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Municipality in Southeast, Brazil

Location in Brazil, east South America

Rio de Janeiro (; Portuguese pronunciation:[i.u d(i) neju];[3] River of January), or simply Rio,[4] is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, the second-most populous metropolitan area in Brazil and sixth-most populous in the Americas. Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's third-most populous state. Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea", by UNESCO on 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape.[5]

Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a domain of the Portuguese Empire. Later, in 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. In 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Court transferred itself from Portugal to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro became the chosen seat of the court of Queen Maria I of Portugal, who subsequently, in 1815, under the leadership of her son, the Prince Regent, and future King Joo VI of Portugal, raised Brazil to the dignity of a kingdom, within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves. Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822, when the War of Brazilian Independence began. This is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro subsequently served as the capital of the independent monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, until 1889, and then the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 when the capital was transferred to Braslia.

Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country,[6] and 30th largest in the world in 2008,[7] estimated at about R$343billion (IBGE, 2008) (nearly US$201billion). It is headquarters to Brazilian oil, mining, and telecommunications companies, including two of the country's major corporationsPetrobras and Valeand Latin America's largest telemedia conglomerate, Grupo Globo. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data.[8]

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, Carnival, samba, bossa nova, and balneario beaches[9] such as Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. In addition to the beaches, some of the most famous landmarks include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf Mountain with its cable car; the Sambdromo (Sambadrome), a permanent grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracan Stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums.

Rio de Janeiro was the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, making the city the first South American and Portuguese-speaking city to ever host the events, and the third time the Olympics were held in a Southern Hemisphere city.[10] The Maracan Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the XV Pan American Games.

Despite the high perception of crime, the city has a lower incidence of crime than Northeast Brazil, but it is far more criminalized than the south region of Brazil, which is considered the safest in the country.[11]

Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502 (hence Rio de Janeiro, "January River"), by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos captain of a ship in Pedro lvares Cabral's fleet, or under Gonalo Coelho.[12] Allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the same expedition. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakal peoples.[13]

In 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony.

The city of Rio de Janeiro proper was founded by the Portuguese on 1 March 1565 and was named So Sebastio do Rio de Janeiro, in honour of St. Sebastian, the saint who was the namesake and patron of the Portuguese then-monarch Sebastio. Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several mostly French pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-Franois Duclerc and Ren Duguay-Trouin.[14]

In the late 17th century, still during the Sugar Era, the Bandeirantes discovered gold and diamonds in the neighbouring captaincy of Minas Gerais, thus Rio de Janeiro became a much more practical port for exporting wealth (gold, precious stones, besides the sugar) than Salvador, Bahia, much farther northeast. On 27 January 1763,[15] the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The city remained primarily a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of the associated Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved to Rio de Janeiro.

The kingdom's capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, became the only European capital outside of Europe. As there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes.[16] In the first decades, several educational establishments were created, such as the Military Academy, the Royal School of Sciences, Arts and Crafts and the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the National Library of Brazil - with the largest collection in Latin America[17] - and The Botanical Garden. The first printed newspaper in Brazil, the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, came into circulation during this period.[18] When Brazil was elevated to Kingdom in 1815, it became the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves until the return of the Portuguese Royal Family to Lisbon in 1821, but remained as capital of the Kingdom of Brazil.[19]

From the colonial period until the first independent decades, Rio de Janeiro was a city of slaves. There was a large influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro: in 1819, there were 145,000 slaves in the captaincy. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people.[20] The Port of Rio de Janeiro was the largest port of slaves in America.

When Prince Pedro proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire while the province was enriched with sugar cane agriculture in the Campos region and, especially, with the new coffee cultivation in the Paraba Valley.[19] In order to separate the province from the capital of the Empire, the city was converted, in the year of 1834, in Neutral Municipality, passing the province of Rio de Janeiro to have Niteri as capital.[19]

As a political center of the country, Rio concentrated the political-partisan life of the Empire. It was the main stage of the abolitionist and republican movements in the last half of the 19th century.[19] At that time the number of African slaves was drastically reduced and the city was developed, with modern drains, animal trams, train stations crossing the city, gas and electric lighting, telephone and telegraph wiring, water and river plumbing.[19] Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic.

At the time Brazil's Old Republic was established, the city lacked urban planning and sanitation, which helped spread several diseases, such as yellow fever, dysentery, variola, tuberculosis and even black death. Pereira Passos, who was named mayor in 1902, imposed reforms to modernize the city, demolishing the cortios where most of the poor population lived. These people, mostly descendants of slaves, then moved to live in the city's hills, creating the first favelas.[21] Inspired by the city of Paris, Passos built the Municipal Theatre, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the National Library in the city's center; brought electric power to Rio and created larger avenues to adapt the city to automobiles.[22] Passos also named Dr. Oswaldo Cruz as Director General of Public Health. Cruz's plans to clean the city of diseases included compulsory vaccination of the entire population and forced entry into houses to kill mosquitos and rats. The people of city rebelled against Cruz's policy, in what would be known as the Vaccine Revolt.[23]

In 1910, Rio saw the Revolt of the Lash, where Afro-Brazilian crew members in the Brazilian Navy mutinied against the heavy use of corporal punishment, which was similar to the punishment slaves received. The mutineers took control of the battleship Minas Geraes and threatened to fire on the city. Another military revolt occurred in 1922, the 18 of the Copacabana Fort revolt, a march against the Old Republic's coronelism and caf com leite politics. This revolt marked the beginning of Tenentism, a movement that resulted in the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 that started the Vargas Era.

