ILHEUS

city, southeastern Bahia estado (state), northeastern Brazil. It is situated just east of Itabuna near the mouth of the Cachoeira River on Ilhus Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic. An old Portuguese colonial settlement that was originally named So Jorge dos Ilhos (1532), it was given city status in 1881. Most of Brazil's cacao is grown in the locality, and Ilhus is consequently one of the world's most important cacao ports. Cocoa butter, rubber, chemicals, piassava, and timber are also exported. The city was used as a setting by the writer Jorge Amado in his writings on Brazilian society. Ilhus has good road and air connections with Salvador, the state capital, 130 miles (210 km) north-northeast. A hydroelectric plant northwest of Ilhus supplies energy to the area. Pop. (1980 prelim.) 71,240.