Some stories about Rio seem like fabrications: an entire mountain was removed, beaches became avenues, a stadium held almost 200,000 people, and the Portuguese court governed its empire from Guanabara Bay.
Many lists published online mix facts, legends, and undocumented versions. On this page, the claims have been compared with institutional sources, historical archives, and organizations such as IPHAN, UNESCO, the National Library, the National Archives, MultiRio, and the City Hall.
When there is no consensus, the text uses expressions such as "probably," "most widespread interpretation," and "according to a traditional version.".
The current city was built both on the original natural landscape and on parts of the old Rio itself: land from demolished hills was used to create landfill where the sea once existed.
Eight facts to surprise any visitor.
The Portuguese court settled in the city in 1808.
Castle Hill was dismantled in the 1920s.
Tijuca was revitalized after the expansion of coffee cultivation.
The genre emerged in the city during the 19th century.
The structure transported water before the trams.
The 1950 final had an extraordinary official attendance.
The name derives from what were called royal lands.
Rio received unprecedented worldwide recognition.
Name and founding of Rio de Janeiro
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City name
The name was born on the first day of January.
A Portuguese expedition reached the entrance to Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502. The reference to the month was recorded in the toponym Rio de Janeiro.
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Likely version
The bay was probably mistaken for a river.
The traditional explanation states that the navigators imagined they were at the mouth of a large river. Researchers treat this interpretation as probable, but not as an absolute certainty.
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Indigenous language
Guanabara already had a name before the Portuguese arrived.
Guanabara is a toponym of indigenous origin, often interpreted as "hidden water" or "sea bosom," a reference to the narrow entrance that protects the large bay.
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Foundation
The city was not founded in January.
Although the name is related to January, the official founding took place in March 1, 1565, more than six decades after the Portuguese arrival.
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Full name
The original name included Saint Sebastian.
Estácio de Sá founded the city as Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro.The tribute linked the patron saint to the young Portuguese king, Dom Sebastião.
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Foundation site
The first nucleus was located near Sugarloaf Mountain.
The initial settlement was established on a strip of land between the Cara de Cão and Pão de Açúcar hills, near present-day Urca and the entrance to the bay.
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Antarctic France
Rio was born during a war against the French.
The foundation was part of the Portuguese campaign to expel the French from France Antarctique, a colony established in Guanabara with the support of allied indigenous groups.
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Change of address
The city moved to a different location a few years later.
After the Portuguese victory, the urban center was moved to Morro do Castelo, a higher and more defensible position in what is now the city center.
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Survivor Street
A small slope is all that remains of the original city.
Ladeira da Misericórdia is considered one of the first public roads in Rio and the main preserved urban vestige of the old Morro do Castelo (Castle Hill).
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Rio de Janeiro calendar
The birthday and the patron saint's day are different.
The city's anniversary is celebrated on March 1st. Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio, is celebrated on January 20th, a municipal holiday.
When Rio became the seat of a monarchy
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Colonial capital
Rio de Janeiro replaced Salvador in 1763.
The seat of the colonial government was transferred from Salvador to Rio, bringing the administration closer to the gold routes and the southern region.
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Portuguese Court
Thousands of court members arrived in 1808.
The royal family and its administration left Portugal during the Napoleonic invasions and settled in Rio, profoundly altering the city.
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Portuguese Empire
A European monarchy was ruled from America.
With the court in Rio, the city became the seat of the Portuguese monarchy and its empire outside of Europe, an exceptional situation in colonial history.
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Economy
The first Banco do Brasil was founded in Rio.
Dom João created the Bank of Brazil in 1808. The institution was part of the economic reorganization brought about by the transfer of the court.
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Press
Printing books and newspapers was prohibited before 1808.
The Royal Press was established in Rio de Janeiro after the arrival of the court. Until then, Portugal restricted the establishment of printing presses in the colony.
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Journalism
The first newspaper printed in Brazil was published in Rio.
A Rio de Janeiro Gazette It began circulating in 1808. Correio Braziliense It's older, but it was produced in London.
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Library
The National Library was born from books brought from Portugal.
Part of the Portuguese Royal Library crossed the Atlantic with the court. This collection became the basis of the current National Library.
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Botanical garden
The Botanical Garden began as an agricultural laboratory.