Until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic city centre (see below), on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The city's centre of gravity began to shift south and west to the so-called Zona Sul (South Zone) in the early part of the 20th century, when the first tunnel was built under the mountains between Botafogo and the neighbourhood that is now known as Copacabana. Expansion of the city to the north and south was facilitated by the consolidation and electrification of Rio's streetcar transit system after 1905.[24] Botafogo's natural beauty, combined with the fame of the Copacabana Palace Hotel, the luxury hotel of the Americas in the 1930s, helped Rio to gain the reputation it still holds today as a beach party town (although this reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade[25]).

Plans for moving the nation's capital city from Rio de Janeiro to the centre of Brazil had been occasionally discussed, and when Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955, it was partially on the strength of promises to build a new capital.[26] Though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Braslia and a new Federal District built, at great cost, by 1960. On 21 April of that year the capital of Brazil was officially moved to Braslia. The territory of the former Federal District became its own state, Guanabara, after the bay that borders it to the east, encompassing just the city of Rio de Janeiro. After the 1964 coup d'tat that installed a military dictatorship, the city-state was the only state left in Brazil to oppose the military. Then, in 1975, a presidential decree known as "The Fusion" removed the city's federative status and merged it with the State of Rio de Janeiro, with the city of Rio de Janeiro replacing Niteri as the state's capital, and establishing the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region.[27]

In 1992, Rio hosted the Earth Summit, a United Nations conference to fight environmental degradation. Twenty years later, in 2012, the city hosted another conference on sustainable development, named United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The city hosted the World Youth Day in 2013, the second World Youth Day in South America and first in Brazil. In the sports field, Rio de Janeiro was the host of the 2007 Pan American Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. On 2 October 2009, the International Olympic Committee announced that Rio de Janeiro would host the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2016 Paralympic Games, beating competitors Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. The city became the first South American city to host the event and the second Latin American city (after Mexico City in 1968) to host the Games.

Rio de Janeiro is on the far western part of a strip of Brazil's Atlantic coast (between a strait east to Ilha Grande, on the Costa Verde, and the Cabo Frio), close to the Tropic of Capricorn, where the shoreline is oriented eastwest. Facing largely south, the city was founded on an inlet of this stretch of the coast, Guanabara Bay (Baa de Guanabara), and its entrance is marked by a point of land called Sugar Loaf (Po de Acar)a "calling card" of the city.[28]

The Centre (Centro), the core of Rio, lies on the plains of the western shore of Guanabara Bay. The greater portion of the city, commonly referred to as the North Zone (Zona Norte), extends to the northwest on plains composed of marine and continental sediments and on hills and several rocky mountains. The South Zone (Zona Sul) of the city, reaching the beaches fringing the open sea, is cut off from the Centre and from the North Zone by coastal mountains. These mountains and hills are offshoots of the Serra do Mar to the northwest, the ancient gneiss-granite mountain chain that forms the southern slopes of the Brazilian Highlands. The large West Zone (Zona Oeste), long cut off by the mountainous terrain, had been made more easily accessible to those on the South Zone by new roads and tunnels by the end of the 20th century.[29]

The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupying an area of 1,182.3 square kilometres (456.5sqmi),[30] is about 6,000,000.[31] The population of the greater metropolitan area is estimated at 1113.5million. Residents of the city are known as cariocas. The official song of Rio is "Cidade Maravilhosa", by composer Andr Filho.

Rio has a tropical savanna climate that closely borders a tropical monsoon climate (Am) according to the Kppen climate classification, and is often characterized by long periods of heavy rain between December and March.[32] The city experiences hot, humid summers, and mild, wet winters. In inland areas of the city, temperatures above 40C (104F) are common during the summer, though rarely for long periods, while maximum temperatures above 27C (81F) can occur on a monthly basis.

