The history of capoeira explores the origins and development of capoeira, a Brazilian martial art and game that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, combat, and music.
Capoeira developed among Africans in Brazil during the colonial period. The origins of capoeira remain debated among historians and researchers, including whether it developed primarily in Brazil from African traditions or preserved elements from specific African combat practices. According to the oral tradition of old capoeira mestres and many practitioners, capoeira has origins connected to Angola, particularly among Bantu-speaking peoples such as the Mbundu people of the former Kingdom of Ndongo.
Some studies have identified engolo, an Angolan combat game practiced in the Cunene region, as a possible ancestral influence on capoeira. Researchers have pointed to similarities between engolo and capoeira movements, including crescent kicks, push kicks, sweeps, handstands, cartwheels, evasions, and techniques such as meia lua de compasso, scorpion kick, and L-kick. However, the extent of the historical relationship between engolo and capoeira remains debated, and some authors argue that other African and Brazilian influences also contributed to the formation of capoeira.
Rio de Janeiro became an important center of capoeira during the 19th century, where the urban practice known as capoeira carioca developed in association with groups known as maltas. This form of capoeira was often linked to violent confrontations and incorporated techniques such as headbutts, kicking, punching, and knife-fighting. This historical style gradually disappeared during the 20th century.
In the early 1930s, Mestre Bimba developed and codified the Regional style of capoeira in Salvador, Bahia, helping to transform capoeira into a more socially accepted practice. In 1941, Mestre Pastinha founded the Capoeira Angola school, organizing and preserving traditional forms of capoeira while distinguishing them from Mestre Bimba's reforms and the sport-oriented approach. Despite their differences, both masters introduced major innovations — they moved training and rodas from the streets into organized schools, established teaching methods, adopted uniforms, began teaching women, and presented capoeira to broader audiences.
From the 1970s onward, capoeira gained wider acceptance throughout Brazil and expanded internationally, including to the United States and other countries. During the 1980s, there was also renewed interest among practitioners and researchers in the African origins and cultural heritage of capoeira.
16th and 17th centuries: Enslavement of Africans in Brazil
From the 16th century, Portuguese colonists transported enslaved Africans from different regions of Africa to Brazil, including significant numbers from West Central Africa, particularly from areas corresponding to present-day Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo. Angola and the Kongo region became major sources of enslaved Africans within the Portuguese Atlantic trade. During the 17th century, Portuguese colonial expansion intensified in parts of Central Africa, including the establishment of Benguela in 1617.
Some researchers have suggested that combat traditions associated with engolo, practiced in southwestern Angola, may have influenced the development of capoeira in Brazil. However, enslaved Africans brought to Brazil came from diverse regions and cultural backgrounds, and the extent of engolo's contribution to the formation of capoeira remains debated.
The main economic activity in colonial Brazil was sugar production. Portuguese colonists established large plantations known as engenhos, which relied heavily on enslaved labor. Enslaved people lived under harsh conditions, performing forced labor and facing physical punishment and other forms of violence.
However, enslaved people who escaped captivity established settlements in remote areas known as kilombo, a term of Kimbundu Bantu origin associated with military and social organizations. Portuguese sources described the difficulty of capturing people from quilombos, mentioning that they defended themselves with a "strangely moving fighting technique".
Some quilombos developed into autonomous communities, with Quilombo dos Palmares becoming the largest and lasting for nearly a century (1605–1694). Quilombos attracted enslaved people who escaped captivity, Indigenous peoples, and Europeans fleeing colonial authorities.
Life in quilombos provided greater autonomy compared to plantation slavery. Anibal Burlamaqui proposed that capoeira originated in the quilombos of Palmares, developing from the need of Africans to defend themselves. However, historical sources indicate that Palmares fighters also relied on weapons, including firearms. Some researchers, including T. J. Desch-Obi, have discussed the possibility that combat traditions within quilombo communities contributed to the development of capoeira, although direct evidence that capoeira or a specific precursor was practiced at Palmares remains debated.
African origins and the engolo hypothesis
Oral tradition Capoeira originated among Africans in Brazil and for a long time was transmitted primarily through oral tradition within Afro-Brazilian communities. There is a long-standing debate over whether capoeira originated principally in Africa or whether it developed into a distinct martial art in Brazil through the interaction of multiple African traditions and local historical circumstances.
