Rio de Janeiro (state)

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This article is about the Brazilian state, Rio de Janeiro. For the city with the same name, see Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Flag of Rio de Janeiro
See other Brazilian States
Capital	Rio de Janeiro
Largest City	Rio de Janeiro
Area	43,696.054 km²
Population   - Total   - Density	14,381,282 (in the year 2000) 328.59 inh./km²
Governor	Rosângela Matheus (PMDB) (since January 1, 2003) Lieutenant Governor: Luiz Paulo Conde
Demonym	Fluminense
HDI (2000)	0.807 – high
Timezone	GMT+3
ISO 3166-2	BR-RJ

Rio de Janeiro (pron. IPA: ['xiu dʒi ʒa'neʲɾu] ^[1]) is one of the 26 states of Brazil.

It is located in the Brazilian geopolitical region of the Southeast (assigned by IBGE) and its boundaries, all of them with other Brazilian states in the Southeast region (Rio de Janeiro is the only state in the Southeast to share borders exclusively with other states in the same macroregion), are with Minas Gerais (N and NW), Espírito Santo (NE) and São Paulo (SW), and plus its shore line, in the Atlantic Ocean, to its East and South.

Rio de Janeiro has an area of 43,653km² and its capital is the city of Rio de Janeiro, which was the capital of the Portuguese colony as of 1763 (the first capital being Salvador da Bahia), capital of the United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and Algarves as of 1806 and the capital of independent Brazil from 1822 to 1960.

The state's most populous cities are Rio de Janeiro, Nova Iguaçu, Niterói, Duque de Caxias, São Gonçalo, São João de Meriti, Campos dos Goytacazes, Petrópolis and Volta Redonda.

Its principal rivers are the Guandu River, the Piraí, the Paraíba do Sul, the Macaé and the Muriaé. It's climate is considered to be tropical.

Rio de Janeiro is made up of two distinct morphological areas: a Plain, known as baixada, and a Plateau, which are disposed parallelly from the shoreline to the country side (towards Minas Gerais).

In the Brazilian flag, the state is represented by the Beta star in the Southern Cross (β = Mimosa).

Contents 1 State flag 2 Geography 3 Ethnic groups 4 Economy 5 History 5.1 Hereditary captainships 5.2 The Neutral City 5.3 The new State of Rio de Janeiro 6 Cities 7 See also 8 Notes 9 External links

[edit] State flag

In the foreground of the state flag, an eagle, symbol of Brazil's royal family, appears. In the background, the rock formation Dedo de Deus ("The Finger of God"), which is visible from the city of Rio de Janeiro in a clear day. The outer part of the coat of arms represents the state's agricultural richness, sugarcane (left) and coffee (right).

[edit] Geography

The state is part of the Mata Atlântica biome, and its topography comprises both mountains and plains, located between the Mantiqueira Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

There are prominent slopes near the ocean, featuring also diverse environments, such as restinga vegetation, bays, lagoons and tropical forests.

Rio de Janeiro is the smallest state in the Southeast macroregion and one of the smallest in Brazil. It has, however, the third longest coastline in the country (second only to Bahia's and Maranhão's), extending 635 kilometers.

[edit] Ethnic groups

• White - 54.7% (Mostly Portuguese, Italian and German)
• Mixed Race - 33.5% (mainly Mulattos and also some Mestizos)
• Black - 10.6% (Mostly Bantu and Yoruba ancestry)
• Amerindian - 0.3%
• Asian - 0.2%
• Undescribed - 0.7%

[edit] Economy

Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of the federation, after São Paulo. Major industries include Oil extraction and refining, chemical factories, naval construction and the state is home to some of the most successful Brazilian companies, such as Petrobrás (the government's oil company) and Banco do Brasil (the country's largest bank). The income per capita is higher than the country's itself and the size of the economy (US$ 190 billion) is comparable to that of Chile, Ireland, Portugal and Denmark (which, curiously, are about the size of the state).

