Jaguaripe shares a border with the municipalities of Aratuípe, Nazaré, Maragogipe, Laje, São Miguel das Matas, and Santo Antônio de Jesus.

Mem de Sá, on the advice of Father Manuel da Nóbrega, directed the Jesuits to establish small Christian settlements (aldeias) to baptize and education indigenous people.

[6][7] A Jesuit mission, the Aldeia de Santa Cruz, was created on the Island of Itaparica in 1560 by Father Pedro Lírio da Gra.

The Jesuits decided to transfer the remnants of the Aldeia de Santa Cruz to the present-day city of Jaguaripe until the end of the plague.

The Jaguaripe River extends from Nazare and Maragogipinho to the northeast, and opens into the Bay of All Saints at Itaparica Island to the east.

The settlement was called the Arraial de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda by the early 17th century; it was elevated to the level of freguesia, or civil parish, by Bishop Dom Constantino Barrada (1550-1618), in 1613.