As with other Afro-Brazilian traditions, oral communication formed the basis for the transmission of knowledge in capoeira.There are women in the roda: Female empowerment in capoeira According to the old capoeira mestres and the oral tradition within the community, capoeira originated in Angola. This tradition has been widely documented by masters and scholars, although its historical interpretation remains debated. While many researchers regard it as evidence supporting an Angolan origin, others argue that capoeira took shape primarily in Brazil through the interaction of multiple African traditions brought by enslaved Africans from different regions of the continent.
The very name Capoeira de Angola (Angolan capoeira), together with older names such as jogo de Angola (Angolan game) and brincar de angola (playing angola), reflects this oral tradition. Several traditional capoeira rhythms refer to Angola, including Angola, Benguela and São Bento (the patron saint of Angola), while African references in capoeira songs frequently mention Angola. The capoeira drum and the musical bow, together with its style of performance, have also been identified by scholars as having Angolan provenance.
In the 19th century, Pires de Almeida, João do Rio and Manuel Raimundo Querino all stated that capoeira was brought from Angola to Rio ("from the lands of Congo"). Mestre Pastinha, who learned capoeira from a teacher born in Angola, often stated that the original art came from Angola: "Capoeira undoubtedly came to Brazil with the African slaves. It was a form of battle with unique characteristics that have been preserved to this day."
Contemporary research, interpretation, and historical reconstruction
Several researchers have identified close similarities between many core capoeira techniques and those found in the African martial art engolo, including rasteira, rabo de arraia, chapa de frente, chapa de costas, meia lua de frente, scorpion kick, cartwheel kick, and others.The documentary Jogo de Corpo. Capoeira e Ancestralidade (2013) by Matthias Assunção and Mestre Cobra Mansa provides insights into this development.
In the mid-20th century, the painter Neves e Sousa brought detailed drawings of n'golo from Angola to Brazil, documenting a martial art with notable similarities to capoeira.THE VISIT OF ALBANO NEVES E SOUSA His work renewed scholarly interest in the relationship between engolo and capoeira. Since then, several studies have supported the oral tradition by identifying engolo as one of the principal African martial traditions associated with capoeira and locating the Cunene region as the area where engolo was documented.Da minha África e do Brasil que eu vi, Albano Neves e Sousa. Angola: Ed. Luanda.Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Engolo and Capoeira. From Ethnic to Diasporic Combat Games in the Southern Atlantic
According to T. J. Desch-Obi, no documented martial art shares a closer technical repertoire of kicking techniques with capoeira than engolo.
18th century: Spread of capoeira to cities and repression
One of the earliest descriptions of inverted movements in Brazil comes from an 18th-century Bahia Inquisition record involving a free African man named João, who was described as becoming "possessed" and communicating with ancestors. One reported practice involved him having to "walk on one foot, throwing the other one violently over his shoulder."
During the second half of the 18th century, practices associated with African-derived combat traditions were present among Black communities in Brazilian cities. Some researchers have proposed connections between these traditions and engolo, an Angolan combat art documented in the Cunene region, although the extent of its influence on the development of capoeira remains debated.
The term playing angola was also associated with African-derived practices, and both angola and engolo have been linked linguistically to Bantu origins.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ngolo Within capoeira traditions, names such as jogo de Angola were later used to emphasize connections with African ancestry and memory.The Manuscripts of Mestre Noronha
Displays of martial practices and even acrobatics among Black people were often viewed with suspicion and subject to repression by colonial authorities.Desch-Obi, T. J. "Capoeira." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, edited by Colin A. Palmer, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 395–398. During the 1780s, a free African man in Rio was reported to the Inquisition for "witchcraft." One element cited in the accusation was his ability to perform hand walking, which was interpreted within a religious and ritual context.
By the end of the 18th century, the term capoeira began to appear in Brazilian records to describe practices associated with Black communities, particularly fighting and physical skills performed in urban and rural settings.Its first known mention dates back to 1789 [Cavalcanti 2004: 201–2] The origin of the name remains debated, although one explanation connects it to forest clearings where enslaved and formerly enslaved Africans practiced their skills.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capoeira#Etymology_2_2
The term "capoeira" appears in a judicial record from 1789, which describes the punishment of a young man named Adão for being identified as a capoeira:
Capoeira was practiced in senzalas (slave quarters), rural plantations, and urban Black communities. By the late 18th century, police and judicial records documented capoeira-related activities in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Recife. Colonial authorities attempted to suppress these practices through punishments, arrests, and other forms of repression.
Debate on the Origins, Development, and Influences of Capoeira