Rio de Janeiro History

History of Rio de Janeiro: Sugar, coffee and slaves created the marvelous city

The history of Rio de Janeiro: Brazil is a melting pot of native Brazilians, Portuguese, Africans, Germans, Japanese and Italians with centuries of intermixing different cultures.

Indigenous people
The indigenous people of Brazil are of course those Indians who discovered Europeans when they first arrived to their continent. The indigenous people lived in nature as nomadic or semi-nomads. Traces of hunting and gathering cultures in southwestern Brazil has been dated to around 13 000-6000 BC.

The colonial times
But a treaty was signed in Tordesillas in 1494 Spain. The treaty regulated the Portuguese and Castilian colonial spheres. Africa and India would belong to Portugal, while the newly discovered continent of America went to Castile. The border between the two stakeholders were drawn so that it cut straight across the unexplored South America. East of the continent would be placed on the Portuguese side and so Brazil became a Portuguese colony – even before the first Portuguese navigators reached the coast in the early 1500s. Brazil was officially “discovered” by the Portuguese in 1500 under Pedro Alvares Cabral.

The area where Rio de Janeiro was reached by Portuguese sailors in January 1502. According to one popular version of the event the sailors thought the Guanabara Bay was a river mouth and gave it the name of Rio de Janeiro, which means January River in Portuguese. But historians think it is  unlikely that the experienced sailors would mistake a bay for a river. Many historians now believe that the explanation is the Portuguese word for river in the 1500s also was used synonymously with the word of bay.

The French were the first Europeans that settled in the Guanabara Bay. On November 1, 1555 Nicolas Durand founded the Villegaignon, with the help of six hundred soldiers and Protestant settlers La France Antarctique colony on an island in the bay. There they founded a fort on the mainland, and laid the foundation for the city Henri Ville. Unchallenged by the Portuguese the little colony Villegaignon expanded in 1556 and more new colonists arrived. The French colonization was justified because they wanted a species of wood whose red pigment were used to color fabrics. Villegaignon formed alliance with a local tribe who were hostile to the Portuguese.

Portugal tried to get monopoly on the brazilian wood and they decided in 1560 to get rid of the French. Brazil’s new Governor General, Mem de Sá lead the attack. With a large fleet and a few thousand soldiers, he destroyed in a few days Fort Coligny. The French fled with the help of the Indians and the hinterland. It would take another few years before the French were demolished partly with the help of a rival tribe.

Estácio de Sá founded the city of Rio de Janeiro on March 1, 1565. It was a strategic place close to the mountain and the landmark Sugar Loaf. But already in 1567 they moved to the small town of Morro do Castelo, which was easier to defend. At that time the population amounted to only three thousand persons, most of them Indians. As Rio de Janeiro grew in importance as a port the  fortifications were more advanced and some of these buildings are still preserved.

The meeting between Europeans and Indians were initially quite harmoniously. The image of the French and Portuguese was quite different. The French were in general more tolerant and respected the Indians’ character to a greater extent. On the one hand they regarded the indigenous people as savages, who practiced ritualistic cannibalism.

The conflict intensified with the Indians, however, when sugar was grown in the Rio area. The Portuguese were in urgent need of people and began using Indians as slaves. They worked reluctantly and several of them died from European diseases since they had no resistance. Soon there was only a tiny remnant left by Indian tribes, the people who lived around the Guanabara Bay in Rio for at least ten thousand years.

Instead, the colonists began importing slaves from the many Portuguese feitorias (fortified trading posts) were scattered along the coast of Africa. Rio would soon become one of the major ports of embarkation of slaves to Brazil. It was not long before the slaves were in majority in the city. Their influence in the form of customs, beliefs and culture of Rio gave a special touch. The mixture of Afro-Brazilian music, African-inspired religious cults and a distinctive cuisine characterizes the city today.

In 1693 gold was discovered in south eastern Brazil, in the state known as Minas Gerais (“General mines”). During the 1700s Brazil was the world’s largest gold producer, although the sugar long preserved its place as the main export commodity. Rio de Janeiro would become the exit port for gold and where the state was in receipt of tax, increased significantly in both economic and demographic importance. Immigration from Europe increased sharply and Rio began to flourish. The gold rush also attracted the French, who invaded the city in 1710 and 1711st. The first attack failed, but the second time the French got a large ransom in order not to completely destroy Rio.

The first gay ball of the Americas took place in Rio in 1757 at this point, Rio had tens of thousands of inhabitants.

