known as
Carybé
Héctor Julio Páride Bernabó (7 February 1911 – 2 October 1997) was an Argentine-Brazilian artist, researcher, writer, historian and journalist. His nickname and artistic name, Carybé, a type of piranha, comes from his time in the scouts. ...
(1911–1997). Fine examples of his work are visible in the
Afro-Brazilian
Afro-Brazilians (; ), also known as Black Brazilians (), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are mo ...
Museum in Salvador.
Cinema
The
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
, actor, and screenwriter,
Glauber Rocha, was born in the south-west Bahian city of
Vitória da Conquista and was one of the most influential moviemakers of
Brazilian cinema. A key figure of
Cinema Novo, his films ''
Black God, White Devil'' and ''
Entranced Earth'' are often considered to be two of the greatest succeses in Brazilian cinematic history, being selected by
Abraccine as, respectively, the second and fifth best Brazilian films of all-time.
There are also several national film productions based in Bahia, such as ''
O Pagador de Promessas'', ''
Tenda dos Milagres'', ''
Cidade Baixa'' and ''
Ó Paí, Ó''. The state is also the birthplace of renowned actor
Wagner Moura, winner of the
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''
The Secret Agent (2025)'', as well as a
Golden Globe nomination for playing
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed the "King of Cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthie ...
in ''
Narcos'', and an
Annie Awards
The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origi ...
nomination for his voice-acting performance as Death in ''
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'' (2022).
Tourism and recreation
There is a
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
in
Salvador. Pelourinho was once Salvador's principal red-light district as well as a working-class neighborhood that was home to thousands of Afro-Brazilians. Since 1992, however, the overwhelming majority of these people have been forcibly removed and replaced by boutiques, NGO headquarters, government offices, folkloric representations, monuments, and amenities for tourists.
Economy
In 2004, Bahia comprised 4.9% of the
economic activity of Brazil and it has the biggest GDP of the states of the North and Northeast. The industrial sector is the largest component of
GDP at 48.5%, followed by the service sector at 40.8%. Agriculture represents 10.7% of GDP (2004). Bahia exports: chemicals 22.4%, fuel 17.5%, mineral metallics 13%, paper 9.4%,
cacao 5.6%, vehicles 4.8%,
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed.
Soy is a key source o ...
4.5% (2002). In addition to important agricultural and industrial sectors, the state also has considerable
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
and
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
deposits. In recent years,
soy cultivation has increased substantially in the state.
During the
colonial and
imperial periods, Bahia was a center of Brazilian
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
production and
slave trading. In the 19th century, the Bay of All Saints was also a
whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...
spot, as some species of
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
s used the bay as a mating ground. By that time, the province was also growing
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
, and
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
with great success.
mandioc,
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
,
beans
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
, and
corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
,
saffron,
oranges,
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
es, and other fruit were grown for local consumption. The arid interior was mostly used for
cattle-farming, but this was ruined by a series of droughts caused in part by the custom of starting annual wildfires to improve the grass.
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s,
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, and
amethyst
Amethyst is a Violet (color), violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek from - , "not" and (Ancient Greek) / (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from Alcohol into ...
s were panned for in the rivers, while
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
was mined on
Itaparica.
cacao was being farmed by the time of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. It grew more than the national average, because the state was previously below the average level.
In
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
, the state stands out in the production of
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
cocoa,
soy and
tropical fruits such as
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
,
papaya,
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
,
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
and
guarana, in addition to also producing
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
,
orange,
beans
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
and
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
, among others.
In 2017, the Northeast Region was the largest producer of
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
in the country, with 74.0% of national production. Bahia produced 351 million fruits, being the leader in the country. However, the sector has been suffering strong competition and losing market to Indonesia, the Philippines and India, the world's largest producers, who even export coconut water to Brazil. In addition to climatic problems, the low productivity of coconut palms in the Northeast Region is the result of factors related to the variety of coconut harvested and the technological level used in coastal regions. In these areas, the semi-extractive cultivation system still prevails, with low fertility and without the adoption of cultural management practices. The three states that have the largest production, Bahia, Sergipe and Ceará, present a yield three times lower than that of Pernambuco, which is in 5th place in the national production. This is because most of the coconut trees in these three states are located in coastal areas and cultivated in semi-extractivist systems.
