Rio de Janeiro
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mentions of this place in the documents