Along the coast, the breeze, blowing onshore and offshore, moderates the temperature. Because of its geographic situation, the city is often reached by cold fronts advancing from Antarctica, especially during autumn and winter, causing frequent weather changes. In summer there can be strong rains, which have, on some occasions, provoked catastrophic floods and landslides. The mountainous areas register greater rainfall since they constitute a barrier to the humid wind that comes from the Atlantic.[33] It is the Portuguese word for Flemish, and it was given to the nearby beach (Praia do Flamengo, Beach of the Flemish) because it was the place where the Dutch sailor Olivier van Noort tried to invade the city in 1599. At that time, the Dutchmen were called "Flemish" by the Portuguese.[1]

The city reputedly has had rare frosts in the past, but this has never been decisively confirmed. Some areas within Rio de Janeiro state occasionally have falls of snow grains and ice pellets (popularly called granizo, or "hail", although it is in fact melted and refrozen snow falling in the form of hail, rather than just icy snow). These phenomena are definitely not rare or limited to a few regions,[original research?] having already happened in the metropolitan area (including western suburbs of the city itself) several times in the 21st century.[34][35][36]

Drought is very rare, albeit bound to happen occasionally given the city's strongly seasonal tropical climate. The Brazilian drought of 20142015, most severe in the Southeast Region and the worst in decades, affected the entire metropolitan region's water supply (a diversion from the Paraba do Sul River to the Guandu River is a major source for the state's most populous mesoregion). There were plans to divert the Paraba do Sul to the Sistema Cantareira (Cantareira system) during the water crisis of 2014 in order to help the critically drought-stricken Greater So Paulo area. However, availability of sufficient rainfall to supply tap water to both metropolitan areas in the future is merely speculative.[37][38][39]

Roughly in the same suburbs (Nova Iguau and surrounding areas, including parts of Campo Grande and Bangu) that correspond to the location of the March 2012, FebruaryMarch 2013 and January 2015 pseudo-hail (granizo) falls, there was a tornado-like phenomenon in January 2011, for the first time in the region's recorded history, causing structural damage and long-lasting blackouts, but no fatalities.[40][41] The World Meteorological Organization has advised that Brazil, especially its southeastern region, must be prepared for increasingly severe weather occurrences in the near future, since events such as the catastrophic January 2011 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides are not an isolated phenomenon. In early May 2013, winds registering above 90km/h (56mph) caused blackouts in 15 neighborhoods of the city and three surrounding municipalities, and killed one person.[42] Rio saw similarly high winds (about 100km/h (62mph)) in January 2015.[43] The average annual minimum temperature is 21C (70F),[44] the average annual maximum temperature is 27C (81F),[45] and the average annual temperature is 24C (75F).[46] The average yearly precipitation is 1,069mm (42.1in).[47]

Temperature also varies according to elevation, distance from the coast, and type of vegetation or land use. Winter, cold fronts and dawn/morning sea breezes bring mild temperatures; cold fronts, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (in the form of winds from the Amazon Forest), the strongest sea-borne winds (often from an extratropical cyclone) and summer evapotranspiration bring showers or storms. Thus the monsoon-like climate has dry and mild winters and springs, and very wet and warm summers and autumns. As a result, temperatures over 40C (104F), that may happen about year-round but are much more common during the summer, often mean the actual temperature feeling is over 50C (122F), when there is little wind and the relative humidity percentage is high.[48][49][50][51] Rio de Janeiro is second only to Cuiab as the hottest Brazilian state capital outside Northern and Northeastern Brazil; temperatures below 14C (57F) occur yearly, while those lower than 11C (52F) happen less often. The phrase, fazer frio ("making cold", i.e. "the weather is getting cold"), usually refers to temperatures going below 21C (70F), which is possible year-round and is commonplace in mid-to-late autumn, winter and early spring nights.

Between 1961 and 1990, at the INMET (Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology) conventional station in the neighborhood of Sade, the lowest temperature recorded was 10.1C (50.2F) in October 1977,[52] and the highest temperature recorded was 39C (102.2F) in December 1963.[53] The highest accumulated rainfall in 24 hours was 167.4mm (6.6in) in January 1962.[54] However, the absolute minimum temperature ever recorded at the INMET Jacarepagu station, 3.8C (38.8F) in July 1974,[52] while the absolute maximum was 43.2C (110F) 26 December 2012,[55] in the neighborhood of the Santa Cruz station, while the highest accumulated rainfall in 24 hours, of 186.2mm (7.3in) was recorded at the Santa Teresa station in April 1967.[54] The lowest temperature ever registered in the 21st century was 8.1C (46.6F) in Vila Militar, July 2011.[56]

Average annual temperature of the sea is 2324C (7375F), from 22C (72F) in the period JulyOctober to 26C (79F) in February and March.[60] The dominant ocean current is the warm Brazil Current (as most of elsewhere in the Santos Bight between Santa Catarina and Cabo Frio; the subsurface part of the cold subantarctic Malvinas Current only slightly resurfaces to affect the latter, giving the characteristic semi-arid climate in parts of Arraial do Cabo, the only occurrence of such in the whole state). The wettest and driest months tend to be January and August respectively.

The city is commonly divided into the historic center (Centro); the tourist-friendly wealthier South Zone (Zona Sul); the residential less wealthy North Zone (Zona Norte); peripheries in the West Zone (Zona Oeste), among them Santa Cruz, Campo Grande and the wealthy newer Barra da Tijuca district.

