It is located 100 km northwest of Salvador, Bahia's capital city. These
cities are connected by BR-324, a four-lane divided highway. Feira de
Santana's nickname is a princesa do sertao or "the backcountry's
princess".
Feira de Santana takes is name in honor of two of its
founders. In the 18th century, Domingos Barbosa de Araujo and his wife
Anna Brandoa built a chapel on the Fazenda Sant'Anna dos Olhos D’Água
(Saint Anna of the Fountains Plantation). They dedicated the chapel to
their Saint, Saint Anna. The city is also known as "The Gateway to the
Backcountry", for its location in the Agreste zone, a geographic region
that separates the wet "Zona da Mata" from the arid and desert "Sertao";
The
location gradually became a common stopping point for voyagers and
traders from the high sertao of Bahia and from other states on the trail
to the port of Cachoeira and other important villages of Bahia. The
area also developed a periodic market together with a prosperous cattle
commerce.
Eventually many Brazilians and foreigners began to adopt
the area that would become Feira de Santanta as their home. The City
began to develop with wide streets which were bordered by many
commercial houses serving the area's growing population. As the area's
growth accelerated, the residents created the City of Feira de Santana.
Feira de Santana became the second City in Bahia and the 31st City of
Brazil. Feira de Santana's important geographic location and the
hospitality of its people continued to attract new residents.
Today,
Feira de Santana is the second largest City in Bahia. Feira de Santana
also remains an important stopping point for travelers, containing a
major junction of Northeastern Brazil's highways. The City functions as a
crossroads for the traffic coming from the South and West-Central
portions of Brazil and bound for Salvador and other important cities of
the northeast. Feira de
