Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro
—  Municipality  —
Município do Rio de Janeiro The Municipality of Rio de Janeiro
From upper left: Panorama of Rio de Janeiro, the South Side, the Sugarloaf Mountain, the Maracanã Stadium and the Christ the Redeemer Statue.
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Cidade Maravilhosa ("The Marvelous City") or simply Rio
Location in the State of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro Location in Brazil
Coordinates:
Country	Brazil
Region	Southeast
State	Rio de Janeiro
Founded	1 March 1565
Government
- Type	Mayor-council
- Body	Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
- Mayor	Eduardo Paes (PMDB)
Area
- Municipality	1,260 km2 (486.5 sq mi)
- Metro	4,557.3 km2 (1,759.6 sq mi)
Elevation	from 0 to 1,021 m (from 0 to 3,349 ft)
Population (2008)
- Municipality	6,186,710
- Rank	2nd
- Density	4,781/km2 (12,382.7/sq mi)
- Metro	14,387,000
Demonym	carioca
Time zone	BST (UTC-3)
- Summer (DST)	BDT (UTC-2)
Postal Code	20000-000
Area code(s)	+55 21
HDI (2000)	0.842 – high
Website	City of Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro ("River of January", English pronunciation: /ˈriːoʊ deɪ dʒəˈnɛəroʊ/; Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁiu dʒi ʒaˈnejɾu]^[1]), commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America,^[2][3][4] 6th largest in the Americas.^[5]

The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1815 during the Portuguese colonial era, 1815 to 1821 as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. Rio is nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa or "The Marvelous City." It is considered a Beta- World City.^[6]

Rio de Janeiro represents the second largest GDP in the country ^[7] (and 30th largest in the world ^[8]), estimated at about 140 billion reais (IBGE/2007), and is the headquarters of two major Brazilian companies - Petrobras and Vale, and major oil companies and telephony in Brazil, besides the largest conglomerate of media and communications companies in Latin America, the Globo Organizations. Considered by many universities and institutes, is the second largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific production - according to 2005 data.^[9]

Rio de Janeiro is known for its natural settings, carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova, beaches^[10] such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a permanent parade avenue lined with grandstands which is used during Carnival; and Maracanã stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first South American city to host the event,^[11] and will host the final match for 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[12]

Geography

Rio de Janeiro lies on a strip of Brazil's Atlantic coast, close to the Tropic of Capricorn, where the shoreline is oriented east–west. The city largely faces south. It was founded on an inlet of this stretch of the coast, Guanabara Bay (Baía de Guanabara), the entrance to which is marked by a point of land called Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar), a "calling card" of the city.

The Centre "Centro," the core of Rio, lies on the plains of the western shore of Guanabara Bay. The greater portion of the city, commonly referred to as the North Zone "Zona Norte," extends to the northwest on plains composed of marine and continental sediments and on hills and several rocky mountains. The South Zone "Zona Sul" of the city, reaching the beaches fringing the open sea, is cut off from the Centre and from the North Zone by coastal mountains. These mountains and hills are offshoots of the Serra do Mar to the northwest, an ancient gneiss-granite mountain chain that forms the southern slopes of the Brazilian Highlands. The large West Zone "Zona Oeste," long cut off by the mountainous terrain, had been made accessible by new roads and tunnels by the end of the 20th century.

The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupying an area of 1,182.3 square kilometres (456.5 sq mi),^[13] is about 6,100,000.^[14] The population of the greater metropolitan area is estimated at 11–13.5 million. It was Brazil's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas. The official song of Rio is "Cidade Maravilhosa."

Climate

View of the city and the mountains.

Rio has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) according to the Köppen climate classification and is often characterized by long periods of rain from December to March.^[15] The temperature occasionally reaches over 40 °C (104 °F) in inland areas of the city, and maximum temperatures above 28 °C (82 °F) occur on a monthly basis. In the main tourist areas (south side, where the beaches are located), the temperature is moderated by the cool sea-breezes from the Atlantic Ocean.

Along the coast, the breeze, blowing alternately onshore and offshore, modifies the temperature. Because of its geographic situation, the city is often reached—especially during autumn and winter—by cold fronts advancing from Antarctica, causing frequent weather changes. It is mostly in summer that strong showers provoke catastrophic floods and landslides. The mountainous areas register greater rainfall since they constitute a barrier to the humid wind that comes from the Atlantic.

The average annual minimum temperature is 20 °C (68 °F), the average annual maximum temperature is 28 °C (82 °F), and the average annual temperature is 23 °C (73 °F). The average yearly precipitation is 109 cm. According to INMET, the minimum temperature recorded was 8 °C (46 °F) in July; and the absolute maximum was 41 °C (106 °F) in February. Temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F) are very rare in the city. The temperature varies according to elevation, distance from the coast, and type of vegetation. Winter brings mild temperatures and less rain than in the summer.

Cityscape

A panorama of Rio de Janeiro City taken from Corcovado. Beginning at the Sugar Loaf Mountain on the far left to Humaita in the middle and Leblon at the far right.

History

Rio Branco Avenue in 1920.

Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502 (hence Rio de Janeiro, "January River") by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos who was a captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet. Allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the latter's expedition. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakalí peoples.^[17]

In 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony.

The city of Rio de Janeiro proper was founded by the Portuguese on March 1, 1565. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several, mostly French, pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc and René Duguay-Trouin.^[18]

Leblon in 1970.

Leblon today.

In the late 17th century, still during the Sugar Era, the Bandeirantes found gold and diamonds in the neighboring captaincy of Minas Gerais, thus Rio de Janeiro became a much more practical port for exporting wealth (gold, precious stones, besides the sugar) than Salvador, Bahia, which is much farther to the northeast. And so in 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The city remained primarily a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of the associated Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdom's capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, became the only European capital outside of Europe. As there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes.^[19] There was a large influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro: in 1819, there were 145,000 slaves in the captaincy. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people.^[20]

When Prince Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic. Until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighborhood now known as the historic Downtown business district (see below), on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The city's center 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 neighborhood 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 beach party town (though, this reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade^[21]). 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 strength of promises to build a new capital.^[22] 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 under the name State of Guanabara (after the bay it borders). However, for administrative and political reasons, a presidential decree known as "The Fusion" removed the city's federative status and merged it with the State of Rio de Janeiro, the territory surrounding the city whose capital was Niterói, in 1975. Even today, some Cariocas advocate the return of municipal autonomy.^[23][24]

The city hosted the 2007 Pan American Games and will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. It was announced on October 2, 2009 that Rio would host the 2016 Olympic Games, beating the finalist competitors Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. The city will become the first South American city to host the event and the second Latin American city to host the games.