(225419.4112S 431037.6608W / 22.905392000S 43.177128000W / -22.905392000; -43.177128000 (Downtown)) Centro or Downtown is the historic core of the city, as well as its financial centre. Sites of interest include the Pao Imperial, built during colonial times to serve as a residence for the Portuguese governors of Brazil; many historic churches, such as the Candelria Church (the former cathedral), So Jose, Santa Lucia, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Santa Rita, So Francisco de Paula, and the monasteries of Santo Antnio and So Bento. The Centro also houses the modern concrete Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. Around the Cinelndia square, there are several landmarks of the Belle poque of Rio, such as the Municipal Theatre and the National Library building. Among its several museums, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) and the Museu Histrico Nacional (National Historical Museum) are the most important. Other important historical attractions in central Rio include its Passeio Pblico, an 18th-century public garden. Major streets include Avenida Rio Branco and Avenida Vargas, both constructed, in 1906 and 1942 respectively, by destroying large swaths of the colonial city. A number of colonial streets, such as Rua do Ouvidor and Uruguaiana, have long been pedestrian spaces, and the popular Saara shopping district has been pedestrianized more recently. Also located in the center is the traditional neighbourhood called Lapa, an important bohemian area frequented by both townspeople and tourists.

(225827S 431158W / 22.974199S 43.199444W / -22.974199; -43.199444 (South Zone))

The South Zone of Rio de Janeiro (Zona Sul) is composed of several districts, among which are So Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana, and Leme, which compose Rio's famous Atlantic beach coastline. Other districts in the South Zone are Glria, Catete, Flamengo, Botafogo, and Urca, which border Guanabara Bay, and Santa Teresa, Cosme Velho, Laranjeiras, Humait, Lagoa, Jardim Botnico, and Gvea. It is the wealthiest part of the city and the best known overseas; the neighborhoods of Leblon and Ipanema, in particular, have the most expensive real estate in all of South America.

The neighbourhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revelers crowd onto the sands to watch the fireworks display. From 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event.[61] To the north of Leme, and at the entrance to Guanabara Bay, is the district of Urca and the Sugarloaf Mountain ('Po de Acar'), whose name describes the famous mountain rising out of the sea. The summit can be reached via a two-stage cable car trip from Praia Vermelha, with the intermediate stop on Morro da Urca. It offers views of the city second only to Corcovado mountain.

Hang gliding is a popular activity on the Pedra Bonita (literally, "Beautiful Rock"). After a short flight, gliders land on the Praia do Pepino (Pepino, or "cucumber", Beach) in So Conrado.

Since 1961, the Tijuca National Park (Parque Nacional da Tijuca), the largest city-surrounded urban forest and the second largest urban forest in the world, has been a National Park. The largest urban forest in the world is the Floresta da Pedra Branca (White Rock Forest), which is located in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.[62] The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (Pontifcia Universidade Catlica do Rio de Janeiro or PUC-Rio), Brazil's top private university, is located at the edge of the forest, in the Gvea district. The 1984 film Blame It on Rio was filmed nearby, with the rental house used by the story's characters sitting at the edge of the forest on a mountain overlooking the famous beaches.

In 2012, CNN elected Ipanema the best city beach in the world.[63]

The North Zone (Zona Norte) begins at Grande Tijuca (the middle class residential and commercial bairro of Tijuca), just west of the city center, and sprawls for miles inland until Baixada Fluminense and the city's Northwest.

This region is home to the Maracan stadium (located in Grande Tijuca), once the world's highest capacity football venue, able to hold nearly 199,000 people, as it did for the World Cup final of 1950. More recently its capacity has been reduced to conform with modern safety regulations and the stadium has introduced seating for all fans. Currently undergoing reconstruction, it has now the capacity for 90,000; it will eventually hold around 80,000 people. Maracan was the site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football competition of the 2007 Pan American Games; hosted the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the football matches of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Besides Maracan, the North Zone of Rio also has other tourist and historical attractions, such "Nossa Senhora da Penha de Frana Church", the Christ the Redeemer (statue) with its stairway built into the rock bed, 'Manguinhos', the home of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, a centenarian biomedical research institution with a main building fashioned like a Moorish palace, and the beautiful Quinta da Boa Vista, the park where the historic Imperial Palace is located. Nowadays, the palace hosts the National Museum, specialising in Natural History, Archaeology, and Ethnology.

The International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galeo Antnio Carlos Jobim International Airport, named after the famous Brazilian musician Antnio Carlos Jobim), the main campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro at the Fundo Island, and the State University of Rio de Janeiro, in Maracan, are also located in the Northern part of Rio.

This region is also home to most of the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro such as Mangueira, Salgueiro, Imprio Serrano, Unidos da Tijuca, among others. Some of the main neighbourhoods of Rio's North Zone are Alto da Boa Vista which shares the Tijuca Rainforest with the South and Southwest Zones; Tijuca, Vila Isabel, Mier, So Cristovo, Madureira, Penha, Manguinhos, Fundo, Olaria among others.

Many of Rio de Janeiro's roughly 1000 slums, or favelas, are located in the North Zone.[64] The favelas resemble the slums of Paris, New York or other major cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe, or similar neighborhoods in present underdeveloped countries.

