RIO
DE JANEIRO HISTORY |
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The bay where Rio de Janeiro is located (Guanabara) was discovered by
Europeans on January 1, 1502, by a Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos;
he named it "Rio" because he thought it was a river mouth rather than a
bay.
The city of Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro was founded on March 1,
1565 in honour to King Sebastian.
Rio de Janeiro was Brazil's capital from 1764 to 1960, when the
government was transferred to Brasília, but remains the second biggest
city in the country, after São Paulo. Between 1808 and 1821, during the
Napoleonic invasion on Metropolitan Portugal, the city became the
capital of Portugal and its extensive empire. |
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