Salvador lies on a small, roughly triangular peninsula that separates the Bay of All Saints, the largest bay in Brazil, from the Atlantic Ocean. It was first reached by Gaspar de Lemos in 1501, just one year after

In 2010, the city of Salvador was the third-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The city had 474,827 opposite-sex couples and 1,595 same-sex couples. The population of Salvador was 53.3% female and 46.7% male.

Salvador's history as the first political capital of Brazil and as the capital of Bahia has meant that the city has historically exerted significant

Educational institutions
The city has several universities:
• Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) (Federal University of

Climate
Salvador has a trade-wind tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: Af). Temperatures are relatively consistent, showing little variance

Throughout Brazilian history Salvador has played an important role. Because of its location on Brazil's northeastern coast, the city served as an important link in the Portuguese empire throughout

The Salvador coastline is one of the longest for cities in Brazil. There are 80 km (50 mi) of beaches distributed between the High City and the Low City,