Created in 1808, the Royal Botanical Garden was intended for the acclimatization of plants of economic interest, and not initially for public use.
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Gunpowder
A gunpowder factory used to operate where there are gardens today.
The Royal Gunpowder Factory was established on the land that now forms part of the Botanical Garden. Traces of this activity are still present on the site.
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Taxes
The court helped create the predecessor to the IPTU (Property Tax).
The so-called Urban Tenth was established to tax properties in the expanding city. It is considered one of the historical origins of the current IPTU (Property Tax).
The Rio de Janeiro that disappeared
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Capital
Rio was the capital of Brazil until 1960.
The role of capital ended with the inauguration of Brasília. The city had occupied central positions since the colonial period.
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State of Guanabara
The city was once an entire state.
Between 1960 and 1975, the former Federal District became the State of Guanabara, formed only by the territory of the current municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
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Fusion
The current Rio de Janeiro was born from a merger in 1975.
The State of Guanabara was united with the former State of Rio de Janeiro, whose capital was Niterói. The city of Rio became the capital of the new state.
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Disappearing hill
Castle Hill has been virtually erased from the map.
The site where the colonial city developed was dismantled during the 1920s in the name of modernization, ventilation, and expansion of the city center.
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Disappeared beach
The soil from the hill helped to bury a beach.
Material removed from Morro do Castelo was used in landfill projects that altered the coastline and caused Santa Luzia Beach to disappear.
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President Vargas Avenue
An avenue eliminated hundreds of buildings.
The opening of Avenida Presidente Vargas in the 1940s demolished city blocks, churches, and part of the old Cidade Nova (New City).
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Eleventh Square
The birthplace of samba was cut off by the avenue.
Praça Onze, a hub for Black gatherings, parties, ranches, and samba musicians, disappeared during the renovation that opened Presidente Vargas Avenue.
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Mauá Square
Mauá Square used to have a beach.
The area was known as Prainha and had direct contact with the sea before the construction of the docks and subsequent port landfills.
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Flamengo landfill
One of the city's largest parks was built over the sea.
Flamengo Park occupies land reclaimed from Guanabara Bay using landfill and dredged materials. The landscaping was designed by Roberto Burle Marx.
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Monroe Palace
A monumental palace was demolished in the heart of Cinelândia.
The Monroe Palace, which once housed the Federal Senate, was demolished in 1976. Photographs and fragments are now the main records of the building.
And what about the Perimeter Road?
The elevated highway that crossed part of the Port Zone began to be dismantled in 2013. Its removal once again altered the landscape and opened up space for the Olympic Boulevard and the Light Rail Transit (VLT).
Nature and geography that seem invented.
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Tijuca Forest
Part of the forest was replanted by the government.
Organized reforestation began in 1861, after coffee production and logging degraded the hillsides and threatened the water supply.
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Coffee
Before the trees, there were large plantations in the mountains.
Coffee farms once occupied parts of the slopes now covered by Tijuca National Park. The current landscape is not entirely original.
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Invisible work
Black workers were essential in reforestation.
The recovery is often attributed to administrators, but it depended on Black men and women who planted and cared for thousands of seedlings on the hillsides.
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Foreign plants
The first seedlings for the Botanical Garden came from Mauritius.
The Royal Botanical Garden received species from the La Pamplemousse garden, which were used in agricultural acclimatization experiments in the early 19th century.
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Corcovado
Christ the Redeemer stands over 700 meters above sea level.
The summit of Corcovado is approximately 710 meters above sea level. The statue occupies only the final part of this elevation.
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Sugarloaf Mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain is almost 400 meters high.
The summit is approximately 396 meters high. The cable car ride takes place in two stages: Praia Vermelha, Morro da Urca, and Pão de Açúcar.
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Pond
Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon was once called Sacopenapã.
The old indigenous name was replaced by a reference to Rodrigo de Freitas de Carvalho, a landowner in the surrounding area.
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Arpoador
Arpoador was named because of the whaling season.
The rocks were used as observation points by harpooners searching for whales near the coast before the urbanization of the South Zone.
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Biodiversity
The municipality encompasses forest, coastal scrubland, and mangroves.
Despite intense urbanization, Rio preserves fragments of the Atlantic Forest, coastal vegetation, coastal lagoons, and mangrove areas.
