Rio de Janeiro

The city is mentioned officially for the first time when the second Portuguese exploratory expedition, commanded by Gaspar Lemos, arrived in January, 1502, at the bay, which the seafarer assumed understandably that it was the mouth of a river, thus giving the name to region of Rio de Janeiro.

However, only in 1530 did the Portuguese court send an expedition to colonize the area, rather than continuing using it simply as a stop on their maritime adventures. The French, on the other hand, had been in and around Rio de Janeiro since the beginning of the century and were willing to fight for dominance in the region. In 1560, after a series of skirmishes, the Portuguese drove the French away.

The beginning of the city as it was in the Hill of São Januário, later known as Castle Hill, and then today at Praça Quinze (Square 15) until today it is the vital center of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro has developed thanks to its natural vocation as a port. At the same time when gold has been discovered in Minas Gerais in the late seventeenth century, the governor of Brazil was made Viceroy. Salvador was the capital of the colony, but the growing importance of the port of Rio secured the transfer of seat of power to the South, to the city which would become and still is the intellectual and cultural center of the country. 

In 1808 the Portuguese royal family came to Rio de Janeiro, refuge chosen for the threat of Napoleonic invasion. When the royal family returned to Portugal and Brazil's Independence was declared in 1822, the gold mines had already been exhausted and had given way to another treasure: coffee.

The growth had continued throughout most of the nineteenth century, initially in the north to São Cristóvão and Tijuca, and then toward the south zone, through Gloria, Flamengo, and Botafogo districts. In 1889, the capital of the Empire saw the fall of the monarchy. Political changes followed the capitalist guidelines. The transition from Monarchy to Republic began in 1889 and it was only over, in fact, in 1930. The city, with the proclamation of the Republic, became the federal capital.

In the early twentieth century the wide streets and imposing buildings came up, mostly in the French fin-de-siècle style. Rio de Janeiro held its position until the inauguration of Brasília as the capital of the republic in 1960. As Capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the city remains the cultural and social center of the country.