RIO DE JANEIRO

The colonial period Several years after the Portuguese first explored Brazil, French traders in search of pau-brasil (a type of brazilwood) explored the rich area extending from the Cape Frio coast to the beaches and islands of Guanabara Baythe economic and, above all, strategic importance of which was already well-known. On one of these islands, the French founded a colony that was called La France Antarctique (Antarctic France). The Portuguese wanted to expel the French from Brazil, and the task was given to Estcio de S, a nephew of Governor Mem de S of Brazil, who in 1565 occupied the plain between Dog Face Hill (Morro Cara de Co) and the Sugar Loaf and Urca mounts, thus laying the foundations of the future town of Rio de Janeiro. After two years (156567) of bloody battles, in which Estcio de S was killed and the French expelled, Mem de S chose a new site for the town, farther inland on the coast of the bay, at the top of the Hill of Rest (Morro do Descanso), or St. Januarius Hill (So Janurio), later called the Castle Hill (Morro do Castelo). In 1568 the settlement was laid out in the form of a medieval citadel, protected by a bulwark and cannons. The surrounding fertile land, allotted to Portuguese settlers by the Portuguese king in enormous plots called sesmarias, was planted with sugarcane, which was to provide the colony with its main source of income. In 1660 the community became the seat of the government of the southern captaincies (Portuguese administrative units) of Brazil. In the second half of the 17th century, the captaincy population grew to 8,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom were probably Indian and black slaves. At the beginning of the 18th century, Brazil began to engage in gold and diamond mining, which brought about remarkable changes in the colony's economy and stimulated a great migration from Europe, thereby increasing the white population. The former village became a town of 24,000 in 1749. When the colonial capital was transferred from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro in 1763, the town expanded farther, far beyond its walls. The remains of the monumental Roman-style aqueduct Arcos (Arches) built at this time still stand in the city. At the end of the 18th century, the town's economy, as well as that of the colony as a whole, was in a crisis because of the decline of the mines and competition from Central America for the world sugar market. In 1796 the value of exports from Rio's port was less than half of what it had been in 1760. Coffee production and the resettlement of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil in 1808 again brought prosperity to the colony. By 1815, when Brazil became a kingdom, Rio de Janeiro was large enough to accommodate a foreign population. At about this time the city's initial features were being transformed; from 1808 to 1818, 600 houses and 100 country houses were built, and many older buildings were restored. Many streets were lighted and paved, more land was reclaimed, new roads opened, and new public fountains installed. Among new institutions established were the Royal Press, the Royal Library, the Theatre of Saint John, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Botanical Gardens, and the Bank of Brazil. When King John VI returned to Portugal in 1821, Rio had almost 113,000 inhabitants and 13,500 buildings, and the town had extended both northward and southward. A year later Brazil was independent. The city after independence Expansion of coffee plantations in the state of Rio de Janeiro gave a new impulse to the city's development. Nobles and bourgeois moved their residences north to the So Cristvo district. Merchants and English bankers chose to live around the Outeiro da Glria and Praia do Flamengo areas in the south, or they established their residences in the nearby Botafogo and Laranjeiras districts. The French, on the other hand, lived in country houses scattered in the Tijuca area farther westward. In this era, as Brazil expanded its world export trade in such products as coffee, cotton, sugar, and rubber, the city changed its appearance, and the traces of its colonial past were effaced. In 1829 oxcart traffic was banned from the Rua do Ouvidor, then the city's most elegant street. In 1838 the first public transportationhorse-drawn busesbegan to run to the districts of So Cristvo, Engenho Velho, and Botafogo. In 1868 the first tramcars, also drawn by animals, were introduced. A steamboat service to Niteri began to operate in 1835. The first railroad was built in 1852 to Petrpolis, and a line reached Queimados in the Nova Igua area in 1858. In 1854 gas replaced oil for street-lighting, and wireless telegraphy was inaugurated. Sewerage was installed in 1864, and telephone service began in 1877. estado (state) of southeastern Brazil, bounded by the states of Esprito Santo (north), Minas Gerais (west), and So Paulo (southwest), while to the east lies the Atlantic Ocean. The state's name is derived from the city of Rio de Janeiro, which exerted a strong influence on its formation. The state has an area of 17,092 square miles (44,268 square km), of which 370 square miles (960 square km) consist of coastal lagoons and other internal waters. The capital is the city of Rio de Janeiro. The history of the state is enmeshed with that of the city of Rio de Janeiro, its chief economic and political centre from the early 16th century until 1834, when the city first became a separate entity. In 1835 Niteri became the capital of the province of Rio de Janeiro. In 1889, when the Brazilian republic was proclaimed, the province became a state, and in 1890 Terespolis became the capital; in 1902, however, the seat of government