Establishment of the Governor-General's Office at Salvador, Bahia

Timeline

1. 1548–1549Lisbon · PortugalJoão III appointed Tomé de Sousa as the first governor-general of Brazil, organizing an expedition including officials, soldiers, artisans, and Jesuits, with the goal of establishing a unified administrative center in Brazil and rectifying the chaotic captaincy system.
2. 1549All Saints Bay (Bahia Bay) · BahiaTomé de Sousa's fleet reached All Saints Bay, where they planned and built the city of Salvador, establishing the governor-general's office, churches, and fortifications, shifting the colonial administrative center north from the São Vicente area to Bahia.
3. 1549–1553Salvador · BahiaThe governor-general's office centrally coordinated defense, taxation, and land distribution, gradually integrating the hereditary captaincies and providing a central administrative framework for the expansion of sugar plantations in the northeast and the influx of the African slave trade in the 1550s.