West Zone (Zona Oeste) of Rio de Janeiro is a complicated place that makes up more than 50% of the city area, including Barra da Tijuca and Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhoods. The West Side of Rio has many historic sites because of the old "Royal Road of Santa Cruz" that crossed the territory in the regions of Realengo, Bangu, and Campo Grande, finishing at the Royal Palace of Santa Cruz in the Santa Cruz region.

The highest peak of the city of Rio de Janeiro is the Pedra Branca Peak (Pico da Pedra Branca) inside the Pedra Branca State Park. It has an altitude of 1024m. The Pedra Branca State Park (Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca)[65] is the biggest urban state park in the world comprising 17 neighborhoods in the west side, being a "giant lung" in the city with trails,[66] waterfalls and historic constructions like an old aqueduct in the Colnia Juliano Moreira[67] in the neighborhood of Taquara and a dam in Camorim. The park has three principal entrances: the main one is in Taquara called Pau da Fome Core, another entrance is the Piraquara Core in Realengo and the last one is the Camorim Core, considered the cultural heritage of the city.

Santa Cruz and Campo Grande Region have exhibited economic growth, mainly in the Campo Grande neighborhood. Industrial enterprises are being built in lower and lower middle class residential Santa Cruz, one of the largest and most populous of Rio de Janeiro's neighbourhoods, most notably Companhia Siderrgica do Atlntico (CSA), a new steel mill with its own private docks on Sepetiba Bay, which is planned to be South America's largest steel works.[68]

A tunnel called Tnel da Grota Funda, opened in 2012, creating a public transit facility between Barra da Tijuca and Santa Cruz, lessening travel time to the region from other areas of Rio de Janeiro.[69]

On 6 February 1889 the Bangu Textile Factory was founded, with the name of Industrial Progress Company of Brazil (Companhia Progresso Industrial do Brasil). The factory was officially opened on 8 March 1893, in a very beautiful architectural complex with styles like Italianate, Neo-Gothic and a tower in Mansard Roof style. After the opening in 1893, workers from Great Britain arrived in Bangu to work in the textile factory. The old farms became worker villages with red bricks houses, and a neo-gothic church was created, which still exists as the Saint Sebastian and Saint Cecilia Parish Church. Street cinemas and cultural buildings also appeared.

In May 1894, Thomas Donohoe, a British worker from Busby, Scotland, arrived in Bangu.[70] He was horrified to discover that there was no knowledge of football among Brazilians. So he wrote to his wife, Elizabeth, asking her to bring a football when she joined him. And shortly after her arrival, in September 1894, the first football match in Brazil took place in the field beside the textile factory. It was a five-a-side match between British workers, and took place six months before the first game organized by Charles Miller in So Paulo. However, the Bangu Football Club was not formally created until 1904.[71]

The Bangu Textile Factory closed in 2004. In 2015, in the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, a short film about Bangu and Thomas Donohoe called "Pass to Mr. Danau" (Bola Para Seu Danau, in Portuguese) won the "Curta Rio Award" together with 9 other short films about the city.

This is an elite area of the West Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It includes Barra da Tijuca, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Vargem Grande, Vargem Pequena, Grumari, Itanhang, Camorim and Jo.

Westwards from the older zones of Rio, Barra da Tijuca is a flat complex of barrier islands of formerly undeveloped coastal land, which constantly experiences new constructions and developments. It remains an area of accelerated growth, attracting some of the richer sectors of the population as well as luxury companies. High rise flats and sprawling shopping centers give the area a far more modern feel than the crowded city centre.

The urban planning of the area, completed in the late 1960s, mixes zones of single-family houses with residential skyscrapers. The beaches of Barra da Tijuca are also popular with the residents from other parts of the city.

One of the most famous hills in the city is the 842-metre-high (2,762-foot) Pedra da Gvea (Crow's nest Rock) bordering the South Zone. On the top of its summit is a huge rock formation (some, such as Erich von Dniken in his 1973 book, In Search of Ancient Gods, claim it to be a sculpture) resembling a sphinx-like, bearded head that is visible for many kilometres around.

According to the 2010 IBGE Census, there were 5,940,224 people residing in the city of Rio de Janeiro.[72] The census revealed the following numbers: 3,239,888 White people (51.2%), 2,318,675 Pardo (multiracial) people (36.5%), 708,148 Black people (11.5%), 45,913 Asian people (0.7%), 5,981 Amerindian people (0.1%).[73] The population of Rio de Janeiro was 53.2% female and 46.8% male.[73]

In 2010, the city of Rio de Janeiro was the 2nd most populous city in Brazil, after So Paulo.[74]

Different ethnic groups contributed to the formation of the population of Rio de Janeiro. Before European colonization, there were at least seven different indigenous peoples speaking 20 languages in the region. A part of them joined the Portuguese and the other the French. Those who joined the French were then exterminated by the Portuguese, while the other part was assimilated.[75]

Rio de Janeiro is home to the largest Portuguese population outside of Lisbon in Portugal.[77] After independence from Portugal, Rio de Janeiro became a destination for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Portugal, mainly in the early 20th century. The immigrants were mostly poor peasants who subsequently found prosperity in Rio as city workers and small traders.[78] The Portuguese cultural influence is still seen in many parts of the city (and many other parts of the state of Rio de Janeiro), including architecture and language. Most Brazilians with some cultural contact with Rio know how to easily differentiate between the local dialect, fluminense, and other Brazilian dialects.

