Slaves were imported by the Portuguese into Brazil from Africa, principally from the Yoruba, Congo, and other West African tribes. They mixed their religious beliefs with each other and with Christianity, creating a religion variously called Candomble, Macumba and other names. Their African music also combined with Indian and Portuguese music to create a Latin rhythm.
The word "samba" originally meant to pray, and the dances were designed to invoke the dancer's personal god or saint.
The Christian Portuguese considered the African dances sinful and made several attempts to suppress them. Emperor Manuel I banned the Batuque, a precursor to the samba, in the early 1800s, but both whites and blacks continued to dance to the musical rhythms.
As the Portuguese and African slaves had more contact with the Native Americans living in Brazil, some of the local tribes' steps were included. The body rolls and swaying of the native Lundu were incorporated into the dances, and later became a key characteristic of the samba.
In the 1800s, the local dances were incorporated into the Brazilian Carnaval celebration similar to the Mardi Gras. The Portuguese and other European settlers introduced their own moves, including holding your partner. By 1885, this developed into a dance called the Zemba Queca, and then into the Mesemba.
In the early 1900s, the dance was combined with another popular dance called the Maxixe, and became the earliest version of the modern samba.
The Europeanized version of the samba became popular in Brazilian high society and eventually began to spread to Europe, especially France.
In the 1930s, a Europeanized form of the Samba called the Carioca was revived in England and spread to the United States. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performed it in their first movie together, and Carmen Miranda used the dance in many of her films.
Ballroom samba, a more sedate version of the dance, was introduced in 1956 by Pierre Lavelle. Since then, the dance has evolved into several different branches, ranging from ballroom-style to the gyrating version of professional dancers at the samba shows in Rio de Janeiro.