City districts

The city is commonly divided into the historic downtown (Centro); the tourist-friendly and commercial South Zone (Zona Sul); the residential North Zone (Zona Norte); and the West Zone (Zona Oeste), with the newer Barra da Tijuca district.

Downtown

()

Central Business District.

Centro (Downtown in American English or CBD in other English use) is the historic centre of the city, as well as its financial centre. Sites of interest include the Paço Imperial, built during colonial times to serve as a residence for the Portuguese governors of Brazil; many historic churches, such as the Candelária Church, the colonial Cathedral and the modern-style Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. Around the Cinelândia square there are several landmarks of the Belle Époque of Rio, such as the Municipal Theatre and the National Library building. Among its several museums, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) and the Museu Histórico Nacional (National Historical Museum) are the most important. Other important historical attractions in central Rio include its Passeio Público, an 18th-century public garden, as well as the imposing arches of the Arcos da Lapa, a Roman-style aqueduct built around 1750. A bondinho (tram) leaves from a city center station, crosses the aqueduct (converted to a tram viaduct in 1896) and rambles through the hilly streets of the Santa Teresa neighbourhood nearby.

Downtown remains the heart of the city's business community. Some of the largest companies in Brazil have their head offices here, including Petrobras, Eletrobrás and Vale (formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce), three of the largest Brazilian corporations.

South Zone

()

The view of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.

The South Zone of Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese: "Zona Sul") is composed of several districts, amongst which are São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana and Leme, which compose Rio's famous Atlantic beach coastline. Other districts in the South Zone are Glória, Catete, Flamengo, Botafogo and Urca, which border Guanabara Bay and Santa Teresa, Cosme Velho, Laranjeiras, Humaitá, Lagoa, Jardim Botânico and Gávea. It is the richest region of the city and the most famous overseas, and the neighborhood of Leblon in particular has the most expensive real estate in all of South America.

The neighbourhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revelers crowd onto the sands to watch the fireworks display. As of 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event.^[25] To the north of Leme, and at the entrance to Guanabara Bay, is the district of Urca and the Sugarloaf Mountain ('Pão de Açúcar'), whose name describes the famous mountain rising out of the sea. The 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.

Neighborhood of Copacabana.

One of the highest hills in the city is the 842 metres (2,762 ft) high Pedra da Gávea (Crow's nest Rock) near the botanical gardens. On the top of its summit is a huge rock formation (some, such as Erich von Däniken in his 1973 book, "In Search of Ancient Gods," claim it to be a sculpture) resembling a sphinx-like, bearded head that is visible for many kilometers around.

Hang gliding is a popular activity on the nearby Pedra Bonita (Beautiful Rock). After a short flight, gliders land on the Praia do Pepino (Cucumber Beach) in São Conrado. Since 1961, the Tijuca National Park (Parque Nacional 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.^[26] The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro or PUC-Rio), Brazil's top private university, is located at the edge of the forest, in the Gávea district. 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.

North Zone

Maracanã Stadium.

The North Zone of Rio (in Portuguese: "Zona Norte") is home to the Maracanã stadium, once the world's highest capacity football (soccer) venue, able to hold nearly 199,000 people, as it did the World Cup final of 1950. In modern times its capacity has been reduced to conform with modern safety regulations and the stadium has introduced seating for all fans. Currently undergoing renovation, it has now the capacity for 95,000 fans; it will eventually hold around 120,000 people. Maracanã was site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football competition of the 2007 Pan-American Games, and will host the final match of 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football matches of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Besides 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 a main building fashioned like a Moorish palace, and the beautiful Quinta da Boa Vista, the park where the historic Imperial Palace is located. Nowadays, the palace hosts the National Museum, specializing in Natural History, Archaeology and Ethnology.

The International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galeão – Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport, named after the famous Brazilian musician Antônio Carlos Jobim), the main campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro at the Fundão Island, and the State University of Rio de Janeiro, in Maracanã, are also located in the Northern part of Rio.

This region is also home to most of the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro such as Mangueira, Salgueiro, Império Serrano, Unidos da Tijuca, among others. Some of the main neighbourhoods of Rio's North Zone are Tijuca, which shares the Tijuca Rainforest with the South Zone; Grajaú, Vila Isabel, Méier, São Cristovão Madureira and Penha among others.

West Zone

Barra da Tijuca.

The West Side (in Portuguese: "Zona Oeste") is the region furthest from the centre of Rio de Janeiro. It includes Barra da Tijuca, Jacarepaguá, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Vargem Grande, Vargem Pequena, Realengo, Padre Miguel, Bangu, Campo Grande, Jardim Sulacap, Paciência 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. In this zone is Terra Encantada, an amusement park.

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 centers 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.^[27]

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

Demographics

Satellite view of the city.

View of Chinese Belvedere.

Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.

According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 11,513,000 people residing in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. The population density was 6180 people/km² (in the urban area). The last PNAD (National Household Sample Survey) census revealed the following percentage: 6,152,000 White people (53.43%), 4,039,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (35.08%), 1,274,000 Black people (11.6%), 20,000 Asian people (0.18%), 16,000 Amerindian people (0.14%).^[28]

Different ethnic groups contributed to the formation of the population of Rio de Janeiro. Before European colonization, there were at least seven different indigenous peoples speaking 20 languages in the region. A part of them joined the Portuguese and the other the French. Those who joined the French were then exterminated by the Portuguese, while the other part was assimilated.^[29]

Rio de Janeiro is home to the largest Portuguese population outside of Lisbon in Portugal.^[30][31] After the independence from Portugal, Rio de Janeiro became a destination for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Portugal, mainly in the early 20th century. The immigrants were mostly poor peasants who subsequently found prosperity in Rio as city workers and small traders.^[32] The influence of Portugal is still seen in many parts of the city, including architecture and language.

The black community was formed with residents whose ancestors had been brought as slaves, mostly from Angola or Mozambique. The carnival and samba first appeared under the influence of the black community in the city. Today, nearly half of the city's population is black or part black.^[33]

As a result of the influx of immigrants to Brazil from the late 19th to the early 20th century, one may find in Rio de Janeiro communities of Jews, Arabs of Lebanese and Syrian origin, Italians, Spaniards, Germans, and people from different parts of Brazil.

Population growth

Changing demographics of the city of Rio de Janeiro

Source: Planet Barsa Ltda.^[35]

Religion

Christ the Redeemer statue.

