Canudos was a town founded in the Bahia state of northeastern Brazil in 1893 by Antonio Maciel, an itinerant preacher who had been wandering through the backroads and lesser-inhabited climes of the country from the 1870s onwards, followed by a band of loyal supporters. As his following swelled, he took on the name Antonio Conselheiro (the Counselor) and increasingly began to trouble the local authorities, who saw him as a rival to their legitimacy. Map of the Bahia bay in 1882 Flag of Bahia Bahia is a state in the north-east of Brazil. ... Antonio Conselheiro (Anthony the Counselor, real name Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel) was a religious man and founder of the village of Canudos, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. ...

In 1893, following a protest over taxation, Conselheiro and his band settled on an abandoned farm called Canudos. Over the years people from across Bahia, including landless farmers and indigenous people, flocked to join him, and within a few years the fledgling settlement numbered 30,000 people.

The local and national government were none too pleased about this situation and, pressured by the British (who were concerned about their economic investments in Brazil) decided to intervene. The first three invasions were amply defeated by the villagers. However, in 1897, a fourth - and considerably huge - invasion force managed to overwhelm the village. Their success was in part helped by the death, from dysentry, of Antonio Conselheiro, during the early stages of the seige. The Brazilian army showed no mercy, brutally massacring the survivors and destroying the entire village.

Today the area is submerged by water, the result of a 1970s dam project. At low water the ruins of the church that was once the village's centrepiece can occasionally be seen. Once a year, in October, a mass is held to commemorate the those lost in what is known today as the War of Canudos.