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The History of Capoeira
Written by: Prof. Boaz (Swiss Center for Capoeira)
1. Introduction
The aim of this article is to provide a brief summary of the history of Capoeira and to introduce you thereby to the complex and interesting world, from which it emerged. This article is based on several sources, which are listed at the end and will allow you to dive deeper into the history of Capoeira if you are interested.
If you have questions or comments you are welcome to contact us via the social media or
our website: www.capoeira-zurich.ch.
A note on the lack of documentation:
Capoeira was born in the slave communities of colonial Brazil. Low literacy rates among these communities mean that there is very little written documentation of Capoeira from its early days. As a result, there is no clear proof of when, where and how exactly Capoeira evolved. It is not even clear where the word Capoeira comes from and what it means. So the history of Capoeira is mostly an oral history carried through the generations in songs, legends and stories. This also means that there is no definitive history of Capoeira and sometimes even contradictory historic accounts co-exist.
History:
A majority of historians believe that Capoeira was created and developed by African slaves in Brazil sometime during the 17th or 18th century.