Like the mambo and the salsa, the roots of the samba lie with the religious traditions and the people of West Africa, exported to Brazil with slavery in the years between 1600 and 1888.
The word 'samba' is said to come from Kimbundu, the African Bantu language spoken by slaves from the area of Africa now known as Angola.
It originated from the word 'semba' which has several different meanings ranging from 'to pray' or invoke the favour of the gods through rhythm, song and dance to 'naval bump' - a term which depicts the intimacy of the dance.
When slavery was abolished in 1888, the newly freed slaves moved south and on to Rio de Janeiro, taking the rhythms and music of the samba with them. It was in the shanty towns of Rio where the samba thrived as a creative and artistic outlet for the poor, despite being looked down upon by the upper class as obscene and in bad taste.
The introduction of the radio in 1923 has been credited with helping the samba gain respectability, as more and more people were exposed to its rhythms and unique sounds.
Ernesto Joaquim Maria dos Santos, known as Donga, is credited with creating the first samba hit called Pelo Telefone or On the Telephone which he performed with his band Oito Batutas in 1917.