Between 1500 and 1815, Brazil was a colony of the Portuguese Crown—an empire sustained by slave labor. The business of capturing and selling humans brought enormous wealth to the Portuguese Crown, but it brought huge numbers of enslaved Africans to the New World. Hundreds of people were packed into overcrowded, infected holds of slave ships in order to maximize profit. As a result of the perilous and unhealthy conditions during the three-month journey, more than half of the enslaved lost their lives, their limp bodies tossed overboard.

Upon arrival, they were sold at the Sunday market and sent to work in the hot, humid and harsh conditions of the plantations, where many would be worked to death. The high mortality rates among the enslaved populations in Brazil, along with an increased demand for Brazilian raw materials like sugar, gold and diamonds, spurred the importation of growing numbers of Africans. An estimated four million enslaved people were shipped to Brazil until the mid-19th century.

The enslaved resisted in various forms: armed revolt, poisoning their owners, abortion and escape. The vastness of the Brazilian inlands made it possible for individuals on the run to hide. Some escaped and formed clandestine communities in the backlands of the rainforest, independent villages known as quilombos. Here, the Africans and their descendants developed an autonomous socio-cultural system in which they could sustain various expressions of African culture. Historians surmise that capoeira emerged from these communities as a means for defense under the oppressive Portuguese regime. 

By the mid-1800s, the towns and cities of Brazil experienced an unprecedented urbanization. Cities grew in population but lacked adequate economic planning and infrastructure, resulting in a growing population of vagrants. The Paraguayan War between 1864 and 1870 brought a flood of veterans and refugees from destroyed quilombos into the cities. These people were attracted to capoeira not only for its sport and play but also for its powerful means of attack and defense for their survival.

Capoeira became a widespread practice at the beginning of the 20th century—outlaws, bodyguards and mercenaries used it. Even some politicians practiced as a way to sway constituents. In this time, strong social pressure throughout the country slowly transformed capoeira into a less aggressive weekend pastime. Eventually capoeiristas were meeting in front of bars, playing an apparently inoffensive kind of dance accompanied by berimbaus.

In the late 1920s, a man by the name of Manuel dos Reis Machado AKA Mestre Bimba began to develop a new and more objective Capoeira training method.  In his home state of Bahia in the Northeast of Brazil, Mestre Bimba was a well-know pugilist.  He was a practitioner of Capoeira and other martial arts.  He believed that Capoeira had become too folkloric and dance-like, he felt its training method was unorganized and needed refining in order to attract more students.  With the help of a small group of his students, he began to develop a new and more objective training style.  Mestre Bimba created eight partner sequences and used his own distinct rhythms on the berimbau, Capoeira’s lead instrument.  Mestre Bimba’s signature training style would later be dubbed, Capoeira Regional.

The importance of Mestre Bimba’s work went beyond a new training style, he helped illustrate the physical benefits of Capoeira and show how effective it was as a martial art.  He and his best students toured Brazil, challenging and fighting the most famous martial artists of the day.  Mestre Bimba was pivotal in helping to legitimize Capoeira and popularized the art form.  Because of his work, in 1937, Capoeira was taken out of the penal code and recognized by Brazil’s then president, Getúlio Vargas, as a national sport.

After Mestre Bimba began developing Capoeira Regional, another important capoeirista, Mestre Pastinha, began to organize what is today referred to as Capoeira Angola, the original style of the art.  Mestre Pastinha, (Vincente Ferreira Pastinha) saw the need to underscore the African roots of the art, and continue teaching it in its original form.  Similar to Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha began to organize Capoeira Angola, preserving the teachings of old masters and former slaves. 

Capoeira has undergone considerable development and evolution in its training, organization and practice.  Today, there are two equally important styles of Capoeira:  Angola and Regional.  The majority of Capoeira schools today practice both, recognizing the importance of each and understanding that Angola and Regional possess a symbiotic relationship.  Schools that follow the tradition of practicing both often refer to their style as Capoeira Contemporânea - contemporary Capoeira.