The capital moved to Rio

In 1763  the colonial capital of Brazil moved from Salvador in Bahia to Rio. Rio would become capital from 1763 until the current capital Brasília was inaugurated in 1960. During this period cultural and administrative buildings were constructed, as well as many churches, monasteries and monuments. But still much of the city was very poorly planed like in Portugal. Along the narrow streets and alleys were simple houses that were anything but impressive. The stench was unbearable in the heat.

The most spectacular era of Rio de Janeiro’s history began when the Emperor Napoleon in 1807 tried to force Portugal to close their ports to British. When the French attacked Lisbon the crown prince and regent Dom João, later John VI, took a drastic decision. He decided to flee to Brazil with his whole court to temporarily set it up in Rio de Janeiro. Thus, Rio became the only European capital outside of Europe.

In March 1808 Rio de Janeiro had to adjust  to the arrival of the Portuguese court and the monarch in flight from Napoleon’s armies began the invasion of Portugal and the influx of about 15000 people into a small colonial capital of less than 60 000.

The independence of Brazil from Portugal in 1822
and the emperors

The nineteenth-century political history has mostly been written in terms of Pedro 1 (Photo) and Pedro II and the ephemeral ministries which came and went in Rio de Janeiro. Pedro declared the independence of Brazil on 7th of September 1822. This was one after a successful war against his father’s kingdom. Pedro was acclaimed on 12 October 1822 as Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil and he was emperor until 1831. Pedro II was emperor between 1840-1889.

The old republic and the coffee oligarchy (1889-1930)

The empire was overthrown in 1889 and Brazil officially became a republic.

Presidents

• Manoel Deodora da Fonseca 1889-1891
• Floriano Peixoto 1891-1894
• Prudente José de Moraes Barros 1894-1898
• Manoel Farraz de Campos Salles 1898-1902
• Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves 1902-1906
• Affonso Penna 1906-1909
• Hermes de Fonseca 1910-1914
• Wenceslau Braz 1914-1918
• Epitácio da Silva Pessoa 1919-1922
• Artur da Silva Bernardes 1922-1926
• Washington Lúis Pereira de Souza 1926-1930
• Getúlio Dorneles Vargas 1930-1945

1922 Rio had a world exhibition to celebrate the 100-year-old independence.

Revolution and Gétulio Vargas from liberal alliance to Estado Novo 1930-1937

Júlio Prestes was the last president of Brazil in the Old Republic and became the first Brazilian to be on the cover of Time magazine in June 1930. In October 24 1930 there was a coup led by Tasso Fragoso.

1930 brought Getulio Vargas to power. Vargas centralized the country and held an increasingly authoritarian policies, with a populist blend of social reform and industrialization through government support.

General Augusto Tasso Fragoso, better known by Tasso Fragoso, head of the Interim Board of Governors in 1930, which took over administration of Brazil after , which prevented the President-elect Julio Prestes to assume the presidency and gave Vargas on November 3, 1930.

Estado Novo (1937-1945)

The second Republic (1945-1964)

Vargas was deposed in a coup by the military in 1945. José Linhares was presient for one year in Brazil 1945-1946. Vargas was elected president 1950 and held the power for some years until he unexpectedly commited suicide 1954. Vargas still appears to be quite popular. In any case, there are many streets in Brazil, which bears his name. If you are interested in history you should visit Palácio do Catete, this was the home of President Getulio Vargas. The palace is located at Rua do Catete and is really a museum of the Getulio Vargas.

Presidents

• Eurico Gaspar Dutra 1946-1950
• Getúlio Vargas 1950-1954
• Joao Café Filho 1954-1956
• Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira 1956-1961
• Janio Quadros 1961
• Joao Belchior Marques Goulart 1961-1964

 

Rio ceased as the capital of Brazil

With the inauguration of Brasília in 1960, Rio de Janeiro ceased as Brazil’s capital. Rio was the capital before they officially opened Brasília 1960.

Military Dictatorship
(1964-1985)

The social contradictions resulted in a military coup 1964, after which the military ruled Brazil for 21 years.

Presidents

• Humberto Castello Branco 1964-1967
• Artur da Costa e Silva 1967-1969
• Emílio Garrastazu Medici 1969-1974
• Ernesto Geisel 1974-1979
• João Figueiredo 1979-1985

 

The New republic (1985-)

The civilian government that took over the board of Brazil after 1985 long struggled in vain against high inflation and declining growth, but since the second half of the 1990s, Brazil has once again had a strong economic development. Poverty and the high crime rate has remained major problems. This formed the background to the increased support of the Labor Party, whose leader Lula da Silva became president 2003rd until 2010. Current president is Dilma Rousseff from the Workers’ Party (PP).