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Paquetá
A park preserves tunnels linked to kaolin mining.
Darke de Mattos Park features tunnels associated with kaolin mining, an activity historically carried out with the labor of enslaved people.
Monuments and buildings with unexpected stories.
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Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer was only inaugurated in 1931.
The statue was inaugurated on October 12, 1931. Photographs from the 19th century show Corcovado without the monument that today seems inseparable from the city.
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Engineering
The structure reaches 38 meters in height and weighs over a thousand tons.
The height includes the pedestal. Historical sources attribute an approximate weight of 1,145 tons to the monument.
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Art Deco
Christ the Redeemer is a gigantic Art Deco masterpiece.
Despite the religious theme, the architectural and sculptural language belongs to Art Deco, a style associated with the modernity of the first decades of the 20th century.
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Corcovado Train
The train was already climbing the mountain before Christ the Redeemer existed.
The Corcovado Railway was inaugurated in the 19th century. The system later helped in the transportation of materials for the construction of the statue.
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cable car
Sugarloaf Mountain received the first cable car in Brazil.
The first section was inaugurated in 1912. At the time, the system was also one of the first passenger cable cars in the world.
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Second excerpt
The cable car didn't reach the top on the first day.
Initially, the railway only ran from Praia Vermelha to Morro da Urca. The section to Sugarloaf Mountain began operating in January 1913.
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Lapa Arches
The Arches were not built as a bridge.
The structure was the Carioca Aqueduct, created to carry water from elevated areas to supply points in the city.
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Santa Teresa trams
A colonial aqueduct became a railway passage.
After losing their original function, the Arches began to be used by the trams that connect the city center to the Santa Teresa neighborhood.
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Municipal Theater
The theater in Rio de Janeiro was inspired by the architecture of Paris.
Inaugurated in 1909, the Municipal Theatre was part of the renovation of Avenida Central and is in dialogue with the Paris Opera and other European theatres.
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National Library
The building is much newer than the library.
The headquarters on Avenida Rio Branco were inaugurated in 1910. The institution and its collection date back to the transfer of the Royal Library at the beginning of the 19th century.
Crying, samba and carnival
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Crying
The choro genre originated in Rio de Janeiro during the 19th century.
Popular musicians reinterpreted polkas, waltzes, and other European dances with Afro-Brazilian rhythms, improvisations, and practices.
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Heritage
Choro music only became a Cultural Heritage of Brazil in 2024.
National recognition by IPHAN (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage) came more than a century after the genre became established in the streets, homes, and circles of Rio de Janeiro.
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Samba
There isn't just one type of samba from Rio.
The IPHAN registration protects the traditional styles of partido-alto, samba de terreiro, and samba-enredo, recognizing different environments and ways of creation.
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Little Africa
A part of the city center was fundamental to the birth of samba.
Saúde, Gamboa, and Santo Cristo received Black populations, religious centers, houses of Bahian women, port workers, and musicians after abolition.
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Salt Stone
A stone used in port work became a symbol of samba.
Pedra do Sal was linked to the unloading and transport of goods. Later, it became a cultural and religious meeting point.
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Aunt Ciata
A private house helped transform Brazilian music.
Tia Ciata's residence brought together musicians, workers, and Black leaders. The place became a landmark in the history of samba.
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Eleventh Square
The old heart of Carnival no longer exists.
Praça Onze was a hub for ranches, carnival groups, samba dancers, and popular festivals before being profoundly altered by Avenida Presidente Vargas.
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Let's Talk
The first samba school may not have been exactly a school.
Deixa Falar, created in Estácio, is often cited as the first samba school, although researchers debate definitions and precedents.
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Parades
The schools didn't always parade in the Sambadrome.
The first competitions took place in areas such as Praça Onze and Avenida Presidente Vargas. The show changed location several times.
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Sambadrome
The Samba Parade was only inaugurated in 1984.
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the Sambadrome transformed the parades into an event held within a permanent structure.
Football, Olympics and transportation
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Maracanã
The stadium was built for the 1950 World Cup.
Brazil needed a large-capacity arena to host the tournament. Construction began a few years before the competition.
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First goal
Didi scored the first goal in Maracanã's history.
