Salvador, Brazil

Salvador was founded in 1549 by Thome de Souza, the Portuguese governor of Brazil, and remained its capital until 1763. Brazil is the largest country in South America.During colonial times, it was invaded and conquered by both the French and the Dutch, and the Portuguese/Bahians took it back of course, each time. The african element in Salvador's culture is very pronounced. This is true in music, religion, cuisine and arts and crafts. Salvador has about 2 million inhabitants, being the 3rd largest city in Brazil after Sao Paulo and Rio. Most of these people are descendended from the mixture between black, white and amerindians. They are a very friendly people, who are very welcoming to outsiders. There is a constant influx from the Bahian countryside to Salvador which gives its neighborhoods a small town feeling. It has been said that Salvador has 365 churches, one for each day of the year. The main religions in Salvador are Catholicism, Candomble, Protestantism, Espiritism, and most recently Mormons are showing up. It is common for some people to actually takes bits and pieces from different religions and believe in both. For example there are catholics that may believe in giving flowers to a condomble goddess, or that may participate in Espiritism sessions. This probably all started when the slaves were not allowed to pray to their own gods, so they took on surrogate gods. This way they could show their owners that they were praying for catholic gods, but they knew that they were actually prating to their own gods. This has led to the fact that for almost any catholic saint, there is a corresponding condomble diety, and both are honored on the same day.

Population: The population of Salvador is 2,711,372. The population of Brazil is 172,860,370.

Location: Salvador is located in Brazil. Latitude 13 degrees south, longitude 38 degrees west. Situated on a peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Bahia de Todos os Santos (All Saints Bay). Brazil is located in Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Bordered by Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuala.

Climate: Tropical Climate with an average temperature of 25 degrees Celcius. The climate of Brazil tends to be mostly tropical, but temperate in the South.

Local Time: The local time of Salvador is Greenwhich Mountain Time -3 which is five hours ahead of Los Angeles.

Capital of Brazil: The capital of Brazil is Brasilia.

National Day of Brazil: Independence Day, 7 September (1822).

Flag of Brazil: The flag of Brazil is green with a large yellow diamond in the center bearing a blue celestial globe with 27 white five-pointed stars (one for each state and the Federal District) arranged in the same pattern as the night sky over Brazil; the globe has a white equatorial band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (Order and Progress).

Currency: The currency of Brazil is 1 Real.