In the production of
cocoa, for a long time, Bahia led the Brazilian production. Today, it is disputing the leadership of national production with the state of Pará. In 2017 Pará obtained the leadership for the first time. In 2019, people from Pará harvested 135 thousand tons of cocoa, and Bahians harvested 130 thousand tons. Bahia's cocoa area is practically three times larger than that of Pará, but Pará's productivity is practically three times greater. Some factors that explain this are: the crops in Bahia are more extractivist, and those in Pará have a more modern and commercial style, in addition to paraenses using more productive and resistant seeds, and their region providing resistance to
Witch's broom.
In 2018, the Northeast was in third place among the regions that most produce
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
in the country. Brazil is the world's largest producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested this year. The Northeast harvested 45.7 million tons, 6.8% of national production. Alagoas is the largest producer, with 33.3% of Northeastern production (15.2 million tons). Pernambuco is the 2nd largest producer in the Northeast, with 22.7% of the total in the region (10.3 million tons). Paraíba has 11.9% of northeastern production (5.5 million tons) and Bahia, 10.24% of production (4.7 million tons).
Bahia is the 2nd largest producer of
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
in Brazil, losing only to Mato Grosso. In 2019, it harvested 1.5 million tonnes of the product.
In
soy, Brazil produced close to 120 million tons in 2019, being the largest world producer. In 2019, the Northeast produced close to 10.7 million tons, or 9% of the Brazilian total. The largest producer in the Northeast was Bahia (5.3 million tons).
In the production of
maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...
, in 2018 Brazil was the 3rd largest producer in the world, with 82 million tons. The Northeast produced about 8.4% of the country's total. Bahia was the largest producer in the Northeast, with 2.2 million tons.
In 2018, the South Region was the main producer of
beans
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
with 26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The largest producers in the Northeast were Ceará and Bahia.
In
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Maranhão was the 7th largest producer in the country, with 681 thousand tons. Ceará was 9th, with 622 thousand tons. Bahia was 10th with 610 thousand tons. In total, the northeast produced 3,5 million tons.
Bahia was the fourth largest producer of oranges in Brazil in 2018, with a total of 604 thousand tons, 3,6% of the national production.
Bahia is the second largest fruit producer in the country, with more than 3.3 million tons a year, behind São Paulo. The north of Bahia is one of the main fruit suppliers in the country. The State is one of the main national producers of ten types of fruit. In 2017, Bahia led the production of cajarana, coconut, count fruit or pinecone, soursop, umbu, jackfruit, licuri, mango and passion fruit, and is in second place in cocoa almond, atemoia, cupuaçu, lime and lemon, and third in banana, carambola, guava, papaya, watermelon, melon, cherry, pomegranate and table grapes. In all, 34 products from Bahia's fruit culture have an important participation in the national economy.
Rio Grande do Norte is the largest producer of
melon in the country. In 2017 it produced 354 thousand tons. The Northeast region accounted for 95.8% of the country's production in 2007. In addition to Rio Grande do Norte, which in 2005 produced 45.4% of the country's total, the other 3 largest in the country were Ceará, Bahia and Pernambuco.
In the production of
papaya, in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest producer state in Brazil, almost equaling with Espírito Santo: 337 thousand tons.
Bahia was the largest producer of
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
in the country in 2019, with production of around 281 thousand tons per year. Juazeiro (130 thousand tons per year) and Casa Nova (54 thousand tons per year) are at the top of the list of Brazilian cities that lead the cultivation of fruit.
In the production of
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
, in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest national producer.