People of Portuguese ancestry predominate in most of the state. The Brazilian census of 1920 showed that 39.74% of the Portuguese who lived in Brazil lived in Rio de Janeiro. Including all of the Rio de Janeiro, the proportion raised to 46.30% of the Portuguese who lived in Brazil. The numerical presence of the Portuguese was extremely high, accounting for 72% of the foreigners who lived in the capital. Portuguese born people accounted for 20.36% of the population of Rio, and those with a Portuguese father or a Portuguese mother accounted for 30.84%. In other words, native born Portuguese and their children accounted for 51.20% of the inhabitants of Rio, or a total of 267,664 people in 1890.[79]

The black community was formed by residents whose ancestors had been brought as slaves, mostly from Angola and Mozambique, as well by people of Angolan, Mozambican and West African descent who moved to Rio from other parts of Brazil. The samba (from Bahia with Angolan influence) and the famous local version of the carnival (from Europe) first appeared under the influence of the black community in the city.

Today, nearly half of the city's population is by phenotype perceptibly black or part black,.[81] A large majority has some recent Subsaharan ancestor. White in Brazil is defined more by having a European-looking phenotype rather than ancestry, and two full siblings can be of different "racial" categories[82] in a skin color and phenotype continuum from plido (branco) or fair-skinned, through branco moreno or swarthy Caucasian, mestio claro or lighter skinned multiracial, pardo (mixed race) to negro or black. Pardo, for example, in popular usage includes those who are caboclos (mestizos), mulatos (mulattoes), cafuzos (zambos), juaras (archaic term for tri-racials) and westernized Amerindians (which are called caboclos as well), being more of a skin color rather than a racial group in particular.

As a result of the influx of immigrants to Brazil from the late 19th to the early 20th century, also found in Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan area are communities of Levantine Arabs who are mostly Christian or Irreligious, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Japanese,[83] Jews, and people from other parts of Brazil. The main waves of internal migration came from people of African, mixed or older Portuguese (as descendants of early settlers) descent from Minas Gerais and people of Eastern European, Swiss, Italian, German, Portuguese and older Portuguese-Brazilian heritage from Esprito Santo in the early and mid-20th century, together with people with origins in Northeastern Brazil, in the mid-to-late and late 20th century, as well some in the early 21st century (the latter more directed to peripheries than the city's core).

According to an autosomal DNA study from 2009, conducted on a school in the poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro, the "pardos" there were found to be on average about 80% European, and the "whites" (who thought of themselves as "very mixed") were found to carry very little Amerindian and/or African admixtures. The results of the tests of genomic ancestry are quite different from the self made estimates of European ancestry. In general, the test results showed that European ancestry is far more important than the students thought it would be. The "pardos" for example thought of themselves as European, African and Amerindian before the tests, and yet their ancestry on average reached 80% European.[85][86] Other studies showed similar results[84][87]

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after So Paulo) and has a rapidly expanding population and rapidly growing area due to rapid urbanization.

The Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, according to 2009 research from Fundao Getlio Vargas (known as Novo Mapa das Religies), ranks first in Brazil in the percentage of Catholics (51.09%) living there. Rio de Janeiro city also ranks fifth among Brazilian state capital cities in the percentage of its population that is irreligious (13.33%), barely changing since 2000 (the first-ranked, Boa Vista, has 21.16% irreligious).[90][91] It is also the Brazilian state capital with the greatest percentage of Spiritists (now about 45%), and with substantial numbers in Afro-Brazilian religions and Eastern religions.

Catholic Church in Rio de Janeiro

There are significant disparities between the rich and the poor in Rio de Janeiro, and different socioeconomic groups are largely segregated into different neighborhoods.[93] Although the city clearly ranks among the world's major metropolises, large numbers live in slums known as favelas, where 95% of the population are poor, compared to 40% in the general population.[94] There have been a number of government initiatives to counter this problem, from the removal of the population from favelas to housing projects such as Cidade de Deus to the more recent approach of improving conditions in the favelas and bringing them up to par with the rest of the city, as was the focus of the "Favela Bairro" program and deployment of Pacifying Police Units.

Rio has more people living in slums than any other city in Brazil, according to the 2010 Census.[95] More than 1,500,000 people live in its 763 favelas, 22% of Rio's total population. So Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, has more favelas (1,020) in sheer numbers, but proportionally has fewer people living in favelas than Rio.