Source: IBGE 2000.^[36]

Economy

Rio de Janeiro Skyline.

Cathedral São Sebastião.

The city of Rio de Janeiro has the second largest (behind only São Paulo) GDP of any city in Brazil. According to the IBGE, was approximately R$ 140 billion in 2007, equivalent to 5.4% of the national total. The services sector comprises the largest portion of GDP (65.52%), followed by collection of taxes (23.38%), by industrial activity (11.06%) and agribusiness (0.04%).

Benefiting from the federal capital position occupied by a long period (1763–1960), the town became a dynamic center administrative, financial, commercial and cultural. The Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, as perceived by the IBGE, has a GDP of US$ 187.374.116.000, constituting the second largest hub of national wealth. Concentrates 68% of the state's economic strength and 7.91% of all goods and services produced in the country.

Taking into consideration the network of influence exerted by the urban metropolis (which covers 11.3% of the population), this share in GDP rises to 14.4%, according to a study released in October 2008 by the IBGE. For many years brings together the second largest industrial hub of Brazil, with oil refineries, shipbuilding industries, steel, metallurgy, petrochemical, gas, chemical, textile, printing, publishing, pharmaceutical, beverages, cement and furniture. However, the last decades indicated a sharp transformation in its economic profile, which is acquiring more and more shades of a major national hub of services and businesses. The Stock Exchange of Rio de Janeiro (BVRJ), which currently trades only government securities, was the first stock exchange founded in Brazil in 1845 and located in the central region.

Rio de Janeiro became an attractive place for companies to locate when it was the capital of Brazil, as important sectors of society and of the government were present in the city. The city was chosen as headquarters for state-owned companies such as Petrobras, Eletrobrás, Caixa Econômica Federal and Vale (which was privatized in the 1990s). After the transfer of the capital to Brasília, in 1960, it kept attracting more companies,^[37] especially after the discovery of oil in the Campos Basin, which produces most of the total oil production of Brazil. This made many oil and gas companies to be based in Rio de Janeiro, such as the Brazilian branches of Shell, EBX and Esso. The headquarters of BNDES, an important state institution, is also in Rio de Janeiro. The city is also the headquarters of large telecom companies, such as Intelig, Oi and Embratel. Big multi-national companies such as Coca-Cola, Praxair, Xerox, BHP Billiton, Shell, Chevron, Halliburton, DSNK, Aker, PSA Peugeot Citroen, BG, IBM and El Paso also have offices in the city.

Rio ranks second nationally in industrial production^[38] and second financial and service center, trailing only São Paulo. The city's industries produce processed foods, chemicals, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, metal products, ships, textiles, clothing, and furniture. The service sector dominates the economy, however, and includes banking and the second most active stock market in Brazil, the Bolsa da Valores do Brasil. Tourism and entertainment are other key aspects of the city's economic life and the city is the nation's top tourist attraction for both Brazilians and foreigners.^[39] Because it was once the national capital, Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the site for the headquarters of many private, national, multinational, and state corporations, even when their factories were located in other cities or states. Despite the transfer of the capital to Brasília, many of these headquarters remained within the Rio metropolitan area, including those of Petrobrás, the state oil company, and the National Economic and Social Development Bank, a federal investment bank.

Downtown of the city.

A newer electronics and computer sector has been added to the older industries of metallurgy, engineering, and printing and publishing. Other manufacturing sectors focus on the production of shipyard-related materials, apparel and footwear, textiles, nonmetallic mineral products, food and beverages, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Construction, also an important activity, provides a significant source of employment for large numbers of unskilled workers and is buoyed by the number of seasonal residents who build second homes in the Greater Rio area. To attract industry, the state government has designated certain areas on the outskirts of the city as industrial districts where infrastructure is provided and land sales are made under special conditions. Oil and natural gas from fields off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state are a major asset used for developing manufacturing activities in Rio's metropolitan area, enabling it to compete with other major cities for new investment in industry.

As with manufacturing, Rio is an important financial centre, second only to São Paulo in volume of business in financial markets and in banking. Its securities market, although declining in significance relative to São Paulo, is still of major importance. Owing to the proximity of Rio's port facilities, many of Brazil's export-import companies are headquartered in the city. In Greater Rio, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in Brazil, retail trade is substantial. Many of the most important retail stores are located in the Centre, but others are scattered throughout the commercial areas of the other districts, where shopping centres, supermarkets, and other retail businesses handle a large volume of consumer trade.^[40]

Major Brazilian entertainment organizations are based in Rio de Janeiro like TV Globo (Globosat, Globo News, SportTv, Telecine, Tv Brazil), NET, Sky and WayBrazil and also some of Brazil's major newspapers: Jornal do Brasil, O Globo, O Dia, and Business Rio. Major international pharmacuetical companies have their Brazilian headquarters in Rio such us Merck, Roche, Arrow, Darrow, Baxter, Mayne, and Mappel.

Rio de Janeiro is the 2nd richest city in Brazil, behind São Paulo and 30th richest city in the world with a GDP of R$ 139,6 billion.^[41]

The per capita income for the city was R$ 22,903 (2007).^[42]

Central Business District of Rio de Janeiro.

Education

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Portuguese language is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum. There are also international schools, such as the American School of Rio de Janeiro, Our Lady of Mercy School, the Corcovado German School, the Lycée Français and the British School of Rio de Janeiro.

Educational institutions

The city has several universities. The Ministry of Education has certified approximately 99 upper-learning institutions in Rio.^[43] Some notable higher education institutions are:

• Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ);
• Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ);
• Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ);
• Fluminense Federal University (UFF);
• Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio);
• Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV);
• Military Institute of Engineering (IME);
• Superior Institute of Technology in Computer Science of Rio de Janeiro (IST-Rio);
• Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State (UNIRIO);
• Estácio de Sá University (UNESA).

Educational system

Primary schools are largely under municipal administration, while the state plays a more significant role in the extensive network of secondary schools. There is also a small number of schools under federal administration, as is the case of Colégio Pedro II and Colégio de Aplicação da UFRJ. In addition, Rio has an ample offering of private schools that provide education at all levels. Rio is home to many colleges and universities.

The Rio de Janeiro State University (public), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (public) and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (private) are among the country's top institutions of higher education. The literacy rate for Cariocas aged 10 and older is nearly 95 percent, well above the national average.^[44] In Rio, there were 1,033 primary schools with 25,594 teachers and 667,788 students in 1995. There are 370 secondary schools with 9,699 teachers and 227,892 students. There are 53 University-preparatory schools schools with 14,864 teachers and 154,447 students. The city has six major universities and 47 private schools of higher learning.^[45]

Culture and contemporary life

National Library of Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro is a main cultural hub in Brazil. Its architecture embraces churches and buildings dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, blending with the world renowned designs of the 20th. Rio was home to the Portuguese Imperial family and capital of the country for many years, and was influenced by Portuguese, English and French architecture.

