Capoeira has literally circled the globe. Once practiced by African slaves and their descendants, documented back in the days of the colonial empire, capoeira had become a working-class male pastime during the Old Republic.

It emerged as a sport in the 1930s, and was flourishing by the 1960s and 70s, when it attracted young practitioners, male and female, from all walks of life. Beginning in the 1980s, capoeira has been disseminated worldwide, and is currently practiced by hundreds of thousands of devotees the world over.

Source: Texts from Brazil n.14, produced by the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil