The Discovery Landmark
A stone column from Portugal.
Fernando S. Aldado — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ygor Matheus Lacerda de Melo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fotos GOVBA from Bahia/Brasil — CC BY 2.0
Porto Seguro is the area where the Portuguese first reached Brazilian soil: on 22 April 1500 the navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral sighted Monte Pascoal, 62 kilometres south of the town, and his men went ashore the next day. The village was founded in 1535, making it one of Brazil's oldest towns, and it was declared a national monument town in 1973. On the hill above the modern town lies the historic Cidade Alta: a grassy square ringed by simple white churches, the Discovery Landmark, a stone column brought from Portugal between 1503 and 1526 to mark the crown's lands, with a cross on one face and the arms of Portugal on the other, and the 18th-century town hall and jail, now a museum. It is small, seen in an hour, and its buildings are lit at night. From the edge of the hill there is a view over the sea and the river mouth.
A stone column from Portugal.
And white churches.
Over sea and river.
Cidade Alta, Porto Seguro, southern Bahia
In this area, yes: Cabral sighted Monte Pascoal to the south on 22 April 1500 and his men landed the next day, though historians debate the exact spot.