Caravelas is a fishing village of about 20,000 inhabitants in southern Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, a few miles above the mouth of the Caravelas River.

It was founded in 1581 by Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 settlers. Caravelas was once the centre of a flourishing whale fishery. It is the port of the Bahia & Minas railway. Caravelas is the nearest town to the uninhabited Abrolhos Archipelago

Abrolhos Archipelago

The Abrolhos Archipelago are a group of 5 small islands with coral reefs off the southern coast of Bahia state in the northeast of Brazil, between 17º25’—18º09’ S and 38º33’—39º05’ W. Caravelas is the nearest town. Their name comes from the , a rock awash or submerged sandbank that is a danger to...

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