Rio de Janeiro inherited from the past a strong cultural role. In the late nineteenth century, there were sessions held the first Brazilian film and since then, Spread out several cycles of production, which eventually enter the cinema at the forefront Rio experimental and leadership national cinema. Currently, Rio brings together the main production centers of Brazilian TV.

In Rio there are important cultural landmarks, like the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library in Portuguese, the seventh largest library in the world, its collections include over 9 million items; the Theatro do Rio, Built on principles of twentieth century; the National Museum of Fine Arts; the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden; the Imperial Square; the Brazilian Academy of Letters; the MAM and the Natural History Museum.

Tourism and recreation

Freitas Lake in Christmas.

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's primary tourist attraction and resort. It receives the most visitors per year of any city in South America with 2.82 million international tourists a year.^[46] The city sports world-class hotels, approximately 80 kilometres of beachland, and the famous Corcovado and Sugarloaf mountains. While the city has in past had a thriving tourism sector, the industry entered a decline in the last quarter of the 20th century. Annual international airport arrivals dropped from 621,000 to 378,000 and average hotel occupancy dropped to 50% between 1985 and 1993. Services for tourists were lacking at the time, and visitors frequently found themselves subjected to a hostile environment: Few workers in the commercial sector could speak any language but Portuguese, beach and city pollution was deterring holidayers, and crime against tourists was increasing. The fact that Brasilia replaced Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian capital and São Paulo as the country's commercial center has also been cited as a leading cause of the decline. Rio de Janeiro's government has since undertaken to modernise the city's economy, reduce its chronic social inequalities, and improve its commercial standing as part of an initiative for the regeneration of the tourism industry.^[47]

Literature

The Neo-Manueline Real Gabinete Português de Leitura in Rio de Janeiro.

After Brazilian independence from Portugal in 1822, Rio de Janeiro quickly developed a European-style bourgeois cultural life, including numerous newspapers, in which most nineteenth-century novels were initially published in serial. Joaquim Manuel de Macedo's A Moreninha (1884) was perhaps the first successful novel in Brazil and inaugurates a recurrent nineteenth-century theme: a romantic relationship between idealistic young people in spite of cruelties of social fortune. The first notable work of realism focusing on the urban lower-middle class is Manuel Antônio de Almeida's Memórias de um sargento de milícias (1854), which presents a series of picaresque but touching scenes, and evokes the transformation of a town into a city with suggestive nostalgia. Romantic and realist modes both flourished through the late nineteenth century and often overlapped within works.^[48] The most famous author of Rio de Janeiro, however, was Machado de Assis, that is also widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature^[49] and considered the introducer of Realism in Brazil, with the publication of The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (1881);^[50] he had commented and criticized the political and social events of the city and country such as the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the transition from Empire to Republic with his numerous chronicles published in newspapers of the time.^[51] Much of his short stories and novels, like Quincas Borba (1881) and Dom Casmurro (1899), are placed in Rio.

Libraries

The National Library of Brazil ranks as the eighth largest library in the world. It is also the largest library in all of Latin America.^[52] Located in Cinelândia, the National Library was originally created by the King of Portugal, in 1810. As with many of Rio de Janeiro's cultural monuments, the library was originally off-limits to the general public. The most valuable collections in the library include: 4,300 items donated by Barbosa Machado including a precious collection of rare brochures detailing the History of Portugal and Brazil; 2,365 items from the 17th and 18th century that were previously owned by Antônio de Araújo de Azevedo, the "Count of Barca," including the 125 volume set of prints "Le Grand Théâtre de l'Univers;" a collection of documents regarding the Jesuítica Province of Paraguay and the "Region of Prata;" and the Teresa Cristina Maria Collection, donated by Dom Pedro II. The collection contains 48,236 items. Individual items of special interest include a rare first edition of Os Lusíadas by Luis de Camões, published in 1584; two copies of the Mogúncia Bible; and a first edition of Handel's Messiah.^[53]

The Portuguese Royal Library, traditional library and Lusophone cultural institution, is located at Rua Luís de Camões, in downtown Rio. The institution was founded in 1837 by a group of forty-three Portuguese immigrants, political refugees, to promote culture among the Portuguese community in the then capital of Império. A history of the Brazilian Academy of Letters is linked to the Royal Cabinet, since the five solemn.

Music

Rio de Janeiro at night.

The official song of Rio de Janeiro is "Cidade Maravilhosa," which means "marvelous city." The song is considered the "civic anthem" of Rio, and is always the favourite song during Rio's Carnival in February. Rio de Janeiro is a centre of the urban music movement in Brazil.^[54]

Rio was popularised by the hit song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema), composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes and recorded by Astrud Gilberto & João Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. It is also the main key song of the bossa nova, a musical genre that was born in Rio. A genre unique to Rio and Brazil as a whole is Funk Carioca. While samba music continues to act as the national unifying agent in Rio, Funk Carioca found a strong community following in Brazil. With its genesis in the 1970s as the modern black pop music from the United States, it evolved in the 1990s to describe a variety of electronic music associated with the current US black music scene, including hip hop, modern soul, and house music."^[55]

Brazil's return to democracy in 1985 after over 20 years of military authoritarian rule, and the subsequent end of rampant censorship, allowed for a new freedom of expression which promoted creativity and experimentation in expressive culture.^[56] Commercial and cultural imports from Europe and North America have often influenced Brazil's own cultural output. For example, the hip hop that has stemmed from New York is localized into various forms of musical production such as Funk Carioca and Brazilian hip hop. Democratic renewal also allowed for the recognition and acceptance of this diversification of Brazilian culture.^[57]

Theatre

Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio Janeiro 's Theatro Municipal is one of the most resplendent buildings in the downtown area of Rio de Janeiro. Home of one of the largest stages in Latin America and one of Brazil's most well known venues for opera, ballet, and classical music.The building was inspired by the Paris Opera of Garnier, and built in 1905 by the architect Francisco Pereira Passos. The statues on the top, of two women representing Poetry and Music, are by Rodolfo Bernadelli, and the interior is rich with furnishings and fine paintings. Founded in 1909, the Teatro Municipal was designed after the famed opera house in Paris with close to 1,700 seats. It's interior includes turn-of-the-century stained glass from France, ceilings of rose-colored marble and a 1,000 pound crystal bead chandelier surrounded by a painting of the "Dance of the Hours." The exterior walls of the building are dotted with inscriptions bearing the names of famous Brazilians as well as many other internationally celebrities .^[58]

Sports

The Olympic Stadium.

