Rio de Janeiro - Brazil... THE MARVELOUS CITY

WELCOME TO RIO DE JANEIRO, THE MARVELOUS CITY!!!

Here you will find lots of pictures and information about one of the most beautiful cities in the world!

If you want to see just pictures, go straight to post #2!


City's flag and coat of arms!

Rio de Janeiro is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. The city was the capital of Brazil (1763-1960) and of the Portuguese Empire (1808-1821). Commonly known as just Rio (particularly in English and by its inhabitants), the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa - "The Marvelous City".

It is famous for its spectacular natural setting, its Carnival celebrations, samba and other music, hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon, pavements decorated with black and cream swirl pattern mosaics, and the easygoing lifestyle of its inhabitants. Some of the most famous local landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain; Sugar Loaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival; and Maracanã stadium, one of the world's largest. Rio also boasts the world's largest forest inside an urban area, called Floresta da Tijuca, or 'Tijuca Forest'.

Rio de Janeiro is located at 22 degrees, 54 minutes south latitude, 43 degrees 14 minutes west longitude (22°54′S 43°14′W). The population of the City of Rio de Janeiro is about 6,094,183, occupying an area of 1182.3 km² (456.5 mi²). The larger metropolitan area population is estimated at 11-12 million. It is Brazil's second-largest city after São Paulo and was the country's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas.


View from the Corcovado mountain.

History

Guanabara Bay, future site of the city, was reached by Portuguese explorers in an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos on January 20, 1502; hence Rio de Janeiro, "River of January". There is a legend that the mariners named the place thus because they thought the mouth of the bay was actually the mouth of a river, but no experienced sailor would make that mistake. At the time, river was the general word for any large body of water.

Unofficial European presence in the area began not long after. In 1519 when Ferdinand Magellan resupplied his ships in the bay, French smugglers were already using the bay as a post for smuggling brazilwood. When French naval officer Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon arrived in 1555 with a fleet of two ships and 600 soldiers and colonists, he founded the first permanent European settlement in the area. The colony was referred to as "France Antarctique". The colonists consisted of mainly French Huguenots and Swiss Calvinists. Villegaignon left in 1557 after contentions with some the colonists.


Rio de Janeiro's waterfront and the Morro de Castello, from the Ilha das Cobras in 1919

The actual city was founded in March 1, 1565, by Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá, who called it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (St Sebastian of the January River), in honour of King Sebastian I of Portugal. For centuries, the settlement was commonly called São Sebastião – or even 'Saint Sebastian' – instead of the currently popular second half of its name. The city was founded as a base from which to invade the French settlement. They succeeded in 1567 and the French were expelled. Later, São Sebastião was frequently attacked by pirates and privateers, especially by then enemies of Portugal, such as the Netherlands and France.


Cristo Redentor, the famous Christ the Redeemer statue at the top of the Corcovado mountain

The exact place of Rio's foundation is at the foot of P̣o-de-A̤̼car (Sugarloaf Mountain). Later, the whole city was moved within a palisade on top of a hill, imitating the medieval European defence strategy of fortified castles Рthe place has since then been called Morro do Castelo (Castle Hill). Thus, the city developed from the current centre (Downtown, see below) southwards and then westwards (with large parts built over reclaimed land); an urban movement which continues today.

In the late 16th century the Portuguese crown began treating the village as a strategic location for the Atlantic transit of ships between Brazil, the African colonies and Europe. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native tribes to defend the settlement against invaders – Rio's neighbour, Niterói, for instance, was founded by a native chief for the purpose of supporting defence, the Tamoio Indian Araribóia. Sugar cane was the first industry in the area. First native, and later African, slaves were used for manual labor. Eventually the industry dwindled as higher quality sugar cane from northern Brazil became more available.

Until early in the 18th century the city was threatened or invaded by several Рmostly French Рpirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-Fran̤ois Duclerc and Ren̩ Duguay-Trouin. After 1720, when the Portuguese found gold and diamonds in the neighbouring captaincy of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro became a much more useful port for exporting wealth than Salvador, Bahia, which is much farther to the north. In 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved to Rio.


Lagoa, with Corcovado in the background

Until the early years of the 20th century the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic Downtown business district (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 located between Botafogo and the neighbourhood now known as Copacabana. That beach'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 beachy party town (though, this reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade).

Plans for moving the nation's capital city to the territorial centre had been occasionally discussed, and when Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955, it was partially on the stength promises to build a new capital. Though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960. On April 21 that year the capital of Brazil was officially moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília.

Between 1960 and 1975 Rio was a city-state (such as Hamburg, or Bremen in Germany) under the name State of Guanabara (after the bay it borders). However, for administrative and political reasons, a presidential decree known as A Fusão ("The Fusion") removed the city's federative status and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975. Even today, some Cariocas advocate the return of municipal autonomy.


Copacabana Palace Hotel at Copacabana beach. One of the best known and most luxurious hotels in Rio, it was built in the 1920s

City districts

The city is commonly divided into the historic downtown (Centro); the tourist-friendly South Zone, with world-famous beaches; the industrial North Zone; and the West Zone, with the newer Barra da Tijuca district.

