Ilhéus, Bahia, Northeast Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Ilhéus is a major city located in the southern coastal region of Bahia, Brazil, 211 km south of Salvador, the state's capital. The city was founded in 1534 as Vila de São Jorge dos Ilhéus and is known as one of the most important tourism centres of the north-east of Brazil.

Geography As of 2020 Ilhéus had an area of 1850 km sq, and its downtown is located 1 km away from the Atlantic Ocean.

Conservation The municipality contains a small part of the 23,262 hectares (57,480 acres) Una Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds the Una Biological Reserve in the neighboring municipality of Una. It contains 15% of the 9,275 hectares (22,920 acres) Serra do Conduru State Park, created in 1997. It contains part of the 157,745 hectares (389,800 acres) Lagoa Encantada e Rio Almada Environmental Protection Area, created in 1993. The APA is threatened by water pollution from sewage and garbage, since most of the communities have no sanitation. There are irregular settlements of squatters in the coastal area. Other threats include irregular fishing, deforestation, fires, hunting and the illegal trade in wild animals.

Economy The city was once one of the biggest exporters of cocoa beans.

The city's economy is based mainly on tourism, as a result of its beaches and cultural heritage that includes early Portuguese buildings, history and culinary distinctions, which bring to the city many Brazilian and foreign tourists.

Urban infrastructure There is a proposal for the construction of a new deep water port which due to impact has been opposed by environmental activists but has been accepted by the government as important for the economy.

Transport • Road: BR-101 connects it to Itabuna and beyond. • Air: Ilhéus Jorge Amado Airport with daily flights of Azul Brazilian Airlines, GOL and LATAM Brasil

with destinations Belo Horizonte-Confins (CNF), Campinas (VCP), Salvador (SSA), São Paulo-Congonhas (CGH) and São Paulo-Guarulhos (GRU). • Sea: Port of Ilhéus.

Culture Ilhéus is the hometown of Jorge Amado, the best known writer in Brazil. He wrote over 25 novels, which were translated into 48 languages and stayed on bestseller lists in 52 countries. His novels like Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands portray life and customs in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The plots of these and his other major works largely treat the lives of poor urban and rural black and mulatto communities of Bahia, as well as the land wars that raged in Ilhéus, where cocoa barons killed each other for power and cocoa plantations.