The Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral sighted Monte Pascoal (Easter Mountain) near Itamaraju and landed at what is now Porto Seguro on the southern coast of Bahia in 1500, claiming the territory for Portugal. In 1549, Portugal established the city of Salvador on a hill facing the Bay of All Saints. The city and surrounding captaincy served as the administrative capital of Portugal's colonies in the Americas until 1763. It remains the religious capital of Brazil's Roman Catholic hierarchy, with its archbishop serving as the national primate. Salvador holds the country's oldest cathedral and first medical college, as well as the highest number of churches per capita of any Brazilian state capital.