Downtown

Centro (or Downtown in American English) is the historic centre of the city. Sites of interest include the so-called 'Paço Imperial', built during colonial times to serve as residence to the Portuguese governors of Brazil; many historic churches, such as the Candelária; the modern-style cathedral, the Municipal Theatre and several museums. Downtown remains the heart of the city's business community. The "Bondinho", a tram (trolley car), leaves from a city centre station, crosses a former Roman-style aqueduct – the 'Arcos da Lapa', built in 1750 and converted to a tram viaduct in 1896 - and rambles through the hilly streets of the Santa Teresa neighbourhood nearby.


The Municipal Theatre, originally an opera house in a classic European style, built in the beginning of the 20th century in the centre of Rio

South Zone

The South Zone of Rio de Janeiro is composed of several districts, amongst which are São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana and Leme, which compose Rio's famous beach coastline. Other districts in the South Zone are Botafogo, Flamengo and Urca, which border Guanabara Bay and Lagoa, Gávea, Jardim Botânico and Laranjeiras.

The neighbourhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revellers crowd onto the sands to watch the firework display. As of 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event.

To the north of Leme, and at the entrance to Guanabara bay, lies the district of Urca and the Sugarloaf Mountain ('Pão de Açúcar'), whose name describes the famous hump rising out of the sea.


A view of Ipanema from Corcovado. The Cagarras Islands can be seen on the background, with the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in the foreground.

he 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 second only to Corcovado mountain. One of the highest mountains in the city, however, at 842 metres, is the Pedra da Gávea (Topsail Rock), in São Conrado. Hang gliding is a popular activity on the nearby peak, called Pedra Bonita (Beautiful Rock) – after a short flight, gliders land on the Praia do Pepino beach in São Conrado.

Since 1961, the Tijuca Forest ("Floresta 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 also located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Catholic University in Rio (Pontifícia Universidade Catôlica-Rio, or PUC-Rio) sits right at the edge of the forest linking city with forest. 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.


Ipanema beach, in the South Zone, as featured in the Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais song The Girl from Ipanema. Dois irmãos belvedere can be seen in the background.

North Zone

The North Zone of Rio is home to the Maracanã stadium, once the world's highest capacity football (soccer) venue, able to hold nearly 180,000 people (As observed during the World Cup final of 1950). (The biggest football stadium is the Rungnado May Day Stadium, in Pyongyang, North Korea ) In modern times the capacity has been reduced to conform with modern safety regulations and the stadium has introduced seating for all fans. Currently undergoing renovation, it only has the capacity for 45,000 fans, it will eventually hold around 120,000 people. Maracanã will be the site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football competition of the 2007 Pan-American Games.

Besides the Maracanã, the North Zone of Rio also holds other tourist and historical attractions, such as 'Manguinhos', the home of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, a centenarian biomedical research institution, with its main building fashioned like a Moorish castle, and the beautiful 'Quinta da Boa Vista', the old imperial palace (Paço), which is now the National Museum.

The International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galẹo РAnt̫nio Carlos Jobim International Airport, named after the famous Brazilian musician "Tom" Jobim), the main campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro at the Funḍo Island, and the Governador Island are also located in the Northern part of Rio. Some of the main neighbourhoods of Rio's north zone are Tijuca, who shares The Tijuca Forest with the South Zone, and Graja̼, Vila Isabel, M̩ier, Ṣo Cristoṿo among others.


A picture of the Zona Norte of Rio de Janeiro, taken from NASA's Landsat 7

West Zone

The West Zone is the region furthest from the centre of Rio de Janeiro. It includes Barra da Tijuca, Jacarepaguá, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Vargem Grande, Vargem Pequena, Campo Grande, Sulacap, and Santa Cruz. Neighbouring districts within the West Zone reveal stark differences between social classes. The area has industrial zones, but some agricultural areas still remain in its wide area.

Westwards from the older zones is Barra da Tijuca, a flat expanse of formerly undeveloped coastal land, which is currently experiencing a wave of new construction. 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 centres give the area a far more American feel than the crowded city centre. The urban planning of the area, made in the late 1960s, resembles that of United States' suburbs, though mixing zones of single-family houses with residential skyscrapers. The beaches of Barra da Tijuca are also popular with the city's residents. Barra da Tijuca is the home of Pan-American Village for the 2007 Pan American Games. Barra da Tijuca now has a tiny, but growing movement for separating Barra from the city of Rio and making Barra a new city.

Beyond the neighbourhoods of Barra da Tijuca and Jacarepaguá another district, which has exhibited good economic growth, is that of Campo Grande. Some sports competitions in the Pan-American Games of 2007 will be held in the Miécimo da Silva Sports Centre, nicknamed the 'Algodão' (Cotton) Gymnasium, and others in the Ítalo del Cima Stadium, in Campo Grande.

Climate

Rio has a tropical climate with warm to hot temperatures year-round and generally high humidity. Summer heat can be oppressive, occasionally reaching 40°C (104°F) and higher. However, the cool waters of the local beaches provide an excellent escape, as do high-elevation areas nearby, such as Petrópolis. Precipitation is moderately high, being most heavy in the summer months when thunderstorms are common. The same cool waters enjoyed by local beachgoers prevent tropical cyclones from forming off the coast of Brazil. In a 2006 study, Rio de Janeiro was found to have the bluest sky in the world.