On October 2, 2009, the International Olympic Committee selected Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.^[59] This is the first time that the city advanced to the Candidature phase of the bidding process, after failed attempts in 1936, 2004 and 2012.^[60] Rio would become the first Brazilian and South American city to host the games.^[60] In July 2007, Rio successfully organized and hosted the XV Pan American Games.

On October 30, 2007, Brazil was chosen as the official host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Rio de Janeiro is one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the final is most likely to be held at Maracanã Stadium.^[61]

The most popular sport is football. Rio de Janeiro is home to five traditional Brazilian football clubs: América Football Club, Botafogo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Flamengo, the latter according to a national survey and to FIFA numbers, is the team with the largest number of supporters in the world.^[62]

The 2007 Pan American Games Opening Ceremony in Maracanã Stadium.

Other notable sports events in Rio include the MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix and the world beach volleyball finals. The raceway in Jacarepaguá was the site for the Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix from 1978 to 1990 and the Champ Car event from 1996 to 1999. WCT/WQS Surfing championships were contested on the beaches from 1985–2001. The Rio Champions Cup tennis tournament is held in the spring. As part of its preparations to host the 2007 Pan American Games, Rio built a new stadium, Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, to hold 45,000 people. It was named after Brazilian ex-FIFA president João Havelange. The stadium is owned by the City of Rio de Janeiro, but it is rented to Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas for 20 years.^[63] Rio de Janeiro has also a multi-purpose arena, the HSBC Arena.

The Brazilian dance/sport/martial arts capoeira is very popular. Other popular sports are beach football, beach volleyball, beach American football, surfing, kitesurfing, hang gliding, motor racing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, recreational sailing, and competitive rowing. Another sport that is highly popular in beaches of Rio is called "frescobol" (pronounced [fɾeskoˈbɔɫ], or matkot), a type of beach tennis. Rio de Janeiro is also 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.

Horse racing events are held Thursday nights and weekend afternoons at the Jockey Club. An impressive place with excellent grass and dirt tracks, it runs the best horses in the nation for your pleasure. Hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro started in mid-1970s and quickly proved to be perfectly suited for this town, because of its geography: steep mountains encounter the Atlantic Ocean, which provide excellent take-off locations and great landing zones on the beach.

One of the most popular sea sports in the city is yachting. The main yacht clubs are in Botafogo area that extends halfway between Copacabana and the center of town. Though the most exclusive and interesting is probably the Rio Yacht club, where high society makes it a point to congregate. Most yacht clubs are open to members only and gate crashing is not easy. Copacabana is also a great place to do surfing as well as "Arpoador of Ipanema" beach and "Praia dos Bandeirantes." The sea at these beaches is rough and dangerous, the best surfers from Brazil and other sites of the world come to these beaches to prove themselves.^[64]

Cultural events

New year

Every December 31, 2.5 million people gather at Copacabana Beach to celebrate New Year's in Rio de Janeiro. The crowd, mostly dressed in white, celebrates all night at the hundreds of different shows and events along the beach. It is the second largest celebration only next to the Carnival. People celebrate the New Year by sharing chilled Champagne. It is considered good luck to shake the Champagne bottle and spray around at midnight. Chilled Champagne adds to the spirit of the festivities.^[65]

Carnival

Carnival in Rio, famous for its samba school parade, they compete every year in LIESA.

Carnival, or Carnaval, from Latin "Carnevale", is an annual celebration in the Roman Catholic tradition that allows merry-making and red meat consumption before the more sober 40 days of Lent penance which culminates with Holy or Passion Week and Easter. The tradition of Carnival parades was probably influenced by the French or German courts and the custom was brought by the Portuguese or Brazilian Imperial families who had Bourbon and Austrian descents. Up until the time of the marchinhas, the revelry was more of a high class and Caucasian-led event. The influence of the African-Brazilian drums and music was more noticeable from the first half of the 20th century. Rio de Janeiro has many Carnival choices, including the famous samba school (Escolas de Samba) parades in the sambadrome exhibition center and the popular blocos de carnaval, street revelry, which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous ones are:

• Cordão do Bola Preta: Parades in the centre of the city. It is one of the most traditional carnavals. In 2008, 500,000 people attended in one day.^[66]
• Suvaco do Cristo: Band that parades in the Botanic Garden, directly below the Redeemer statue's arm. The name translates to 'Christ's armpit' in English, and was chosen for that reason.
• Carmelitas: Band that was supposedly created by nuns, but in fact 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 a wide range of revellers, including families and a wide spectrum of the gay population (notably spectacular drag queens).

In 1840, the first Carnaval was celebrated with a masked ball. As years passed, adorned floats and costumed revelers became a tradition amongst the celebrants. Carnaval is known as a historic root of Brazilian music.^[67]

Sambadrome and Carnival.

Transportation

Airports

Rio's Galeão International Airport (GIG).

The City of Rio de Janeiro is served by the following airports:

Public use

• Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport: used for all international and most of the domestic flights. Since August 2004, with the transfer of many flights from Santos-Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro International Airport has returned to being the main doorway to the city. Besides linking Rio to the rest of Brazil with domestic flights, Galeão has connections to 18 countries. It has a capacity to handle up to 15 million users a year in two passenger terminals. Located 20 km (12 mi) from downtown Rio, the international airport is served by several quick access routes, such as the Red Line "Linha Vermelha" and "Linha Amarela" Yellow Line freeways and Brazil Avenue "Avenida Brasil," serving residents of the city's southern, northern and western zones. There are shuttle buses linking Galeão to Santos-Dumont, and bus and taxi service to the rest of the city. The airport complex also has Brazil's longest runway at 4,000 m (13,123.36 ft), and one of South America's largest cargo logistics terminals.^[68]

Aerial view of Santos Dumont Airport (SDU).

