Frades Island

Ilha dos Frades is an island in the Bay of All Saints. It is administered as part of the city of Salvador in the state of Bahia. The island is located in the center of the bay. It is 6 kilometres in length, covers 1.335 hectares, and shaped like a fifteen-pointed star. Ilha dos Frades has preserved vegetation of the Atlantic Forest, including native Brazil wood. The island is protected as part of the Environmental Protection Area of the Bay of All Saints.Ilha dos Frades served as an important part of the slave trade in Bahia. Enslaved Africans were transported from the port at Salvador to the interior Recôncavo region of Bahia. The island became part of the illegal slave trade in Brazil in the 19th century; enslaved people were brought directly to the island and led to the interior of Bahia. The practice only ended with the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888.