This study will focus on the city of Salvador during the period between the ceding of its status as the colonial capital of Portuguese America to the city of Rio de Janeiro (1763), and the episode of the "Independence of Bahia", with the war and expulsion of the Portuguese troops on the July 2nd 1823. Firstly, the historical context of the period at varying levels will be analyzed. The year 1808 will be highlighted, a time at which the migraion of power towards Rio de Janeiro began, with the arrival of the Joanina Court. Then the main social agents of the period will be examined, in particular merchants and slave traders as well as the change in the role of the State. Finally, the main spatial transformations throughout the city that are of importance to Historical Urban Geography will be described and compared to those which took place in Rio de Janeiro during these six decades. It will be proposed that this could be considered Salvador's last period of advancement before the start of a long phase of decline throughout the following years of Empire and then Republic.
Capitals; Salvador; Rio de Janeiro; Ascent; Decline