Bahia is the largest Brazilian producer of
guaraná. In 2017, Brazilian production was close to 3.3 million tons. Bahia harvested 2.3 million (mainly in the city of Taperoá), Amazonas 0.7 million (mainly in the city of Maués) and the rest of the country, 0.3 million. Despite the fact that the fruit originated in the Amazon, since 1989 Bahia has beaten Amazonas in terms of production volume and guarana productivity, because the soil in Bahia is more favorable, in addition to the absence of diseases in the region. The most famous users of the product, however, acquire 90% to 100% of their guarana from the Amazon region, such as
Ambev and
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
. Bahian guarana prices are well below those of other states, but Sudam's tax exemptions lead the beverage industry to prefer to purchase seeds in the North, which helps maintain the highest added value of Amazonian guarana. The pharmaceutical industries and importers, on the other hand, buy more guarana from Bahia, due to the price.
The Northeast region housed 93.2% of the Brazilian
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
herd (8,944,461 heads) and 64.2% of the
sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
herd (11,544,939 heads) in 2017. Bahia concentrated 30.9% of the goat herd and 20.9% of the national sheep herd.
Casa Nova took first place in the municipal ranking with the largest numbers of both species.
In 2017, Bahia had 1.68% of the national mineral participation (4th place in the country). Bahia had production of
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
(6.2 tons at a value of R$730 million),
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
(56 thousand tons, at a value of R$404 million);
chrome (520 thousand tons, at a value of R$254 million) and
vanadium
Vanadium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an ...
(358 thousand tons, at a value of R$91 million).
Bahia had an industrial GDP of R$53.0 billion in 2017, equivalent to 4.4% of the national industry. It employs 356,997 workers in the industry. The main industrial sectors are: Construction (24.8%), Industrial Services of Public Utility, such as Electricity and Water (15.0%), Petroleum Derivatives and Biofuels (13.8%), Chemicals (9.4%), and Food (6.1%). These 5 sectors concentrate 69.1% of the state's industry.
Bahian
industry have automobile and tyre industries, footwear and textiles, furniture, food and beverages, cosmetics and perfumes, information technology and naval sectors.
In Brazil, the
automotive sector represents close to 22% of industrial GDP. Bahia has a
Ford factory. It was created in
Camaçari
Camaçari is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is located at . It is part of the Salvador, Bahia, Salvador Metropolitan Region (''Região Metropolitana de Salvador''), being the industrial city of the metropolis. Camaçari covers , and had an estimate ...
(2001). The Bahian automotive sector, led by Ford was in 2005 the third largest contributor (14.6%) to the Bahian
GDP.
File:Algodão Bahia 2003.jpg, Cotton in Luís Eduardo Magalhães
File:Cacao.jpeg, Cocoa in Ilhéus
File:Coco.JPG, Coconut production
File:Harvestor cutting row of sugarcane.jpg, Sugarcane in Bahia
File:Sojicultura no interior da Bahia - área de expansão da fronteira agrícola (1376787388).jpg, Soy plantation in Barreiras
File:Detail_of_pineapples_growing.jpg, Pineapple plantation
File:Cenas de Sobradinho 06.jpg, Hydroelectric power plant
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
in Sobradinho.
File:Ovinos pastando ao por-do-sol num sítio em Araci-BA.JPG, Goats in Araci
File:Inauguração da Alstom em Camaçari.jpg, Alstom factory in Camaçari
Camaçari is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is located at . It is part of the Salvador, Bahia, Salvador Metropolitan Region (''Região Metropolitana de Salvador''), being the industrial city of the metropolis. Camaçari covers , and had an estimate ...
Chemical and petrochemical
Bahia's Petrochemical Pole is the largest integrated complex in the Southern Hemisphere, and is the result of R$10 billion in investments, accounting for a third of the state's exports and for nearly half of the industrial production value.