Culture

Music

Rio was eternalized in the song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema) composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and recognized worldwide and recorded by Astrud Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. This is also the main key song of the Bossa Nova, a musical genre that was born in Rio.

Carnaval

The carnaval in Rio de Janeiro has many choices, including the famous Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) parades in the sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous ones are the following:

* Cordão do Bola Preta: Parades in the centre of the city. It is one of the most traditional carnavals. In 2006, it gathered 200,000 people in one day.
* Suvaco do Cristo: Band that parades in the Botanic Garden, directly below the Redeemer statue's arm. The name, in English, translates as 'Christ's armpit', and was chosen for that reason.
* Carmelitas: Band that was supposedly created by nuns, but in fact it is just a theme chosen by the band. It parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, which have very nice views.
* Simpatia é Quase Amor: One of the most popular parades in Ipanema. Translates as 'Friendliness is almost love'.
* Banda de Ipanema: The most traditional in Ipanema. It attracts families as well as homosexuals and drag queens.


Carnival in Rio.

Funk

Funk carioca is a very popular music genre in Rio. It grew during the last 20 years mainly among the low income population while recently becoming mainstream friendly. In Rio, funk music are made by simple people of communities, without artistic requirements: it's an expression of the way of life of these people. This music, like the original funk beat is very requested for dance in parties and clubs where thousands of people join together on weekends to celebrate the funk carioca way of life.

Sports

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2007 Pan American Games.

More notable sports events in Rio includes the MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix and the World Beach volleyball finals. Jacarepaguá was the place of Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix into 1978-1990 and the Champ Car event into 1996-1999. WCT/WQS Surf championships was disputed on the beaches from 1985-2001. The city is building a new stadium near the Maracanã, to hold 45,000 people. It will be named after Brazilian ex-FIFA president João Havelange. Rio de Janeiro was also a candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Copacabana beach will be the site of the triathlon and beach volleyball with yachting competitions held in Guanabara Bay.


Maracana Stadium as viewed from Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sports are a very popular pastime in Rio de Janeiro. The most popular is futebol (football/soccer). Rio de Janeiro is home to four traditional Brazilian football clubs: Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco etc.

Other popular sports are beach football, beach volleyball, surfing, kitesurfing, hang gliding, motor racing, jiu-jitsu, recreational sailing, and sport rowing. The peculiarly Brazilian dance/sport/martial art Capoeira is also popular. Another sport that is highly popular on the beaches of Rio is what is termed in Brazil "Fresco Ball" (or Matkot), a type of beach tennis.

Rio de Janeiro is also a paradise for rock climbers, with hundreds of routes all over the town, ranging from easy boulders to highly technical big wall climbs, all inside the city. The most famous, Rio's granite mountain, the Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar), is an example, with routes from the easy 3rd grade (American 5.4, French 3) to the extremely difficult 9th grade (5.13/8b), up to 280 metres.

Hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro started in the mid 1970s and quickly proved to be perfectly suited for this town, due to its geography; steep mountains encounter the Atlantic Ocean, which provide excellent take-off locations and great landing zones on the beach. Starting with amateur flights, this activity soon turned into a profitable industry of tandem hang gliding with some very experienced pilots at a cost for a ride around US$ 100.00. In the Summer, between December and March, it’s recommended to book in advance.

Fishing is a very popular activity in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, one can expect to catch a plethora of famous Brazilian copperfish, known as peixe de cobre. Many markets sell peixes de cobre and these fish are quite popular for traditional meals.

Miscellaneous

In 1992 the city hosted the UNCED Earth Summit on Sustainable development.

Rio has also been used as a backdrop for many films, such as Notorious (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), 007 Moonraker (1979), Blame It on Rio (1984), Bossa Nova (2000), The Girl From Rio (2002) and City of God (2002). The film The Brazilian Job, a sequel for The Italian Job (2004) is being filmed in the city.

In The Simpsons episode "Blame it on Lisa", the family visited Rio de Janeiro, only to encounter a myriad of ludicrously exaggerated problems. The episode angered several tourist officials and they threatened to sue the producers of the show.

Featured/recreated in the video game Driver 2, for the PlayStation

The Harbour of Rio de Janeiro was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World by CNN.

Rio de Janeiro was also mentioned in the both version of The Producers as being the place the Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom would escape to after their sure-fire-flop musical. In the 2005 version, they sing a song about Rio entitled "You'll Find Your Happiness in Rio".

In the popular Ender's Shadow series, Rio de Janeiro is the location of Peter Wiggin's Hegemon Headquarters.

In the series, Lupin III, Rio is visited on many occasions. One time for a robbery of the Maracana Stadium, where they stuffed the ticket money inside the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and nearly escaped.


A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro

Thanks to Wikipedia!

Here are 52 Rio's threads with TONS of pictures from the Brazilian Forum!!!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52

Now I will start posting the best pictures EVER from Rio De Janeiro!

Have fun!>