The city is officially mentioned for the first time when, in January 1502, the second Portuguese exploratory expedition, commanded by Gaspar Lemos, arrived at the bay, which the navigator assumed to be the mouth of a river, therefore calling the region Rio de Janeiro (River of January).

In 1530, the Portuguese court sent an expedition to colonize the area, rather than continuing to use it only as a stop-over on their maritime adventures. The French, however, had had a presence in Rio de Janeiro and its surroundings since the beginning of the century and were willing to fight for control of the region. In 1560, after a series of unsuccessful attempts, the Portuguese expelled the French.

The Portuguese city grew up around São Januário Hill, later known as Castle Hill, and then Praça Quinze, a square which is still the heart of Rio.

The city developed due to its natural vocation as a port. At the same time that gold was discovered in Minas Gerais State, at the end of the seventeenth century, the governor of Brazil was made viceroy. Salvador was the colonial capital, but the growing importance of the port of Rio ensured the transfer of the seat of power to the south, to the city that would become, and still is, the intellectual and cultural center of the country.

In 1808, the Portuguese royal family came to Rio de Janeiro, as a refuge from the threat of Napoleon’s invasion. In this period the city developed considerably, with the establishment of new activities and construction of large buildings. When the royal family returned to Portugal and after the independence of Brazil in 1822, the gold mines had been exhausted and given way to a different source of wealth: coffee.

The city continued to grow through the nineteenth century, initially northward, to São Cristóvão and Tijuca, and then towards the South Zone, through Glória, Flamengo and Botafogo. However, in 1889, the abolition of slavery and poor harvests interrupted progress. This period of social and political unrest led to the Proclamation of the Republic. Despite this, Rio, then called the Federal District, remained the political center and capital of the country.

The beginning of the twentieth century saw the creation of wide streets and imposing buildings, mostly in the French fin-de-siècle style. Rio de Janeiro maintained its position until the inauguration of Brasília as capital of the republic in 1960. Capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the city remains the social and cultural center of the country.

Source: Riotur