When slavery was abolished in 1888 many slaves fell into poverty and were alianated. Those that previosly used capoeira to fight for their freedo, now used it to survive for the day. Capoeira got associated with criminality and gangfigthing and were criminalized. Even other cultural expressions with roots from Africa were forbidden despite the fact that slavery was abolished.

Even if capoeira lived in oppression and marginalisation, it survived and developed. In the 1930s the first legal capoeiraacademy opened by Mestre Bimba. After foreign diplomats saw, and was impressed by, a show organized by Mestre Bimba and his students the president of Brasil decided that capoeira should be preserved as cultural herritage. Mestre Bimba had developed capoeira in a direction that he came to call Regional.

 

Regional is caracterized by more structure and sport than the form known as Capoeira Angola. The premiere developer of Capoeira Angola is Mestre Pastinha. Mestre Bimba and Mestre Pastinha are two of the most significant mestres for todays capoeira. Tha whole history of capoeira is difficult to find and the question is if it ever will be fully found. Most of that times document (around and before the abolishing of slavery) are obliterated. An illustrative example of capoeiras mystical and mythical past is the ambigiuos significance of the word capoeira. Its suggested to aim at roosters and heigh grass.