returned to Niteri. When the capital of Brazil was moved to the newly established city of Braslia in 1960, the territory that had been the Federal District became the new Guanabara state, which existed as an enclave within Rio de Janeiro state. In 1975 the two states were merged into the reorganized State of Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro was then made the capital of the reorganized state. From the time of its territorial formation, the province depended on sugar production, based on slave labour, as the basis of its economy. During the 19th century, coffee replaced sugar as the most commercially significant crop, enriching the landowners of the Paraba do Sul River valley, who constituted the ruling group of the Brazilian Empire until the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the proclamation of the republic in 1889. The state's relief has three distinct features: the plain, or coastal lowland; the mountainous highland; and the plateau of the interior. The coastal lowlandwhich is broken by occasional massifs or rocks that sometimes extend far into the seais narrower to the west, where the Serra do Mar compresses it against the sea. The prevailing climate is hot and humid and is characterized by summer showers. In winter the climate is modified by cold air masses from the south. The average daily temperature is generally above 72 F (22 C). The mountainous highland comprises part of the Serra do Mar and, farther inland, part of the Mantiqueira Range, both of which run parallel to the coast in a roughly southwest-to-northeast direction. Some important tourist and holiday resortsPetrpolis, Terespolis, and Nova Friburgolie in this region, which is characterized by mild temperatures that average below 68 F (20 C) because of the high elevation. The highest summits in the region reach elevations of about 9,000 feet (2,750 m). The most important area in the landscape of the plateau is the Paraba do Sul River valley. Coffee plantations were first developed there in the 19th century. The temperatures remain mild at the highest elevations but grow progressively hotter descending toward the bed of the Paraba do Sul River, which flows northeastward before turning eastward to drain into the Atlantic in the northeastern part of the state. At the level of the river itself, the climate is tropical and the temperatures are high. Destruction of the humid tropical forest that originally covered the territory of the present state of Rio de Janeiro began in the 16th century with the introduction of the queimadas (slash-and-burn) technique, used by Indians and European settlers alike to clear tracts of land for temporary cultivation. The clearing of the forest cover continued with the cultivation of sugarcane on plantations, was intensified with the expansion of coffee growing, and was completed with the progress of urbanization. In the mid-20th century the Brazilian government undertook reforestation of large areas on the hillsides and massifs, granting the areas protection as national parks and thus helping to preserve remains of the original forest. Part of the area, commonly known as the Forest of Tijuca (8,200 acres [3,300 hectares]), was established by the federal government as a national park in 1961 to help preserve both vegetation and animal life. About 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of the rgos Mountains have been made a national park, and the 29,500-acre (11,900-hectare) Itatiaia National Park was created in the Mantiqueira Range on the border with Minas Gerais state. Apart from these public parks, some patches of forest vegetation still survive on a few hillsides near the city of Rio de Janeiro, but these are disappearing as the urbanized area is gradually enlarged. On the Santa Cruz, Campo Grande, and Jacarepagu plains, grassland prevails, whereas on the muddy coastland red, yellow, and white mangroves flourish. Rio de Janeiro state has one of the highest urbanization rates in Brazil, with the overwhelming majority of the population living in the city of Rio de Janeiro and other urban centres. The vast majority of the state's inhabitants are Roman Catholic, with Protestant and Spiritist (believers in spiritualism) minorities. A small percentage of the working population of the state is engaged in agriculture, a substantial proportion in manufacturing, and the majority in service industries. The state's principal industries are metallurgy, printing, shipbuilding, and oil refining, and manufactured products include textiles, foodstuffs, and chemicals. Agricultural products include sugarcane, oranges, and bananas. Less than one-fifth of the state's roads are paved. The Central do Brasil and the Leopoldina railroads link the state with Brazil's national rail network. The Rio-Niteri Bridge, which is about 9 miles (14.5 km) long, connects the city of Rio de Janeiro with Niteri, located on the east side of Guanabara Bay. The state has two airports: Santos Dumont, on Guanabara Bay within the city of Rio; and Galeo, on Governador Island in the bay, which was opened in 1977 for international as well as domestic flights. Pop. (1990 est.) 14,133,300. byname Rio city and port of Brazil, and capital of the estado (state) of Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1565 and laid out as a medieval citadel in 1568, the city is located on the coastal plain and the slopes of coastal mountains on the shores of Guanabara Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. The entrance to the bay is marked by Acar (Sugar Loaf) Mountain. The city has grown to its present size and prosperity for three main reasons: its proximity to the two most economically productive and heavily settled regions of Brazil, So