Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea
Rio de Janeiro is the second-largest city in Brazil, the sixth-largest city in the Americas, and the world's thirty-fifth-largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan place, the second most populous metropolitan area in Brazil, the sixth-most populous in the Americas, and the eighteenth-largest in the world. Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the divulge of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's third-most populous divulge. Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes surrounded by the Mountain and the Sea", by UNESCO concerning 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape.
Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a domain of the Portuguese Empire. Later, in 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a confess of the Portuguese Empire. In 1808, once the Portuguese Royal Court transferred itself from Portugal to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro became the chosen chair of the court of Queen Maria I of Portugal, who back, in 1815, knocked out the leadership of her son, the Prince Regent, and sophisticated King Joo VI of Portugal, raised Brazil to the dignity of a kingdom, within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves. Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian Monarchy until 1822, furthermore the War of Brazilian Independence began. This is one of the few instances in records that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro back served as the capital of the independent monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, until 1889, and subsequently the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 by now the capital was transferred to Braslia.
Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country, and 30th largest in the world in 2008, estimated at not quite R$343 billion (IBGE, 2008) (around US$201 billion). It is headquarters to various Brazilian oil, mining, and telecommunications companies, including two of the country's major corporationsPetrobras and Valeand Latin America's largest telemedia conglomerate, Grupo Globo. The residence of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and adjust ahead in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, Carnival, samba, bossa nova, and balneario beaches such as Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. In totaling going on to the beaches, some of the most ably-known landmarks insert the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf Mountain when its cable car; the Sambdromo, a enduring grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracan Stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums.
Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympicsthe first become pass a South American and Portuguese-speaking nation will host these behavior, and the third times the Olympics will be held in a Southern Hemisphere city. On 12 August 2012, at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Mayor Eduardo Paes stated the Olympic Flag, via Jacques Rogge, from London Mayor Boris Johnson. Rio's Maracan Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the XV Pan American Games including its opening and closing ceremonies. Rio de Janeiro furthermore hosted World Youth Day in 2013.