Yet in 2000, several Rio neighborhoods boasted Human Development Index scores higher than the most developed countries in the world.[96]

The HDI of Brazil overall was 0.755 and Rio State was 0.778. The city scores 0.800.[97][98]

Rio de Janeiro has the second largest GDP of any city in Brazil, surpassed only by So Paulo. According to the IBGE, it was approximately US$201billion in 2008, equivalent to 5.1% of the national total. Taking into consideration the network of influence exerted by the urban metropolis (which covers 11.3% of the population), this share in GDP rises to 14.4%, according to a study released in October 2008 by the IBGE.[99]

Greater Rio de Janeiro, as perceived by the IBGE, has a GDP of US$187billion, constituting the second largest hub of national wealth. Per capita GDP is US$11,786.[100] It concentrates 68% of the state's economic strength and 7.9% of all goods and services produced in the country.[101]

The services sector comprises the largest portion of GDP (65.52%), followed by commerce (23.38%), industrial activities (11.06%) and agriculture (0.04%).[102][103]

Benefiting from the federal capital position it had for a long period (17631960), the city became a dynamic administrative, financial, commercial and cultural center. Rio de Janeiro became an attractive place for companies to locate when it was the capital of Brazil, as important sectors of society and of the government were present in the city, even when their factories were located in other cities or states. The city was chosen as headquarters for state-owned companies such as Petrobras, Eletrobras, Caixa Econmica Federal, National Economic and Social Development Bank and Vale (which was privatized in the 1990s). The Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange (BVRJ), which currently trades only government securities, was the first stock exchange founded in Brazil in 1845. Despite the transfer of the capital to Braslia in 1960, many of these headquarters remained within the Rio metropolitan area.

The off-shore oil exploration in the Campos Basin began in 1968 and became the main site for oil production of Brazil. This caused many oil and gas companies to be based in Rio de Janeiro, such as the Brazilian branches of Shell, EBX and Esso. For many years Rio was the second largest industrial hub of Brazil,[104] with oil refineries, shipbuilding industries, steel, metallurgy, petrochemicals, cement, pharmaceutical, textile, processed foods and furniture industries.

Major international pharmaceutical companies have their Brazilian headquarters in Rio such as: Merck, Roche, Arrow, Darrow, Baxter, Mayne, and Mappel. A newer electronics and computer sector has been added to the more-established industries. Construction, also an important activity, provides a significant source of employment for large numbers of unskilled workers and is buoyed by the number of seasonal residents who build second homes in the Greater Rio de Janeiro area.

Rio is an important financial centre, second only to So Paulo in volume of business. Its securities market, although declining in significance relative to So Paulo, is still of major importance. Recent decades have seen a sharp transformation in its economic profile, which is becoming more and more one of a major national hub of services and businesses.[105] The city is the headquarters of large telecom companies, such as Intelig, Oi and Embratel. Major Brazilian entertainment and media organizations are based in Rio de Janeiro like Organizaes Globo and also some of Brazil's major newspapers: Jornal do Brasil, O Dia, and Business Rio.

Tourism and entertainment are other key aspects of the city's economic life. The city is the nation's top tourist attraction for both Brazilians and foreigners.[106]

To attract industry, the state government has designated certain areas on the outskirts of the city as industrial districts where infrastructure is provided and land sales are made under special conditions. Oil and natural gas from fields off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state are a major asset used for developing manufacturing activities in Rio's metropolitan area, enabling it to compete with other major cities for new investment in industry.[107]

Owing to the proximity of Rio's port facilities, many of Brazil's export-import companies are headquartered in the city. In Greater Rio, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in Brazil, retail trade is substantial. Many of the most important retail stores are located in the Centre, but others are scattered throughout the commercial areas of the other districts, where shopping centres, supermarkets, and other retail businesses handle a large volume of consumer trade.[108]

Rio de Janeiro is (as of 2014[update]) the second largest exporting municipality in Brazil. Annually, Rio exported a total of $7.49B (USD) worth of goods.[109] The top three goods exported by the municipality were crude petroleum (40%), semi finished iron product (16%), and semi finished steel products (11%).[110] Material categories of mineral products (42%) and metals (29%) make up 71% of all exports from Rio.[111]

Compared to other cities, Rio de Janeiro's economy is the 2nd largest in Brazil, behind So Paulo, and the 30th largest in the world with a GDP of R$ 201,9billion in 2010. The per capita income for the city was R$22,903 in 2007 (around US$14,630).[112] Largely because of the strength of Brazil's currency at the time, Mercer's city rankings of cost of living for expatriate employees, reported that Rio de Janeiro ranked 12th among the most expensive cities in the world in 2011, up from the 29th position in 2010, just behind So Paulo (ranked 10th), and ahead of London, Paris, Milan, and New York City.[113][114] Rio also had the most expensive hotel rates in Brazil, and the daily rate of its five star hotels were the second most expensive in the world after only New York City.[115]

The Portuguese language is the official and national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. English and Spanish are also part of the official curriculum. There are also international schools, such as the American School of Rio de Janeiro, Our Lady of Mercy School, the Corcovado German School, the Lyce Franais and the British School of Rio de Janeiro.