The player from Rio de Janeiro scored the first goal in the inaugural match between the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo state teams.
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Public
Nearly 200,000 people watched the 1950 final.
The official attendance figure for the Brazil vs. Uruguay match was 199,854 people, a number difficult to imagine in modern stadiums.
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Two finals
The Maracanã has hosted World Cup finals separated by 64 years.
The stadium hosted the finals of 1950 and 2014, as well as matches from other major national and international tournaments.
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Olympic gold
Brazil's first men's Olympic gold medal came at the Maracanã.
In 2016, the Brazilian national team defeated Germany on penalties and won the title that was missing from the country's men's football history.
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Olympic Games
Rio was the first South American city to host the Games.
The 2016 edition marked the debut of the Summer Olympic Games in South America.
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Olympic legacy
The city maintained an Olympic BMX track.
The Deodoro Radical Park has preserved sports equipment from the Games, including a BMX track built to Olympic standards.
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Subway
The Rio de Janeiro subway system is more recent than many people imagine.
The first stations began operating in 1979. Before that, the city relied mainly on trains, buses, trams, and automobiles.
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Tram
The Santa Teresa tram runs above a colonial aqueduct.
Few urban systems combine an 18th-century structure with a rail transport system still in use in the 21st century.
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Official name
Maracanã is not the full official name of the stadium.
The arena is officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, in honor of the sports journalist who championed its construction.
Neighborhood names with unexpected origins.
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Copacabana
Copacabana was once called Sacopenapã.
The current name comes from a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Copacabana, a devotion originating in Bolivia.
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Ipanema
Ipanema wasn't named after the waves of Rio de Janeiro.
The subdivision was named after the title of the Baron of Ipanema, linked to a town and a river in the state of São Paulo.
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Botafogo
Botafogo was the surname of a property owner.
João Pereira de Sousa Botafogo owned land in the cove. The property came to be identified by the family name.
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Leblon
Leblon comes from the surname of a Frenchman.
Charles Le Blond was a landowner and was involved in whaling in the region. The spelling has been adapted to Portuguese.
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Realengo
Realengo is not an abbreviation of Real Engenho.
The most documented explanation links the name to royal fields or lands, belonging to the Crown and intended for public use.
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Gávea
One mountain resembled a ship's part.
To navigators, the summit of Pedra da Gávea resembled the platform installed at the top of the mast of ancient ships.
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Maracanã
The neighborhood and the stadium are named after birds.
Maracanã was originally the name of a bird similar to a parrot. The place name was then used for the river, the neighborhood, and finally the stadium.
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Jacarepaguá
The name is reminiscent of the alligators from the ancient lagoons.
The indigenous place name is related to alligators and the swampy areas of the lowlands, although there are variations in its literal translation.
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Guaratiba
Guaratiba is associated with red birds.
The name is often interpreted as a place or abundance of scarlet ibises, birds that inhabited the mangroves of the region.
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Rudder
The neighborhood was named after a rudder-shaped rock.
The Rudder Rock was compared to the rudder used to steer ships. The rock formation gave its name to the end of the beach.
Science, museums, and first times.
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National Museum
Rio is home to the oldest scientific institution in Brazil.
The National Museum was created by Dom João VI in 1818, initially under the name Royal Museum.
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First headquarters
The National Museum was not born in Quinta da Boa Vista.
The institution began in Campo de Santana. It was only at the end of the 19th century that it was transferred to the old Paço de São Cristóvão.
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Fire
The museum had approximately 20 million items.
Before the 2018 fire, the collection included archaeology, anthropology, fossils, mummies, meteorites, and natural history collections.
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Cinema
The first public film screening in Brazil was in Rio.
The projection took place on July 8, 1896, on Rua do Ouvidor, using a device advertised as an omniograph.
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Radio
National Radio began broadcasting in 1936.
The Rio de Janeiro-based broadcaster became one of the main vehicles for music, drama, news, and the construction of Brazilian mass culture.
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Public Promenade
The first public park in the Americas is located in the Center.
Designed by Master Valentim and inaugurated in the 18th century, the Passeio Público is also considered the first landscaped park in Brazil.
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Valongo Wharf
Urban construction has once again revealed a buried port.