Reconcavo Basin
The Reconcavo Basin has been a principal petroleum-producing region, mainly from the
Upper Jurassic and
Lower Cretaceous Bahia Supergroup, since 1939 and contains the Agua Grande Field (discovered in 1951 by the Conselho Nacional de Petroleo and producing from the Sergei and Candeias Formations at about 1 km depth and the shallower Ilhas Formation), the Dom Joao Field (discovered in 1947 by the Conselho Nacional de Petroleo and producing from the Sergei Formation at a depth of about 200 m), the Miranga Field (discovered in 1965 by
Petrobras producing from the Ilhas Formation at a depth of about 1 km), the
Candeias Field (discovered in 1941 by Conselho Nacional de Petroleo and producing from the Candeias Formation at a depth ranging from 690 to 2400 m), the Buracica Field (discovered in 1959 by Petrobras and producing from the Sergi Formation at about 600 m depth), and the Taquipe Field (discovered in 1958 by Petrobras and producing from the Ilhas Formation).
Other market segments
Agribusiness; footwear; call centers; informatics, electronics, and telecommunications; nautical; paper and pulp; textiles; plastic transformation; and tourism.
Infrastructure
Airports
Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport is located in an area of more than . It lies north of downtown Salvador. In 2007, the airport handled 5,920,573 passengers and 91,043 aircraft movements, making it the
fifth busiest airport in Brazil in terms of passengers. It's responsible for more than 30% of passenger movement in northeastern Brazil. Nearly 35,000 people circulate daily through the passenger terminal. The airport generates more than 16,000 direct and indirect jobs, to serve a daily average of over 10,000 passengers, 250 takeoffs and landings of 100 domestic and 16 international flights.
The international airlines are Lufthansa, TAP, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alitália, Air France, Air Europa, Ibéria, Aerolíneas Argentinas, LanChile. In addition to domestic and regional services, the airport has non-stop flights to
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Asunción
Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...
and
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. Its IATA airport code is SSA and it is the sixth busiest airport in the country, the first in northeastern Brazil, behind Congonhas International Airport, Congonhas International, Guarulhos International Airport, Guarulhos International, Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport, Juscelino Kubitschek International, Santos Dumont Regional Airport, Santos Dumont Regional and Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport, Galeão International.
Bahia also has some smaller modern regional airports including Ilhéus Jorge Amado Airport and Porto Seguro Airport.
File:GOLIOS.jpg, Airport of Ilhéus.
File:Aeroporto de Salvador.jpg, Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport, Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA).
Highways
The state has its transportation based on highways, with few options in other sectors. The main highways in the state are all from the Federal Government:
* BR-101 – It borders the state coast, connecting it with the country's richest region (Southeast) and with the rest of the Northeast. It passes through the
cocoa producing area of the state, in the cities of
Itabuna and
Ilhéus, reaching the capital Salvador and from there to Aracaju, capital of
Sergipe.
* BR-116 – also crosses the state from north to south, parallel to BR 101 but passing further inland. It cuts through some of the important cities of the state, such as
Vitória da Conquista, Jequié,
Feira de Santana and Euclides da Cunha, Bahia, Euclides da Cunha, going towards the interior of
Pernambuco
Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
and Fortaleza, capital of Ceará.
* BR-242 – the highway cuts the state in half in an east–west direction, connecting Salvador to Brasília, the country's capital. It passes through important cities like
Lençóis,
Barreiras and
Luís Eduardo Magalhães.
* BR-407 – together with BR-324, the highway connects the region of Bahia, which is the largest producer of fruit and the largest breeder of
sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
and goats, in the cities of Juazeiro and
Casa Nova, to Feira de Santana, Salvador and southeastern Brazil. The BR-235 borders the North of the state, connecting these same regions to the coast of Bahia.
* BR-110 – crossing the interior of the Northeast Region, this highway connects Salvador with the hydroelectric plant of Paulo Afonso and reaches Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte
Also noteworthy is the BR-030, which crosses the south of Bahia in an east–west direction.
