Ilheus

Ilhéus
Municipality
The Municipality of São Jorge dos Ilhéos
Beach in Ilhéus (June 2006)
Nickname(s): Princesinha do Sul (Little Princess of the South)
Location of Ilhéus
Coordinates: 14°47′20″S 39°02′56″W / 14.78889°S 39.04889°W / -14.78889; -39.04889Coordinates: 14°47′20″S 39°02′56″W / 14.78889°S 39.04889°W / -14.78889; -39.04889
Country	Brazil
Region	Nordeste
State	Bahia
Founded	28 June 1881
Government
• Mayor	Mário Alexandre
Area
• Total	1,840.991 km2 (710.811 sq mi)
Elevation	52 m (171 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	220,943
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)

Ilhéus (Portuguese: [iˈʎɛws]) is a major city located in the southern coastal region of Bahia, Brazil, 211 km south of Salvador, the state's capital. The city was founded in 1534 as Vila de São Jorge dos Ilhéus and is known as one of the most important tourism centers of the northeast of Brazil.

Ilhéus has approximately 222,000 inhabitants, with an area of 1850 km sq, and its downtown is located 1 km away from the Atlantic Ocean. Once one of the biggest exporters of cocoa beans, the city depends almost entirely on tourism.

The city's economy is based mainly on tourism, as a result of its beaches and cultural heritage that includes early Portuguese buildings, history and culinary distinctions, which bring to the city many Brazilian and foreign tourists.

Ilhéus is the hometown of Jorge Amado, the best known and most popular writer in Brazil. He wrote over 25 novels, which were translated into 48 languages and stayed on bestseller lists in 52 countries. His novels like Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands portray life and customs in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The plots of these and his other major works largely treat the lives of poor urban and rural black and mulatto communities of Bahia, as well as the land wars that raged in Ilhéus, where cocoa barons killed each other for power and cocoa plantations.

The municipality contains a small part of the 23,262 hectares (57,480 acres) Una Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds the Una Biological Reserve in the neighboring municipality of Una. It contains 15% of the 9,275 hectares (22,920 acres) Serra do Conduru State Park, created in 1997. It contains part of the 157,745 hectares (389,800 acres) Lagoa Encantada e Rio Almada Environmental Protection Area, created in 1993. The APA is threatened by water pollution from sewage and garbage, since most of the communities have no sanitation. There are irregular settlements of squatters in the coastal area. Other threats include irregular fishing, deforestation, fires, hunting and the illegal trade in wild animals.