• Santos Dumont Airport: used mainly by the services to São Paulo, some short- and medium-haul domestic flights, and general aviation. Located on Guanabara Bay just a few blocks from the heart of downtown Rio, during the 1990s Santos-Dumont began to outgrow its capacity, besides diverging from its specialization on short-hop flights, offering routes to other destinations in Brazil. For this reason, in late 2004 Santos-Dumont returned to its original condition of operating only shuttle flights to and from Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, along with regional aviation. The passenger terminal is presently undergoing extensive renovation and expantion to offer more convenience and comfort to users of the Rio-São Paulo shuttle service.^[69]

• Jacarepaguá Airport: used by general aviation and home to the Aeroclube do Brasil (Brasil Flying club). The airport is located in the district of Baixada de Jacarepaguá, within the municipality of Rio de Janeiro approximately 30 km (18 mi) from the city center. Baixada de Jacarepaguá lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pedra Branca and Tijuca rocky massifs. The airport is bordered on the north by Jacarepaguá Lagoon, on the south by the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Biological Reserve (Bosque da Barra), and on the east and west by land owned by third parties.^[70]

Military use

Hangar do Zeppelin at Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport in Santa Cruz's neighbourhood.

• Galeão Air Force Base: A Brazilian Air Force airbase, sharing some facilities with Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport;

• Santa Cruz Air Force Base: A Brazilian Air Force airbase. Formerly called Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport, it was built by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. Today it is one of the most important Air Force Bases in Brazil;

• Afonsos Air Force Base: One of the historical Brazilian Air Force airbases. It is also the location of the University of the Air Force, of the Aerospace Museum, and where air shows take place.

Transport system

President Lula in the Rio de Janeiro Metro.

In Rio de Janeiro, buses are the main means of mass transportation. There are nearly 440 municipal bus lines serving over four million passengers each day, in addition to intercity lines. Although cheap and frequent, Rio's transportation policy has been moving towards trains and subway in order to reduce traffic congestion and increase capacity. Driving in Rio de Janeiro, as in most large cities of Brazil, might not be the best choice due to the large car fleet. The city is served by a number of expressways though traffic jams are very common.^[71]

Metro

Rio de Janeiro has two subway lines (Metro Rio) with 42 kilometres (26 mi) and 32 stations plus several commuter rail lines. Future plans include building a third subway line to Niterói and São Gonçalo, including an underwater tunnel beneath Guanabara Bay to supplement the ferry service currently there.^[72] The Metro is Rio's safest and cleanest form of public transport.^[73] The two lines serve the city seven days a week. The first line runs from General Osório in Ipanema to Saens Peña in Tijuca. The second line runs from Botafogo, sharing ten stations with the first line, terminating at Pavuna in northern Rio. The Metro runs services from 05:00 to 24:00, Monday to Saturday, and from 07:00 to 11:00 on Sundays and public holidays. People can buy tickets for the Metro at train stations and can either buy single tickets or a book of ten or rechargeable cards. People can also buy tickets for the Metro at buses that make connect places far from the Metro. An integrated Metro and bus ticket for a single journey is available and is known as a Metro/Bus.^[74]

Tram

Santa Teresa tram over the aqueduct arches.

Rio de Janeiro has the oldest operating electric tramway, now mainly used by tourists and less by daily commuters. The Santa Teresa Historic Tramway or bondinho, has been preserved both as a piece of history and as a quick, fun, cheap way of getting to one of the most quirky parts of the city. The tram station is near Cinelândia and the Municipal Theatre. Trams leave every half an hour between 6am and 11pm. A ticket is just BR$0.60 (US$0.35), one way or return, and people pay as people go through the barrier to the right of the entrance. The Santa Teresa Tram (known locally as the "bonde") in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro commenced electric operation in 1891, replacing horse-drawn trams and expanding the horse-drawn route. At this time the gauge was altered to 1,100 mm (43.31 in), which remains the case today. The tram cars which are currently in operation are Brazilian-built, are of the cross-bench open sided design, and are fitted with trolley poles.^[75]

Bicycle

The city has 74 km (46 miles) of cycle paths that, wherever they exist, are very much preferable to riding in the city's traffic. Most paths run alongside beaches and extend intermittently from the Marina da Glória, Centro, through Flamengo, Copacabana and Ipanema, to Barra da Tijuca. Six km (4 miles) of cycle paths traverse the Tijuca National Park.^[76]

Taxi

Typical yellow taxi of the city.

Yellow taxis operate with a meter and can be hailed on the street. The flag (bandeira) indicates the tariff and usually reads 1. However, after 21:00, on Sundays, holidays and in December the tariff will be 2, which indicates a price hike of about 20%. Taxis are fairly priced, although some late-night drivers might quote excessive fixed prices. People should check that the meter is reset and indicates the correct tariff. There is a minimum fare, plus a charge per kilometre. Tourists are strongly advised to only use taxis that have an official identification sticker in the window. Executive taxis (either blue or red) operate from the airports. Payment is by pre-paid vouchers, which are available at airport kiosks. Radio taxis are safe and reliable but 30% more expensive than yellow taxis.^[77]

When taking a yellow taxi from the airport make sure you have agreed the price with the driver prior to leaving the airport. Common tricks involve the taxi driver asking for more money because he turned the air-conditioning on, or the driver pretending to get lost and then advising you that he cannot go any further until you pay him the fare agreed upon. When he finally reaches your destination he will then also request a further payment. Most often these tricks will be tried when getting a taxi from the airport. On the whole a taxi around the city or from the city to the airport is generally quite reasonable.

Highways

In Brazil, most interstate transportation is done by road. A large terminal for long-distance buses is in the Santo Cristo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. There are also two port facilities for cargo and passenger ships (Rio de Janeiro and Sepetiba port). Rio has roads to all neighbour States. Some roads (like Via Dutra, to São Paulo, and a stretch of the BR-101 which covers the Rio-Niterói bridge) were chartered to private enterprises. The quality of the highways improved much, but was accompanied by a significant increase of the toll fees. From São Paulo: take the BR-116 (Presidente Dutra Federal Highway) or the BR-101 (Rio-Santos Federal Highway). From Belo Horizonte: BR-040. From Salvador: BR-101 or BR-324/BR-116/BR-393/BR-040.

Bus

Bus stop in Urca.

