RIO DE JANEIRO (Western Colonialism)

Rio de Janeiro means River of January in Portuguese. It was so named because the bay on which it is located, Guanabara Bay, was discovered on January 1, 1502, by European explorers who believed it to be the mouth of a river. The leader of the expedition was Gaspar de Lemos, a Portuguese captain following in the wake of Pedro Alvars Cabral (1468-1520) who was the first discoverer of the Brazilian coast in 1500. In 1530 the Portuguese court sponsored a further expedition, this time to colonize the region and establish a permanent settlement. There was much rivalry with French and Dutch colonists with whom there were frequent skirmishes. The first settlement in the bay area was called Antarctic France and was founded by Nicolas de Villegagnon (1510-1571) in 1555, but by the 1560s the Portuguese achieved preeminence despite the French alliance with the Tamoio. The city of Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro was founded on March 1, 1565, by Estacio de Sa (1520-1567). It was named after the namesake of Sebastian (1554-1578), the king of Portugal. By 1585 Rio de Janeiro’s population was 3,850, including some 750 Portuguese and approximately 100 Africans who had been brought to the Americas as slaves.

Rio de Janeiro. Now Brazil's second largest city after Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro is pictured here in 1809 when it served as the capital of Brazil and the Portuguese Empire.

Rio de Janeiro. Now Brazil’s second largest city after Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro is pictured here in 1809 when it served as the capital of Brazil and the Portuguese Empire.  

During the 1600s Rio de Janeiro developed into an important port, especially for the export of sugar derived from sugar cane production in the hinterland using enslaved indigenous people. Brazil wood (Cesalpina echi-nata), known as pau-brasil, a dense hardwood red in color, also became a major export. The city also benefited from the discovery of gold in the state of Minas Gerais (meaning General Mines) toward the close of the seventeenth century. This brought growth, wealth, and influence, and in 1764 Rio de Janeiro replaced Salvador as Brazil’s capital. During the period 1808 to 1821 the Portuguese royal family, led by the prince regent (to become Dom Joao VI [1767-1826]) adopted it as their home as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) threatened their homeland. By the time they returned to Portugal, Brazil had declared independence in 1822, under the direction of Dom Pedro I (1798-1834), the son of Dom Joao VI, as its first emperor. He was a weak ruler abdicated in favor of his son, Dom Pedro II (1825-1891), who was then only five years old. A triple regency provided rule but only until Dom Pedro II came of age; he ruled for 50 years and established a state that would eventually deny the monarchy. The gold mines had been exhausted by this time but coffee production provided a new wealth to boost Rio de Janeiro’s economy. The city continued to expand, first to the north and then to the south, and enjoyed a buoyant period until the late 1880s. The abolition of slavery and a series of poor harvests then resulted in economic hardship as labor and primary produce became increasingly expensive. Political problems ensued and in 1889 Brazil declared itself a republic after a military coup; the emperor was exiled and died in 1891. Rio de Janeiro remained the capital of the new republic until 1960 when it was moved to Brasilia.

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