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The Bahian Recôncavo (Portuguese: Recôncavo baiano), often simply called the Recôncavo, is a geographic region located around the Bay of All Saints in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It encompasses both the coast and interior of the bay.

History

The Recôncavo was one of the oldest slaveholding areas in the Americas. The region produced numerous crops, notably sugarcane and tobacco, for both domestic and international markets.

"Over three-quarters of the 315 engenhos that manufactured sugar for export in Bahia in 1818 were located in those townships and parishes."

Sugarcane producing regions in the Northeast Region of Brazil diversified away from slave labor in the 19th century; plantation owners in the Recôncavo did not. The state of Bahia had the third-largest slave population in Brazil at the time of the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. The sugarcane industry quickly collapsed in the Recôncavo.

"for the rural population of the Reconcavo and for the region's

agriculture. The correspondence sent by local authorities to the provincial
government in 1889 depicts a situation of extreme hardship and dire
misery: ruined crops that had withered in the fields, widespread hunger
and even deaths from starvation, loss of livestock, severe shortages of
cassava flour (a basic staple) even in districts that, in normal years,
produced a surplus of flour for sale in the regional market, and, in every
small town, a large number of refugees who were desperately seeking
some type of relief. To make matters worse, in some districts, the drought
coincided with an outbreak of smallpox and a plague of caterpillars."

Municipalities

The Recôncavo is divided between the following municipalities: Amargosa, Aratuípe, Brejões, Cabaceiras do Paraguaçu, Cachoeira, Castro Alves, Conceição do Almeida, Conceição do Jacuípe, Cruz das Almas, Dom Macedo Costa, Elísio Medrado, Governador Mangabeira, Itatim, Jaguaripe, Jiquiriçá, Laje, Maragogipe, Milagres, Muniz Ferreira, Muritiba, Mutuípe, Nazaré, Nova Itarana, Salinas da Margarida, Santa Terezinha, Santo Amaro, Santo Antonio de Jesus, São Felipe, São Felix, São Miguel das Matas, São Gonçalo dos Campos, Salvador, Sapeaçu, Saubara, Ubaíra, and Varzedo.