The city has several universities and research institutes. The Ministry of Education has certified approximately 99 upper-learning institutions in Rio.[116] The most prestigious university is the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the fifth best in Latin America, and the second best in Brazil, second only to the University of So Paulo, the best in Latin America, according to the QS World University Rankings.[117][118]

Some notable higher education institutions are:

There are more than 137 upper-learning institutions in whole Rio de Janeiro state.[119]

Primary schools are largely under municipal administration, while the state plays a more significant role in the extensive network of secondary schools. There are also a small number of schools under federal administration, as is the case of Pedro II School, Colgio de Aplicao da UFRJ and the Centro Federal de Educao Tecnolgica of Rio de Janeiro (CEFET-RJ). In addition, Rio has an ample offering of private schools that provide education at all levels. Rio is home to many colleges and universities. The literacy rate for cariocas aged 10 and older is nearly 95 percent, well above the national average.[120]

The Rio de Janeiro State University (public), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (public), Brazilian Institute of Capital Markets (private) and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (private) are among the country's top institutions of higher education. Other institutes of higher learning include the Colgio Regina Coeli in Usina, notable for having its own 3ft (914mm) narrow gauge[121] funicular railway on its grounds.[122]

In Rio, there were 1,033 primary schools with 25,594 teachers and 667,788 students in 1995. There are 370 secondary schools with 9,699 teachers and 227,892 students. There are 53 University-preparatory schools with 14,864 teachers and 154,447 students. The city has six major universities and 47 private schools of higher learning.[123]

Rio de Janeiro is a main cultural hub in Brazil. Its architecture embraces churches and buildings dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, blending with the world-renowned designs of the 20th century. Rio was home to the Portuguese Imperial family and capital of the country for many years, and was influenced by Portuguese, English, and French architecture.[124]

Rio de Janeiro has inherited a strong cultural role from the past. In the late 19th century, there were sessions held of the first Brazilian film and since then, several production cycles have spread out, eventually placing Rio at the forefront of experimental and national cinema. The Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival[125] has been held annually since 1999.[126] Rio currently brings together the main production centers of Brazilian television.[127] Major international films set in Rio de Janeiro include Blame it on Rio; the James Bond film Moonraker; the Oscar award-winning, critically acclaimed Central Station by Walter Salles, who is also one of Brazil's best-known directors; and the Oscar award-winning historical drama, Black Orpheus, which depicted the early days of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. Internationally famous, Brazilian-made movies illustrating a darker side of Rio de Janeiro include Elite Squad and City of God.

Rio has many important cultural landmarks, such as the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), one of the largest libraries in the world with collections totalling more than 9 million items; the Theatro Municipal; the National Museum of Fine Arts; the Carmen Miranda Museum; the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden; the Parque Lage; the Quinta da Boa Vista; the Imperial Square; the Brazilian Academy of Letters; the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro; and the Natural History Museum.

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's primary tourist attraction and resort. It receives the most visitors per year of any city in South America with 2.82million international tourists a year.[128] The city sports world-class hotels, approximately 80kilometres of beaches and the famous Corcovado and Sugarloaf mountains. While the city had in past had a thriving tourism sector, the industry entered a decline in the last quarter of the 20th century. Annual international airport arrivals dropped from 621,000 to 378,000 and average hotel occupancy dropped to 50% between 1985 and 1993.[129]

The fact that Braslia replaced Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian capital in 1960 and that So Paulo replaced Rio as the country's commercial, financial and main cultural center during the mid-20th century, has also been cited as a leading cause of the decline. Rio de Janeiro's government has since undertaken to modernise the city's economy, reduce its chronic social inequalities, and improve its commercial standing as part of an initiative for the regeneration of the tourism industry.[130]

The city is an important global LGBT destination, 1 million LGBT tourists visiting each year.[131] The Rua Farme de Amoedo is located in Ipanema, a famous neighborhood in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The street and the nearby beach, famous tourist spots, are remarkable for their popularity in the LGBT community. Rio de Janeiro is the most awarded destination by World Travel Awards in the South American category of "best destination".[132]

After Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822, Rio de Janeiro quickly developed a European-style bourgeois cultural life, including numerous newspapers, in which most 19th-century novels were initially published in serial. Joaquim Manuel de Macedo's A Moreninha (1844) was perhaps the first successful novel in Brazil and inaugurates a recurrent 19th-century theme: a romantic relationship between idealistic young people in spite of cruelties of social fortune.

The first notable work of realism focusing on the urban lower-middle class is Manuel Antnio de Almeida's Memrias de um sargento de milcias (1854), which presents a series of picaresque but touching scenes, and evokes the transformation of a town into a city with suggestive nostalgia. Romantic and realist modes both flourished through the late 19th century and often overlapped within works.[133] The most famous author of Rio de Janeiro, however, was Machado de Assis, who is also widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature[134] and considered the founder of Realism in Brazil, with the publication of The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (1881).[135] He commented on and criticized the political and social events of the city and country such as the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the transition from Empire to Republic with his numerous chronicles published in newspapers of the time.[136] Many of his short stories and novels, like Quincas Borba (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899), are placed in Rio.

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