In order to understand what capoeira is, why it exists, and why it does what it does students must understand where it comes from. Relatively little is known about the history of capoeira. By learning about the history of Brazil, the African slave trade, and the origins of this culture students are better equipped to continue a deeper investigation into this art form.

How to use this tutorial

Click on one of the links to the left to access the lesson. Study the lesson and pay close attention to the main points. When you feel like you're ready, move on to the workbook for that chapter.

When you successfully complete a workbook assignment you are given a code. This code should be writtten down because you'll need it to access the workbook section for the next chapter.

What this tutorial is

This tutorial was designed to give a quick introduction to Brazilian history and demonstrate how capoeira fits into that history. Much of the early history of Brazil, the slave trade, and capoeira is not well documented. This tutorial explains why that might be the case.

For this reason, and because of the relative ease with which a website can be slapped together and placed on the internet it is difficult to find reliable information online about the history of capoeira. An attempt has been made to provide information for this tutorial that can be verified from a number of reliable sources.

We also believe that history should be interesting and even fun to learn. It can be as long as it can be directly related to something important to the student. We hope that capoeira fits that description.

What this tutorial is not

This tutorial was not designed to be an exhaustive course covering all aspects of Brazilian history. We have focused on what we believe to be major points that assist in putting capoeira in it's proper context.

We recommend that you supplement your study of this tutorial with other well documented and reliable sources. A greater understanding of the context in which capoeira developed leads to a more mature understanding of what capoeira should be today and in the future.