Mestre Pastinha was born in 1889 in Salvador, Bahia. When he was 8 years old, an older boy in the neighborhood used to beat him up all the time. One day, a neighbor saw this and told Pastinha to come over so he could learn how to defend himself. The neighbor showed him a few Capoeira moves. The next day, when the bully came to pick on Pastinha again, Pastinha easily defeated the bully. The bully no longer picked on Pastinha, instead, he be came Pastinha’s admirer. In 1941, Mestre Pastinha opened the first Capoeira Angola school. Unfortunately, Pastinha’s academy was confiscated by the Government because of an expansion. Mestre Pastinha did however plant the seed of Capoeira Angola that is widely practiced today. Mestre Pastinha died in 1981 at the age of ninety-two.