Excavations in the Port Zone have brought to the surface traces of the Valongo Wharf, which had been covered by later renovations and layers of the city.
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World Heritage Site
Valongo Wharf was added to UNESCO's list in 2017.
International recognition highlights its importance as a place of remembrance for the African diaspora and slavery in the Americas.
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Slavery
Rio received one of the largest flows of enslaved Africans.
The Valongo complex became the main landing and trading point for enslaved Africans in the city during the 19th century.
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Imperial Palace
The Golden Law was signed in downtown Rio.
Princess Isabel signed the law on May 13, 1888, at the Imperial Palace, now a cultural center located in Praça XV.
World recognitions and modern curiosities
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UNESCO
Rio was the first urban cultural landscape to be recognized by UNESCO.
In 2012, the relationship between mountains, forests, gardens, sea, and urbanization became the first urban cultural landscape inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
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Seven Wonders
Christ the Redeemer was included on a global list determined by voting.
In 2007, the monument was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in an international campaign conducted by a private foundation.
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Architecture
Rio was the first World Capital of Architecture.
UNESCO and the International Union of Architects awarded the city its first title as World Capital of Architecture, for 2020.
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Books
It was the first Portuguese-speaking city to become World Book Capital.
UNESCO has chosen Rio de Janeiro for the 2025 cycle, recognizing projects related to reading, literature, and publishing heritage.
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Eco-92
The city's name has become synonymous with environmental conferences.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and became known worldwide as Rio-92.
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Rio+20
Twenty years later, world leaders returned to the city.
In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development revisited themes from the 1992 meeting and was named Rio+20.
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Popular hymn
“"Cidade Maravilhosa" is the official march of the municipality.
André Filho's composition was declared the official march of Rio in 1960 and consolidated the nickname used internationally.
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Carioca or fluminense
Not everyone from the state of Rio de Janeiro is from the city of Rio.
Carioca refers to someone born in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Fluminense refers to someone born in the state of Rio, including residents of Niterói, Petrópolis, and other cities.
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Exhibition of 1922
The Independence Day celebrations lasted almost a year.
The International Centennial Exposition was inaugurated in September 1922 and remained open until July 1923, coinciding with the demolition of Morro do Castelo.
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Rio Art Museum
The MAR was inaugurated on the city's anniversary.
The Rio Art Museum opened to the public on March 1, 2013, choosing the date that marks the founding of the city.
Frequently asked questions about interesting facts about Rio.
Was Rio de Janeiro ever the capital of Portugal?
Rio de Janeiro became the seat of the Portuguese monarchy and empire after the transfer of the court in 1808. In 1815, it became the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
Why is the city called Rio de Janeiro?
A Portuguese expedition arrived at Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502. The most widely accepted interpretation is that the bay was mistaken for the mouth of a river.
Was the city founded in January or March?
The name originated in January 1502, but the city was officially founded by Estácio de Sá on March 1, 1565.
Is it true that Rio has lost beaches?
Yes. Landfill and urban development have profoundly altered the coastline, eliminating beaches in the city center, Glória, Flamengo, and other areas.
Was Morro do Castelo really demolished?
Yes. The hill was dismantled mainly during the 1920s. Ladeira da Misericórdia remains as one of the few vestiges.
Is the Tijuca Forest natural?
It preserves the Atlantic Forest, but important parts were reforested starting in 1861 after the devastation caused by farms and plantations.
Were the Lapa Arches an aqueduct?
Yes. The Carioca Aqueduct carried water to the city. Later, the structure came to be used by the Santa Teresa trams.
Does Realengo mean Real Engenho?
Not according to the most documented historical explanation. The name relates to royal lands or fields linked to the Crown.
How many people were at the Maracanã in 1950?
The official attendance for the match between Brazil and Uruguay was 199,854 people.
What musical genre originated in Rio?
Choro music originated in Rio de Janeiro during the 19th century. The city also played a central role in the formation of urban samba, bossa nova, and carioca funk.
What was the first movie screening in Brazil?
The first documented public session took place on July 8, 1896, on Rua do Ouvidor, in downtown Rio.
Where can I experience these stories firsthand?
The National Historical Museum, the Imperial Palace, the Museum of the Republic, Valongo Wharf, the National Museum, the National Library, and visits to the city center help to contextualize the events.