Ports
With cargo volume that grows year after year following the same economic development rhythm implemented in the State, the Port of Salvador, located on the
Bay of All Saints, holds status as the port with the highest movement of containers of the North Region, Brazil, North/Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast and the second-leading fruit exporter in Brazil. The port's facilities operate from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The ability to handle high shipping volume has positioned the port of Salvador for new investments in technological modernization, and the port is noted for implementing a high level of operational flexibility and competitive rates. The goal of port officials is to offer the necessary infrastructure for the movement of goods, while simultaneously meeting the needs of international importers and exporters.
Sports
Association football, Football is the most popular sport. The two most popular football teams are Esporte Clube Bahia, EC Bahia and Esporte Clube Vitoria, EC Vitória, in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (first division). EC Bahia has won two league titles in 1959 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 1959 and 1988 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 1988. EC Vitória was runner up of the Série A in 1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 1993 and champion of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, Série B (second division) in 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, 2023.
Bahia is renowned for its mixed martial arts fans, with prominent fighters from this state including former heavyweight champion of both Pride Fighting Championship and Ultimate Fighting Championship Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, his twin brother Antônio Rogério Nogueira, and former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos. In the sport of boxing, Bahian native Acelino Freitas has won the World Boxing Council, WBC belt in the lightweight class. In the Capoeira world, the actor and Capoeira Master, Lateef Crowder dos Santos is an American born in Salvador, Bahia.
Salvador was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil was the host nation.
Flag

The flag was officially adopted on 11 June 1960. The Bahian flag is influenced by the flag of the United States, as well as colors and symbolism from the 1789 separatist movement Inconfidência Mineira and the 1798 Bahian slave rebellion called the 1798 Revolt of the Alfaiates, Revolt of the Tailors.
See also
* Captaincy of Bahia
* List of municipalities in Bahia
References
Further reading
* Barickman, Bert Jude. ''A Bahian counterpoint: Sugar, tobacco, cassava, and slavery in the Recôncavo, 1780–1860'' (Stanford University Press, 1998)
* Baud, Michiel, and Kees Koonings
"Germans and Tobacco in Bahia (Brazil), 1870-1940" ''Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas'' 37.1 (2000): 149-176.
* Baud, Michiel, and Kees Koonings
"A lavoura dos pobres: Tobacco Farming and the Development of Commercial Agriculture in Bahia, 1870–1930" ''Journal of Latin American Studies'' 31.2 (1999): 287-329.
* Collins, John F. ''Revolt of the Saints: Memory and Redemption in the Twilight of Brazilian Racial Democracy'' (Durham: Duke University Press, 2015); describes the hotly contested restoration of the Pelourinho, or Salvador, Bahia's colonial city center that is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and links these changes to racial politics in Brazil today.
* Keisha-Khan, Y. Perry
"The roots of black resistance: Race, gender and the struggle for urban land rights in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil".''Social Identities'' 10.6 (2004): 811-831.
* Kraay, Hendrik
''Race, state, and armed forces in independence-era Brazil: Bahia, 1790s-1840s''(Stanford University Press, 2004).
* Covers the period from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the start of Brazil's military regime in 1964.
* Walker, Timothy
"Slave labor and chocolate in Brazil: the culture of cacao plantations in Amazonia and Bahia (17th–19th Centuries)". ''Food and Foodways'' 15.1-2 (2007): 75-106. .
External links
ANP report on the Reconcavo Basin
All about Salvador Bahia Brazil
Bahia from Salvador to Porto Segurodiscovering Bahia in your language
Population of Bahia
Cities in the South of Bahia
Indira Weis's travelogue in Bahia
A Most Accurate Picture of Brazil a map of the Bahia region from 1630
News of Bahia
{{Authority control
Bahia,
1823 establishments in Brazil
Federative units of Brazil
Former Portuguese colonies
Northeast Region, Brazil, *
States and territories established in 1823