Ibotirama

Ibotirama developed from Bom Jardim, a riverside settlement on the left bank of the São Francisco in western Bahia. A record made by Joaquim Quaresma Delgado in 1732 mentions the Bom Jardim farm, one of Joana Guedes de Brito's properties. Local historical accounts associate the village's formation with this estate and the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Guia. Its early history belongs to the cattle-ranching country administered from Santo Antônio do Urubu, later called Paratinga.

Bom Jardim became a crossing place for cattle drovers and pack-train drivers. The farm offered travellers a stopping place beside the river, while river transport connected the settlement with neighbouring districts. Routes also linked it with Urubu and the sanctuary of Bom Jesus da Lapa. Trade, fertile ground and livestock attracted people from elsewhere. Before it acquired the modern name Ibotirama, the small settlement's position at a river crossing had already joined local farming and ranching with the movement of animals, goods and travellers.