Salvador is the largest city and the third-largest urban agglomeration on the northeast coast of Brazil, and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The city has the largest carnival of the World. The first colonial capital of Brazil, the city is one of the oldest in the Americas.For a long time, it was simply known as Bahia, and appears under that name (or as Salvador da Bahia, Salvador of Bahia so as to differentiate it from other Brazilian cities of the same name) on many maps and books from before the mid-20th century. Salvador is the third most populous Brazilian city, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The metropolitan area of the city, with 3.5 million people, however, is the eighth most populous Brazilian urban agglomeration, and the third in Northeastern Brazil.The city of Salvador is notable in Brazil for its cuisine, music and architecture, and its metropolitan area is the wealthiest in Brazil's Northeast. The African influence in many cultural aspects of the city makes it the centre of Afro-Brazilian culture. This reflects a situation in which African-associated cultural practices are celebrated.