Colonial Despatches

Rio de Janeiro is a city located in the southeast part of the country of Brazil. In this despatch from Addington, Rio de Janeiro has been described as having exceedingly rich soil, a mild temperature compared to the North American Countries and England, and has no white inhabitants.1

Rio de Janeiro got its name from the European explorers who arrived on 1 January 1502 and named it Rio after they mistakenly took the bay they entered for a river, and janeiro for January. Rio became the colonial capital in 1763 and the capital of independent Brazil from 1822-1960. In the 17th century the population in all of Brazil was 8,000 -- two-thirds of which were African slaves and Indigenous Peoples.2

During the 18th century, Rio was in an economic deficit due to the competition in the sugar market with Central America. Rio regained its prosperity in the early 1800s with its coffee production and the resettlement of the Portuguese family in the city. By the mid-1800s, Brazil expanded its world export trade to coffee, cotton, sugar, and rubber.3

In 1890, Rio de Janeiro had 520,000 inhabitants. Today, Rio is recognized as one of the world's most beautiful and interesting urban centres.4

• 1. Addington to Merivale, 1 May 1849, 3967, CO 305/2, 233.
• 2. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Encyclopedia Britannica.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.