the ethnic composition of the population starts in the 16th century. the portuguese settlers rarely brought women, which led to relationships with the indian women. later, interracial relationships occurred between portuguese males and african females. the coast, in the past the place where millions of african slaves arrived (mostly from modern-day angola, ghana, nigeria and benin) to work in sugar-cane plantations, is where nowadays there is a predominance of mulattoes, those of african and european ancestry. salvador, bahia is considered the largest african city outside of africa, with over 80% of its inhabitants being african-brazilians. in the interior, there is a predominance of indian and european mixture.