Capoeira was created somewhere between 1500-1700. The date is unclear because the Portuguese burned almost all records of slavery after slavery was declared illegal in 1888. For this reason, there are very few sources that date back to this time.

What we know is that enslaved africans played a major part in the creation of Capoeira. In the early 1900s, Capoeira schools began to sprout in Salvador, Bahia. During this time, Mestre Bimba was the most popular Capoeira teacher in Brazil, and his students traveled around the country to teach the art. Within 100 years the art spread across the globe and can now be seen in every major city in the world.