Read Your Way Around the World is a series that explores the world through books.
I was born in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and lived in the area until I was 15. But when I left, I really got to know my city. How could I discover more about my hometown while traveling far from home? It may sound rather cliché, but I assure you that literature made this possible: it took me on a long and profound journey back home, enveloping me in words and imagination.
As a frequent visitor to public libraries, I discovered Jorge Amado’s books. I already knew something about Amado, not from reading him but because he was an ubiquitous figure in Salvador’s cultural life. When I stepped into the world of his novels, a great love affair began, for two reasons: I experienced the power of writing in the hands of a skilled storyteller – one who captivates us and takes us to the heart of the story – and later I recognized myself as one of Amado’s protagonists, for his books are inhabited by the people of my community.
Salvador was Brazil’s first capital, founded in 1549 as part of the Portuguese colonial project in the Americas. In the Salvador of yesteryear one found Europeans, mainly Portuguese and Dutch, but also indigenous peoples, especially the Tupinambá. Many different ethnicities from Africa were also represented, such as the Yoruba, with roots in Nigeria, Benin (formerly Dahomey), and Togo, as well as the Bantu people of the Republic of Congo and Angola. With spirit and creativity, the heirs of the African diaspora—a vast majority, as approximately 80 percent of Salvador’s current population self-identifies as Afro-Brazilian—formed the city’s rich and beautiful cultural life, making Salvador a living monument to African cultures in the Americas.
What should I read before packing?
To understand the formation of our unique society and, consequently, the cityscape of Salvador, one must first read: “The Story of Rufino: Slavery, Freedom and Islam in the Black Atlantic”, by João José Reis, Flávio dos Santos Gomes and Marcus JM de Carvalho. Rufino was one alufa, or Islamic spiritual leader, born in the Oyo Empire in present-day Nigeria and enslaved during his adolescence. “The Story of Rufino” is an epic story that summarizes the life of a man in search of freedom, as well as the history of the development of Salvador itself, a place inseparable from the diaspora on the other side of the Black Atlantic.