City buses are moderately priced and cost about R$ 2.35 to ride. They come in both non-air conditioned (R$ 2.35) and air conditioned versions (R$ 2.40 - R$ 2.70). The system may be relatively safe by day but less so at night .[71]^[78]

There is also another type of local bus called the "Frescão." This bus runs on a route from Centro through Botafogo, Copacabana, Ipanema and to Leblon (and vice versa). It is more upscale/comfortable and is air conditioned and costs R$ 3.50. However, it is only available during the week. The buses also run more frequently during the rush hours in the morning and evening. Going in the direction of Centro (Downtown), the bus can be flagged down on the beach road (Buses with plaques showing "Castelo"). Coming from Centro, the bus starts off from the Menezes Cortes garage and runs on a road parallel to the beach (but one or two blocks in). It runs on Barata Ribeiro through Copacabana, Prudente de Morais through Ipanema and Av. General San Martin through Leblon. Executive buses cover the whole city constantly throughout the week and may be safer and easier for non-locals to use. The price does vary depending on the distance; for example, it is not the same price to go to Copacabana from Downtown as to go to Barra da Tijuca or Recreio from Downtown.^[79]

Ferry boat

The sister city to Rio and on the other side of Guanabara Bay is Niterói. Many people live in Niterói and commute to Rio de Janeiro to work. There are several ferry services that operate between the Rio Centro (XV Square) and Niterói (Centro and Charitas). There is a traditional boat as well as several "fast cat" hydrofoil boats. One of the city neighborhoods is Paquetá island, which can only be accessed by ferryboats or hydrofoil boats. The ferryboat to Paqueta leaves every hour, from early in the morning until around midnight.

Port

A Brazilian navy Aircraft carrier in the Port of Rio de Janeiro, in 2007.

The Port of Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's third busiest port in terms of cargo volume, and it is the center for cruise vessels. Located on the west coast of the Guanabara Bay, it serves the States of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo. The port is managed by Companhia Docas de Rio de Janeiro. The Port of Rio de Janeiro covers territory from the Mauá Pier in the east to the Wharf of the Cashew in the north. The Port of Rio de Janeiro contains almost seven thousand meters of continuous wharf and an 883-meter pier. The Companhia Docas de Rio de Janeiro administers directly the Wharf of the Gamboa general cargo terminal; the wheat terminal with two warehouses capable of moving 300 tons of grains; General Load Terminal 2 with warehouses covering over 20 thousand square metres; and the Wharves of Are Cristovao with terminals for wheat and liquid bulk.

At the Wharf of Gamboa, leaseholders operate terminals for sugar, paper, iron and steel products. Leaseholders at the Wharf of the Cashew operate terminals for roll-on/roll-off cargoes, containers, and liquid bulk. In 2004, the Port of Rio de Janeiro handled over seven million tons of cargo on almost 1700 vessels. In 2004, the Port of Rio de Janeiro handled over two million tons of containerized cargo in almost 171 thousand TEUs. The port handled 852 thousand tons of wheat, more than 1.8 million tons of iron and steel, over a million tons of liquid bulk cargo, almost 830 thousand tons of dry bulk, over five thousand tons of paper goods, and over 78 thousand vehicles. In 2003, over 91 thousand passengers moved through the Port of Rio Janeiro on 83 cruise vessels.^[80]

Distances

Rio-Niterói Bridge.

Human development

BOPE policemen in a favela.

Favela in Rocinha.

The human development of Rio varies greatly by locality, reflecting the spatial segregation and socioeconomic inequalities in the city.

Social issues

There are significant disparities between the rich and the poor in Rio de Janeiro.^[81] Although the city clearly ranks among the world's major metropolises, one fifth of its inhabitants live in neighbourhoods known as favelas, where housing is not regulated.^[82] In the favelas, 15% of the population are poor, compared to 10% in the general population.^[83] There have been a number of government initiatives to counter this problem, from the removal of the population from favelas to housing projects such as Cidade de Deus to the more recent approach of improving conditions in the favelas, bringing them up to par with the rest of the city, as was the focus of the "Favela Bairro" program.

Crime

Rio has high crime rates, especially homicide, in poor areas controlled by drug dealers.^[84] In 2006, 2,273 people were murdered in the city giving it a murder rate of 37.7 cases for every 100,000 people.^[85] According to federal government research,^[86] the city itself ranks 206th (out of a total of 5,565) in the list of the most violent cities and municipalities in Brazil. Between 1978 and 2000, 49,900 people were killed in Rio.^[87] The urban warfare involves drug-traffic battle with police fighting against outlaws, or even corrupt policemen on their side. In 2007, the police allegedly killed 1,330 people in the state of Rio Janeiro,^[88] an increase of 25 percent over 2006 when 1,063 people were killed. As a comparison, police throughout the United States killed 347 people during 2006.^[89][90]

The Rio de Janeiro state government under Sergio Cabral Filho launched in 2008 the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) program to reclaim areas controlled by drug dealers. The program is considered successful.^[91] This is the latest in a line of policies regarding the crime issue in the favelas, such as the Special Areas Policing Groups (GPAE) and the Community Policing program, in the Garotinho administration, or the no-entry policy adopted by Leonel Brizola for the police in those areas.

Notable cariocas

Aerial view of Rio.

Pedro Ernesto Palace.

Botafogo Neighborhood.

Cariocas, as residents of Rio de Janeiro are called in Brazil, have made extensive contributions to Brazil's history, culture, music, literature, education, science, technology etc. – particularly when Rio de Janeiro was the federal capital and a great hub of Brazilian growth and innovation in all these areas. Some famous cariocas, who were born in Rio, are:

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Rio de Janeiro's is twinned with:^{[92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110]}

	Americas		Europe		Asia and Africa
	Mexico City, Mexico		Istanbul, Turkey		Batangas City, Philippines
	Managua, Nicaragua		Saint Petersburg, Russia		Kobe, Japan
	Caracas, Venezuela		Warsaw, Poland[111]		Tunis, Tunisia
	Puerto Varas, Chile		Santo Tirso and Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal		Seoul, South Korea
	La Paz, Bolivia		Barcelona and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain		Ramallah, Palestinian National Authority
	Miami, United States		Montpellier, France		Tel Aviv, Israel
	Oklahoma City, United States		Liverpool, United Kingdom		Mumbai, India
	Newark, United States		Paris, France		Durban, South Africa
	Atlanta, United States		Lisbon, Portugal		Beirut, Lebanon
	Vancouver, Canada[112]		Madrid, Spain[113]		Casablanca, Morocco
	Buenos Aires, Argentina		Kiev, Ukraine[114]		Lagos, Nigeria
	Manaus, Brazil[115]		Bucharest, Romania[116]		Rufisque, Senegal[117]
	Natal, Brazil[118]		Guimarães, Portugal[119]		Beijing, China

See also

• Large Cities Climate Leadership Group
• Largest cities in the Americas
• List of mayors of Rio de Janeiro
• 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
• State of Rio de Janeiro

