Rio de Janeiro

:This article is about the city called Rio de Janeiro. For the state with the same name, see Rio de Janeiro (state).

History

The area where Rio de Janeiro is now was reached by Portuguese explorers in an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos in January of 1502. Since the Europeans thought at first the Guanabara Bay was actually the mouth of a river, they called it "Rio de Janeiro", which means January River.

Related Topics:
Portuguese - Gaspar de Lemos - 1502 - Guanabara Bay - River

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The actual city wasn't founded until March 1st, 1565 by Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá, who called it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (St. Sebastian of the January River), in honor of King Sebastian I of Portugal. For centuries, the settlement was commonly called São Sebastião - or even St. Sebastian - instead of the currently popular, second half of its name. It was frequently attacked by pirates and privateers, especially by then enemies of Portugal, such as the Netherlands and France. In the late 16th century, the Portuguese crown began treating the village as a strategic location for Atlantic transit of ships between Brazil, the African colonies, and Europe. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native tribes to defend the settlement against invaders - neighbor Niterói, for instance, was founded by a native chief for supporting defence.

Related Topics:
Knight - Estácio de Sá - Sebastian I of Portugal - Pirates - Privateer - Netherlands - France - Atlantic - Africa - Niterói

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The exact place of Rio's foundation is at the foot of Pão-de-Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain). Later, the whole city was moved within a palisade on top of a hill, imitating the medieval European defence strategy of fortified castles - the place has since then been called Morro do Castelo (Castle Hill). Thus the city developed from current Downtown (Centro, see below) southwards and then westwards; an urban movement which continues today.

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Until early 18th century, the city was threaten or invaded by several - mostly French - pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc, René Duguay-Trouin, and Nicolas de Villegaignon. After 1720, when the Portuguese found gold and diamonds in the neighbor captaincy of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro became much more useful port to transport out the wealth than farther Salvador. In 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved to Rio.

Related Topics:
Pirate - Buccaneer - Jean-François Duclerc - René Duguay-Trouin - Nicolas de Villegaignon - 1720 - Minas Gerais - Salvador - 1763

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The city remained mostly a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Family and most of the Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved in. The kingdom's capital was transfered to Rio, which then became the only European capital outside of Europe. Since there was no physical space nor urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes.

Related Topics:
1808 - Lisbon - Napoleon

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When Prince Pedro proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire, yet the city region was losing importance - economic and political - to São Paulo.

Related Topics:
1822 - São Paulo

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Until the early years of the twentieth century, the city was largely limited to the neighborhood now known as Centro (see below), currently the business district of the city located towards the north. The city's center of the gravity shifted south to the so-called Zona Sul (South Zone) in the early part of the twentieth century when the first tunnel was built under the mountains located between Botafogo and the neighborhood now known as Copacabana. That beach's natural beauty, combined with the fame of the Copacabana Palace Hotel in the 1930s as the luxury hotel of the Americas, helped Rio to gain the reputation it still holds today as a beachy party town (although it is worth noting that this reputation has been tarnished in recent years by the favela violence due to the narcotics trade).

Related Topics:
Zona Sul - Botafogo - Copacabana - Copacabana Palace Hotel - Favela - Narcotics

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Rio was maintained as Brazilian capital after the military overthrew the monarchy and imposed a republic in 1889. However, plans for moving the nation's seat city to the territorial center were considered, until president Juscelino Kubitschek was elected in 1955 and took office in 1956 with a promise to build a new capital. Though many thought it was campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960. On April 21st that year, the capital of Brazil was officially moved from Rio to Brasília.

Related Topics:
Monarchy - 1889 - Juscelino Kubitschek - 1955 - 1956 - Campaign - Rhetoric - Brasília - 1960

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Between 1960 and 1975, Rio was a city-state (such as Hamburg in Germany) under the name State of Guanabara (after the bay it borders). But, for administrative and political reasons, a presidential decree known as A Fusão (The Fusion) removed the city's federative status and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975. Even today some cariocas claim the return of municipal autonomy.

Related Topics:
1960 - 1975 - Hamburg - Germany - State of Guanabara - Cariocas

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