The Governorate General of Bahia (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Governo-Geral da Bahia'') was a colonial administration of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...

History

In 1534,

John III of Portugal John III ( pt, João III ; 7 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious (Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1521 until his death in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the thi ...

started granting land rights to colonize Portuguese territory in South America, they were the

Captaincy Colonies of Brazil The Captaincies of Brazil ( pt, Capitanias do Brasil) were captaincies of the Portuguese Empire, administrative divisions and hereditary fiefs of Portugal in the colony of '' Terra de Santa Cruz'', later called Brazil, on the Atlantic coast of ...

. These fifteen autonomous and separate colonies were, for the most part, a failure administratively, and thus economically. In 1549, in order to solve the governance problem of his South American colonies, John III established the

Governorate General of Brazil The Governorate General of Brazil (''Governo-Geral do Brasil'') was a colonial administration of the Portuguese Empire in present-day Brazil. A governorate was equivalent in status to a viceroyalty, though the title viceroy didn't come into use un ...

.Governo Geral
/ref> The governorate united the fifteen colonies into a single colony, but each captaincy would continue to exist as a provincial administrative unit of the governorate. In 1572, in order to establish a stronger and more capable military presence in the continent, the governorate was dismantled into two separate colonies, the Governorate General of Bahia, which encompassed the northern part, and the

Governorate General of Rio de Janeiro The Governorate General of Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese: ''Governo-Geral do Rio de Janeiro'') was a colonial administration of the Portuguese Empire. History In 1534, John III of Portugal started granting land rights to colonize Portuguese terr ...

, which took the south. In 1578, the governorate was reestablished from the governorates of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. This second

would be once again partitioned into the two separate colonies, in 1607. Finally in 1613, the Governorate General of Rio de Janeiro and the Governorate General of Bahia merged to form the third, and final,

References

{{coord missing, Brazil

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

Colonial Brazil Portuguese colonization of the Americas Former Portuguese colonies Former subdivisions of Brazil

1572 establishments in Brazil