References

External links

Official

• Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE)
• Images of Rio—Hundreds of images from the 1920s to the present
• (Portuguese) Official Rio de Janeiro site
• (Portuguese) Official Rio de Janeiro Guide Website
• Official Rio de Janeiro Guide Website
• Rio de Janeiro travel guide from Wikitravel
• 7 days in Rio de Janeiro

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Brasília Federal Capital (DF) Northern Belém (PA) · Boa Vista (RR) · Macapá (AP) · Manaus (AM) · Palmas (TO) · Porto Velho (RO) · Rio Branco (AC) Northeast Aracaju (SE) · Fortaleza (CE) · João Pessoa (PB) · Maceió (AL) · Natal (RN) · Recife (PE) · Salvador (BA) · São Luís (MA) · Teresina (PI) Center-West Campo Grande (MS) · Cuiabá (MT) · Goiânia (GO) Southeast Belo Horizonte (MG) · Rio de Janeiro (RJ) · São Paulo (SP) · Vitória (ES) South Curitiba (PR) · Florianópolis (SC) · Porto Alegre (RS) 50 largest cities of Brazil by population     São Paulo Rio de Janeiro Salvador Brasília Fortaleza Belo Horizonte Manaus Curitiba Recife Porto Alegre Belém Guarulhos Goiânia Campinas São Luís São Gonçalo Maceió Duque de Caxias Nova Iguaçu São Bernardo do Campo Natal Teresina Campo Grande Osasco Santo André João Pessoa Jaboatão dos Guararapes Uberlândia São José dos Campos Contagem Sorocaba Ribeirão Preto Cuiabá Feira de Santana Juiz de Fora Aracaju Londrina Ananindeua Joinville Belford Roxo Niterói São João de Meriti Aparecida de Goiânia Campos dos Goytacazes Santos São José do Rio Preto Mauá Caxias do Sul Betim Vila Velha Summer Olympic Games host cities 1896: Athens • 1900: Paris • 1904: St. Louis • 1908: London • 1912: Stockholm • 1920: Antwerp • 1924: Paris • 1928: Amsterdam • 1932: Los Angeles • 1936: Berlin • 1948: London • 1952: Helsinki • 1956: Melbourne • 1960: Rome • 1964: Tokyo • 1968: Mexico City • 1972: Munich • 1976: Montreal • 1980: Moscow • 1984: Los Angeles • 1988: Seoul • 1992: Barcelona • 1996: Atlanta • 2000: Sydney • 2004: Athens • 2008: Beijing • 2012: London • 2016: Rio de Janeiro Summer Paralympic Games host cities 1960: Rome • 1964: Tokyo • 1968: Tel Aviv • 1972: Heidelberg • 1976: Toronto • 1980: Arnhem • 1984: Stoke Mandeville/New York • 1988: Seoul • 1992: Barcelona • 1996: Atlanta • 2000: Sydney • 2004: Athens • 2008: Beijing • 2012: London • 2016: Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games host cities 1951: Buenos Aires • 1955: Mexico City • 1959: Chicago • 1963: São Paulo • 1967: Winnipeg • 1971: Cali • 1975: Mexico City • 1979: San Juan • 1983: Caracas • 1987: Indianapolis • 1991: Havana • 1995: Mar del Plata • 1999: Winnipeg • 2003: Santo Domingo • 2007: Rio de Janeiro • 2011: Guadalajara • 2015: Toronto World's fifty most-populous urban areas Tokyo –Yokohama Jakarta Mumbai Delhi Manila New York São Paulo Seoul –Incheon Mexico City Shanghai Cairo Osaka –Kobe –Kyoto Kolkata Los Angeles Shenzhen Beijing Moscow Guangzhou Istanbul Karachi Buenos Aires Rio de Janeiro Dongguan Paris Dhaka Nagoya Lagos Chicago London Kinshasa Bangkok Tehran Lima Bogotá Ho Chi Minh City Chennai Johannesburg –East Rand Ruhr Area  (Essen–Düsseldorf) Bangalore Lahore Hong Kong Hyderabad Tianjin Taipei Toronto –Hamilton Baghdad Kuala Lumpur Santiago Dallas –Fort Worth San Francisco –San Jose Municipalities of Rio de Janeiro Capital: Rio de Janeiro Mesoregion Baixadas Bacia de Sao Joao Casimiro de Abreu  · Rio das Ostras  · Silva Jardim Lagos Araruama  · Armação dos Búzios  · Arraial do Cabo  · Cabo Frio  · Iguaba Grande  · São Pedro da Aldeia  · Saquarema Mesoregion Centro Fluminense Cantagalo-Cordeiro Cantagalo  · Carmo  · Cordeiro  · Macuco Nova Friburgo Bom Jardim  · Duas Barras  · Nova Friburgo  · Sumidouro Santa Maria Madalena Santa Maria Madalena  · São Sebastião do Alto  · Trajano de Morais Tres Rios Areal  · Comendador Levy Gasparian  · Paraíba do Sul  · Sapucaia  · Três Rios Mesoregion Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro Itaguai Itaguaí  · Mangaratiba  · Seropédica Macacu-Caceribu Cachoeiras de Macacu  · Rio Bonito Microregion Rio de Janeiro Belford Roxo  · Duque de Caxias  · Guapimirim  · Itaboraí  · Japeri  · Magé  · Maricá  · Nilópolis  · Niterói  · Mesquita  · Nova Iguaçu  · Queimados  · Rio de Janeiro  · São Gonçalo  · São João de Meriti  · Tanguá Serrana Petrópolis  · São José do Vale do Rio Preto  · Teresópolis Vassouras Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin  · Mendes  · Miguel Pereira  · Paracambi  · Paty do Alferes  · Vassouras Mesoregion Noroeste Fluminense Itaperuna Bom Jesus do Itabapoana  · Italva  · Itaperuna  · Laje do Muriaé  · Natividade  · Porciúncula  · Varre-Sai Santo Antonio de Padua Aperibé  · Cambuci  · Itaocara  · Miracema  · Santo Antônio de Pádua  · São José de Ubá Mesoregion Norte Fluminense Campos dos Goytacazes Campos dos Goytacazes  · Cardoso Moreira  · São Fidélis  · São Francisco de Itabapoana  · São João da Barra Macae Carapebus  · Conceição de Macabu  · Macaé  · Quissamã Mesoregion Sul Fluminense Baia da Ilha Grande Angra dos Reis  · Parati Barra do Pirai Barra do Piraí  · Rio das Flores  · Valença Vale do Paraiba Fluminense Barra Mansa  · Itatiaia  · Pinheiral  · Piraí  · Porto Real  · Quatis  · Resende  · Rio Claro  · Volta Redonda