Manuel dos Reis Machado, known as Mestre Bimba, was born on 23 November 1900 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and at age twelve was taught capoeira by an African ship captain named Bentinho, beginning a lifelong devotion to the Afro-Brazilian martial art.
Capoeira, developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil, had been prohibited since the abolition of slavery in 1888, with its practitioners socially ostracised and persecuted for over forty years, forcing Bimba to practise and organise performances largely in secret.
Beginning around 1918, Bimba began restoring and refining traditional capoeira movements, developing a new style he first called Luta Regional da Bahia, later simplified to Capoeira Regional, bringing greater athleticism, structure and a deliberate teaching method to the art.
After demonstrating his style before the governor of Bahia and President Getúlio Vargas, who declared capoeira Brazil's only truly national sport, Bimba was granted permission to open the country's first officially licensed capoeira school in 1932, transforming public perception of the art from a street fight of ruffians into a respected discipline.
Mestre Bimba almost single-handedly rescued capoeira from extinction and secured its legal recognition, training generations of students across Brazilian society; he died in 1974, just before witnessing capoeira's full professionalisation, and is remembered as one of the most influential figures in the history of Brazilian martial arts.
- Developed Capoeira Regional, a codified style of the Afro-Brazilian martial art
- Opened Brazil's first legally licensed capoeira school, 1932
- Secured capoeira's recognition as a legitimate Brazilian national sport
- Rescued capoeira from decades of prohibition and persecution
- Trained generations of capoeira masters across Brazil
- Persistence under persecution can preserve an entire tradition. Bimba's decades of practising and teaching capoeira despite its illegality kept the art alive until it finally gained legal recognition.
- Structure can elevate perception of an undervalued art form. By codifying capoeira into a disciplined, teachable system, Bimba transformed its reputation from street fighting into a respected national sport.