Rio de Janeiro History

The future site of Rio de Janeiro was explored by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos on January 1, 1502, at Guanabara Bay which was originally thought to have been a river, thus giving the city its name, Rio de Janeiro, or “January River”. The city was eventually founded on March 1, 1565 as fortification against French privateers who trafficked wood and goods from the Brazil. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, the region of Rio de Janeiro had been inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakalí indigenous peoples.

Starting at the bay and expanding along the mountains, the city then continued to enlarge its territory by stretching southwards and westwards. Its first main industry came from sugar-cane production. African slaves and natives of the city toiled in this industry, which eventually faded after higher quality sugar cane was found in Northern Brazil. By the late 17th century, Rio de Janeiro’s economy became reliant on the wealth brought by the discovery of gold and diamonds in the neighboring town of Minas Gerais.

In 1808, Rio de Janeiro became the capital of the Portuguese Empire when royalty and nobility needed to flee from Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal. This made Rio de Janeiro the first and only European capital city to ever be located outside of Europe. It was also during this time that an immense influx of African slaves arrived in Rio de Janeiro with 145,000 slaves being counted in 1819 and reaching 220,000 by 1840.

When Brazil was declared independent in 1822, Prince Pedro I decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the new country, even after the monarchy was replaced by a republic in 1889. A year before the change to republic, Princess Isabel emancipated the large slave population, which caused a vast migration from the country to the city. This relocation created the first shantytowns (favelas) in the city.

A military coup brought the country under the republic of first President Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca. Eventually, landlocked Brasilia, which took five years of construction under President Juscelino Kubitschek, replaced Rio as the capital in 1960. Until 1975, Rio was a city-state under the name “State of Guanabara”. It was then that a presidential decree known as “The Fusion” removed Rio’s federative powers and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the downtown business district of Rio, on the mouth of Guanabara Bay, acted as the border of the city. Afterwards, expansion began to move south and westwards creating the Zona Sul (South Zone), which provided access to the touristy neighborhood Copacabana which built the reputation of being a beach party town during the 1930’s. Today, Rio de Janeiro ranks second nationally in industrial production and serves as a major financial, service and media center in all of Brazil.