Three major African groups contributed in large numbers to the slave population in Brazil: the Sudanese group, composed largely of Yoruba and Dahomean peoples, the Guinea-Sudanese groups of Malesian and Hausa peoples, and the Bantu groups from Angola, Congo, and Mozambique. In the colony they were mixed on the same plantations, making organised rebellions against captivity difficult. Nevertheless, in addition to constant individual escapes, history records important revolts against captivity. Many times, after escaping from the senzalas (name given to the slave quarters on the plantation), they founded independent villages in the back lands called quilombos. There were at least ten major quilombos with internal socio-economic organisation and commercial relationships with neighbouring cities. The Quilombo dos Palmares lasted sixty-seven years in the interior of the state of Alagoas rebuffing almost all expeditions sent to extinguish it.

Augusto Ferreira states that capoeira was born out of a burning desire for freedom. Only through the efforts of these men would the slaves free themselves, and return once more to the life of freedom they had known in their own land. The first steps towards this reconquest of freedom were taken when the Dutch lashed out against the Portuguese colony, invading the towns and plantations along the North-eastern coast concentrating on Recife and Salvador. With each Dutch invasion the security systems of the plantations and towns were weakened and the slaves, taking advantage of the opportunities, fled, plunging into the forests in search of safe places in which to hide and survive. At the time the land along the coast was separated from the interior lands by a strip of Amazon-type forest, traces of which are still found today. It was in this strip of forest, in areas 100 kilometres wide, that the best hiding places were found.

Another indication that capoeira was used by people of Palmares was its diffusion throughout large parts of Brazil. When the quilombos were destroyed, the watchful warriors, no longer able to stay together, were scattered throughout several states, even as far as Rio Grande do Sul, and with them went their fight. Jair Moura quoting Albano de Neves e Souza from Luanda wrote: Among the Mucupe in Southern Angola, there is a zebra dance, the ngolo, that takes place during the efundula, the celebration of the puberty of young girls, when they stop being muficuemes, or girls, and pass to the role of women, ready for marriage and child rearing. The boy who wins the ngolo is directed to choose a wife from amongst the new initiates, without paying the dowry. The ngolo is capoeira. The slaves from the south that went to Brazil took with them the tradition of fighting with their feet. Over time, that which was principally a tribal tradition was transformed into a weapon of attack and defence... Another theory states that the origin of capoeira was born from games the slaves played at the bird market in the street Rua da Praia de D. Manoel, awaiting for the market to open. The name capoeira would originate from the basket in which they carried their chickens on their head. (in modern Portuguese capoeira means poultry). The roots of the word capoeira can be traced to the Guarany language, the indigenous mother tongue of the majority of the native Brazilian Indian dialects. In that case it relates to wood, leaves, tree, forest and vegetable growth in general because.

The written history of capoeira began in the eighteenth century. The oldest known descriptive text on capoeira was written by Melo de Morais Filho, a physician and highly regarded historian who documented the popular traditions of Brazil. During the first two centuries of colonisation, Portugal did not pay much attention to its colony in South-America other than to exploit its natural resources. The growth of cities without adequate economic and sociocultural planning guaranteed a large vagrant population. These people were attracted to capoeira, that besides the benefits of sport and play, gave its practitioners a powerful means of attack and defence, and for many, a weapon for their crimes of survival. The identification of the outlaw with capoeira was so widespread that the simple word capoeira became a synonym for bandit and thief.

Once in a while capoeiristas were considered heroes, as when they were sent to the front lines during the Paraguayan war and when they helped to suffocate a rebellion of foreign soldiers in 1828 (The Brazilian government brought in mercenaries to reinforce its troops during the Rio de Prata war. Unhappy with the governments treatment of them, several batalions rebelled, left headquarters, looting and killing innocent bystanders they encountered in their path. The incident ended when the soldiers were confronted with a group of capoeiristas. Although armed with rifles, the soldiers could not defend themselves against the clubs, razor blades, stones and cunning of the capoeiristas. They fell down in the streets and in the plazas, the majority wounded and a large number dead). In the last days of the empire, conflicts between republicans and monarchist occurred frequently. In order to protect Princess Isabel, the monarchists created the Guarda Negra (black guard), composed of blacks, mulattos and many freed slaves. These men were extremely devoted to the princess because she had signed the law abolishing slavery. The Guarda Negra battled republicans until the last spark of the empire's life had died out. Furious, republicans swore to kill its members; if the monarchy could not extinguish capoeira, the newly-established republic was going to try.