Brazil is widely known as a home of the dance-like martial art Capoeira, but its roots in fact lie across the Atlantic. 

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that blends elements of acrobatics, dance, and theater to create a rhythmic and unpredictable combat system. In capoeira roda(circle), players disguise self-defense within playful, dance-like moves, strategically fooling their opponents. 

Origin of Capoeira

Capoeira is a martial art that combines dance, self-defense, and music, with its roots in ritual Bantu culture. Most of the slaves brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonists were Bantu-speaking people from West-Central and Southern Africa, particularly from Congo, Mozambique, and Angola. Due to the large number of Africans taken from Angola, the region became the primary source of African culture that shaped Afro-Brazilian identity, including Capoeira we all know today.

As the enslaved Africans arrived in Brazil, they brought with them their rich martial traditions, which were deeply intertwined with spirituality, music, dance, and combat. Significantly, there was the “Engolo,” a combat-dance practiced by the Angola tribe. It has a mix of dance, ritual, and combat techniques performed in a circular setting with musical accompaniment. It wasn’t just self-defense; it was a way to stay connected to who they were. And when they landed in Brazil, that memory didn’t die. Engolo simply changed form. It became the foundation of what we now call “capoeira.” 

For many practitioners, Capoeira¹ is more than just any martial art. It is a cultural expression born from the struggle and resilience of the enslaved Africans in Brazil.

A coded language for survival in the harsh environment of the enslavers. Its flowing movements masked sharp kicks. Its music passed on messages of rebellion. And its rituals preserved a sense of belonging in a society that sought to erase African identity. 

In Brazil

Capoeira didn’t just show up in Brazil; it grew from pain and the movement carried across the ocean. For over 300 years, millions of Africans were held captive by the Portuguese colonists. Some had their lives uprooted, and some their stories cut short. 

Shortly after the Portuguese had colonized Brazil, the transatlantic slave trade took place, and Brazi,l because of its massive sugar plantations, received the largest number of Africans who were as slaves. The slaves were taken from their various homelands across the African continent through violence and coercion, particularly from West Africa, to provide labor in the Portuguese colonies.

The plantation relied almost solely on imported enslaved Africans, and became an agricultural factory concentrating on one profitable crop for sale – sugarcane. The enslaved Africans were forced to engage in a variety of laborious activities, all of them back-breaking, grueling, and inhumane. They were stripped of their freedoms by the slave masters, who further forbade the slaves from doing any sort of fighting, and any form of resistance was punished harshly by the overseers. 

In the sugar plantation, the cruelty grew unbearable, and the slaves had to devise a means of defense without the overseers detecting. The influences of Engolo converged into Capoeira, a fight which was disguised to look like a dance. Combat techniques like kicks, spins, and dodges were subtly masked as a dance accompanied by music and singing. This made it look more like a cultural or recreational activity rather than a combat form, allowing them to train, communicate, and preserve their skills in secret, without the overseers recognizing it as dangerous.

Even while the slaves escaped captivity from the Portuguese colonists through various means, often risking their lives in the process, Capoeira is what enabled their resistance, and gave the slaves a tool to survive even after the escape. Many slaves who successfully escaped were able to form independent communities known as quilombos; independent communities built deep in the forests or mountains, far from colonial reach. The communities expanded, and capoeira became more than tradition; it became a major tool of defense, taught to members to help protect themselves from raids and re-enslavement. It allowed them to move swiftly, fight strategically, and survive in freedom.

Far from the reach of the colonists, these hidden communities became more than just places to lay low. Fugitives trained their bodies in rhythm and movement, sharpening their skills to face down slave catchers and soldiers if they came too close. 

The quilombolas ² (inhabitants of quilombos) also opened their arms to anyone cast out by the system. The indigenous allies who brought knowledge of the land were not left out. Even poor settlers who had no place in the colonial world found a home.

What, If Anything, Does Capoeira Have To Do With Music, Culture, and Resistance?

In Capoeira, dance, music, and fight co-exist in harmony, each shaping the expression and rhythm of the other. Music is what sets the pace in every roda (circle). It, in fact connects the Capoeiristas, the term for capoeira practitioners, to the culture and history behind each movement, which means that even people with no personal experience of the African Diaspora often find themselves singing of their time in captivity. 

The Berimbau is a special instrument used in capoeira. It controls the rhythm and pace, signaling when players should move cautiously or aggressively. Capoeira songs convey a range of emotions: sad, funny, ironic, wise, and informative to the player. Tales based on everyday life of the capoeiristas are told through the songs.

Capoeira stands as a powerful expression of Afro-Brazilian culture. It was developed by African slaves in Brazil, particularly from Angola, who brought with them their traditions, beliefs, and ways of moving (Engolo). Its movement and music, alongside, tell a story of African history, even before Brazil.  And that art continues today, as capoeira continues to celebrate African roots, bringing people together through shared cultural expression. 

Capoeira reminds us that culture can survive, evolve, and unite.

Resistance Over Time

When the African slaves were stripped of their freedom, identity, and even far as forbidden from practicing any open combat, Capoeira appeared in the picture to restore their history. By devising a means of self-defense and masking combat techniques with dance-like moves, capoeira became their quiet weapon, not only for physical defense, but also for cultural retention. In every beat of the drum, they were keeping their culture alive. It was a way of saying, “We still remember who we are.” Even when the colonizers were bent on erasing African traditions, Capoeira was there to preserve them, and for decades, Capoeira has carried with it African rhythms, symbols, rituals, and ways of moving through the world.

Even after the abolition of slavery in 1888, Capoeira continued to trend. Many of the freed Africans found themselves homeless with little or no employment options, and as a result,  turned their Capoeira skills for criminal activities in order to survive. In 1890, the government saw it as a threat and passed a law against it, stating that anyone caught practicing would be jailed or killed. 

While many thought that would be the end of Capoeira, it began to gain recognition again in the 1930s with the help of one Mestra Bimba³. Even better, it was granted special protected status as an “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO in order to honor the history and traditions of the slaves behind the art.

Capoeira is, and has always been, an act of resistance in motion, even in an attempt to erase it. Today, it stands as a symbol of resilience, culture, and pride of Afro-Brazilians and the enslaved ancestors who gave it life.

More Than an Art

To the unfamiliar eye, Capoeira might look like nothing more than a sport or dance. But for the practitioners, Capoeira is more than just a physical game. 

The music and dance weren’t just for a mere show. They set the rhythm and energy of the game, telling stories on the history of Africans who lived through the horrors of slavery.

It was a form of resilience born from the enslaved Africans, who cleverly masked their combat techniques beneath the rhythm of music and ritual.

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¹¹ Cronkite News, “Capoeira Connects Brazil with Its African Roots,” Cronkite News, August 20, 2016. https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2016/08/20/capoeira-connects-brazil-with-its-african-roots/

² UNESCO Courier, “Quilombos, Hotbeds of Afro-Brazilian Resistance,” UNESCO Courier, July 3, 2024,

https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/quilombos-hotbeds-afro-brazilian-resistance

³ “Manuel dos Reis Machado,” Wikipedia, last modified March, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_dos_Reis_Machado

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