[edit] History

[edit] Hereditary captainships

Rio de Janeiro was originated from parts of the captainships of de Tomé and São Vicente. Between 1555 and 1567, the territory was busy with the Frenchmen, who intended to install a colony, France Antarctique. Aiming at to prevent the occupation of the Frenchmen, in March 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was established by Estácio de Sá.

In the 17th century, cattle and sugar cane stimulated the city's progress which was definitively assured when the port started to export the extracted gold of Minas Gerais in 18 century. In 1763, Rio de Janeiro was became the headquarters of the Colonial Brazil and the capital of the colony. With the change of the royal family for Brazil, in 1808, the region very was benefited with urban reforms to shelter the Portuguese. Inside of the promoted changes they are distinguished: the transference of agencies of public administration and justice, the creation of new churches, hospitals, foundation of the first bank of the country - the Banco do Brasil - and the Imprensa Régia, with the Gazette do Rio of Janeiro. In following years had also appeared the Jardim Botânico, Academia Real Militar.

Thus, a process of cultural introduction, influenced not only by the arrival of the Royal Family, but also by the presence of European artists who had been hired to register the society and Brazilian nature. In this same time, was born the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios (The Royal School of Sciences, Arts, and Works).

[edit] The Neutral City

In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro was transformed into neutral city, remaining as capital of the country, while the captainships passed to being provinces, with its headquarters in Niterói, a neighbor city. In 1889, the city was changed into capital of the Republic, the neutral city in federal district and the province in State. With the change of the capital for Brasilia, in 1960, the city of Rio de Janeiro became the State of Guanabara.

[edit] The new State of Rio de Janeiro

In 1975, the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro were merged under the name of Rio de Janeiro, with the city of Rio de Janeiro as state capital. The symbols of the former State of Rio de Janeiro were preserved, while the symbols of Guanabara were attributed to the city of Rio de Janeiro.

[edit] Cities

Other cities include:

Angra dos Reis Aperibé Araruama Areal Armação dos Búzios Arraial do Cabo Barra do Piraí Barra Mansa Belford Roxo Bom Jardim Bom Jesus do Itabapoana Cabo Frio Cachoeiras de Macacu Cambuci Campos dos Goytacazes Cantagalo Carapebus Cardoso Moreira Carmo Casimiro de Abreu Comendador Levy Gasparian Conceição de Macabu Cordeiro Duas Barras Duque de Caxias Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin Guapimirim Iguaba Grande Itaboraí Itaguaí

Italva Itaocara Itaperuna Itatiaia Japeri Laje do Muriaé Macaé Macuco Magé Mangaratiba Maricá Mendes Miguel Pereira Miracema Natividade Nilópolis Niterói Nova Friburgo Nova Iguaçu Paracambi Paraíba do Sul Parati Paty do Alferes Petrópolis Pinheiral Piraí Porciúncula Porto Real Quatis Queimados

Quissamã Resende Rio Bonito Rio Claro Rio das Flores Rio das Ostras Santa Maria Madalena Santo Antônio de Pádua São Fidélis São Francisco de Itabapoana São Gonçalo São João da Barra São João de Meriti São José de Ubá São José do Vale do Rio Preto São Pedro da Aldeia São Sebastião do Alto Sapucaia Saquarema Seropédica Silva Jardim Sumidouro Tanguá Teresópolis Trajano de Morais Três Rios Valença Varre-Sai Vassouras Volta Redonda

[edit] See also

• List of Governors of Rio de Janeiro

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• (Portuguese)/(English) Official homepage
• (Portuguese) State Judiciary
• (Portuguese) State Assembly
• (Portuguese)/(English) State University
• (Portuguese) Northern State University
• (Portuguese) State Attornery Office
• (Portuguese) State Civil Defence
• State Military Police
• State Civil Police
• BrasilTurismo.com - Rio de Janeiro