Paulo and Minas Gerais; its status as the capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960; and its port, one of the best in South America. The climate of Rio de Janeiro is humid and tropical and is strongly affected by the city's proximity to the ocean. The average daily winter (mid-June to mid-September) temperature is 68 F (20 C), and the average daily summer (mid-December to mid-March) temperature is about 79 F (26 C); mean annual rainfall totals 44 inches (1,100 mm). Rio de Janeiro is the second largest manufacturing centre of the country, So Paulo being the largest. The production of pharmaceuticals and clothing and footwear, together with building construction, metallurgy, food and tobacco processing, glassworking, publishing and printing, and shipbuilding, are the major industries. The service sector, however, is the most important aspect of the economy, and recreation and tourism are important sources of income. A major commercial and financial centre, Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan area house many corporate headquarters and large banks, and its stock market is one of the most important in the country. The city's port receives and distributes considerable amounts of foreign and national products, serving large regions in southern, northeastern, and southeastern Brazil. The three main sections of Rio de Janeiro are the Centre and the North and South zones. Skyscrapers, the stock market, municipal and state government buildings, major libraries, museums, and theatres are in the main business district in the Centre, while the South Zone includes some popular beaches (e.g., Copacabana), the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Mount Corcovado, and Rodrigo de Freitas Lake. A significant proportion of the population inhabits shantytowns (favelas), located mainly on the steep hillsides and swampy shorelands of the South. The larger North Zone includes the Maracan soccer stadium, the National Museum of Fine Arts, and the Church of Our Lady of the Rock. Rio de Janeiro, which has one of the highest literacy rates and educational levels in the country, is the site of several universities, a large number of other institutions of higher education, and many adult-education programs. Other cultural institutions include the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Municipal Theatre, the National Library, and the National Museum. The city's well-known annual Carnaval is a major tourist attraction. Rio de Janeiro is linked by highways, railroads, and air routes with the other major cities of Brazil. Travel in the metropolitan area has been facilitated by the 9-mile (14.5-kilometre) bridge across Guanabara Bay. A subway system (Metr) opened in 1979. The Galeo International Airport is located on Governador Island. Area city, 452 square miles (1,171 square km); metropolitan area, 2,496 square miles (6,464 square km). Pop. (1980) city, 5,090,700; (1989 est.) metropolitan area, 11,140,933. byname Rio, city and port of Brazil, capital of the estado (state) of Brazil. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean, in the southeastern part of the tropical zone in South America. The name was given to the city's original site by Portuguese navigators who arrived at the port on Jan. 1, 1502, and mistook the entrance of the bay for the mouth of a river (rio is the Portuguese word for river and janeiro, the word for January). When the foundations of the future town were laid in 1565, it was named Cidade de So Sebastio do Rio de Janeiro (City of Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro), for both St. Sebastian and Dom Sebastian, king of Portugal. Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil from 1822 until 1960, when the national capital was moved to Braslia and the territory belonging to the former Federal District was converted into Guanabara state, which formed an enclave in Rio de Janeiro state. In March 1975 the two states were fused as the state of Rio de Janeiro; the former Guanabara state, including the city of Rio de Janeiro, became one of the 14 municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, or Greater Rio. The city of Rio de Janeiro then became the capital of the reorganized state of Rio de Janeiro. Additional reading Descriptions of the city can be found in Aaron Cohen, Rio de Janeiro (1978); and Douglas Botting, Rio de Janeiro (1977), which includes discussions of the city's history, the favelas, and Afro-Brazilian cult religions. For a general comprehensive approach to the city's geography and development, see Jlia Ado Bernardes (ed.), Rio de Janeiro, Painel de um Espao em Crise (1986); and Pedro Pinchas Geiger, Evoluo da Rde Urbana Brasileira (1963), and A rea Metropolitano Rio de Janeiro, in Enciclopdia dos Municpios Brasileiros, vol. 6 (1950), pp. 290354. Alberto Ribeiro Lamego, O Homem e a Guanabara, 2nd ed. (1964); and Antonio Teixeira Guerra, Paisagens Fsicas da Guanabara, Revista Brasileira de Geografia, 27:539568 (1965), study the physical environment and geography. The problems of slums and the urban poor are treated by Janice E. Perlman, The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics in Rio de Janeiro (1976, reprinted 1979). City planning is the subject of Norma Evenson, Two Brazilian Capitals: Architecture and Urbanism in Rio de Janeiro and Braslia (1973). Good accounts of the historical development of Rio de Janeiro include Vivaldo Coaracy, O Rio de Janeiro no Sculo 17., 2nd ed. rev. and expanded (1965); and Gasto Cruls, Aparncia do Rio de Janeiro: Notcia Histrica e Descritiva da Cidade, 3rd ed. rev., 2 vol. (1965). See also Mary C. Karasch, Slave Life in Rio de Janeiro, 18011850 (1987). Alberto Passos Guimares Pedro P. Geiger