This article is about the Brazilian state, Rio de Janeiro. For the city with the same name, see Rio de Janeiro

{| class="infobox" style="width: 22em; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" cellpadding="2" Rio de Janeiro Flag of Rio de Janeiro See other Brazilian States Capital Rio de Janeiro Largest City Rio de Janeiro Area 43,696.054 km² Population
  - Total
  - Density
14,381,282
328.59 inh./km² Governor Rosângela Matheus Demonym Fluminense HDI (2000) 0.807 – high Timezone GMT-3 ISO 3166-2 BR Rio de Janeiro (pron. IPA: // The presented pronunciation is in Brazilian Portuguese. The European Portuguese pronunciation is: //.) is one of the 26 states of Brazil (plus the Federal District). It has an area of 43,653km² and is situated on the southeastern coast. Its capital is the city of Rio de Janeiro, which was the colony's capital as of 1763 (the first capital being Salvador da Bahia), and the nation's capital from 1822 to 1960. In the year 2000, the state population was 14,381,282.

Governor: Rosângela Matheus (since January 1, 2003).

Lieutenant Governor: Luiz Paulo Conde (former mayor of Rio de Janeiro).

Flag

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Here the flag can be seen with, in the foreground, the eagle, symbol of Brazil's royal family, and in the background, the rock formation Dedo de Deus ("The Finger of God"), which is visible from the city of Rio de Janeiro on a clear day. The outer part of the coat of arms represents its agricultural richness, sugarcane (left) and coffee (right).

Location

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This Brazilian state is in the east of the southeastern subdivision of Brazil, which also contains the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. It has as its limits: The Atlantic Ocean (E), the state of Espírito Santo (N), the state of Minas Gerais (N) and (W), and the state of São Paulo (S).

Ethnic Groups

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• White - 54.7% (Mostly Portuguese, Italian and German)
• Mixed Race - 33.5% (Mostly Mulatto and Mestizo)
• Black - 10.6% (Mostly Bantu and Yoruba ancestry)
• Amerindian - 0.3%
• Asian - 0.2%
• Undescribed - 0.7%

Economy

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Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of the federation, after São Paulo. Major industries include Oil extration and refinery, chemical factories, naval construction and the state is home to some of the most successful Brazilian companies, such as Petrobrás (the government's oil company) and Banco do Brasil (the country's largest bank). The income per capita is higher than the country's itself and the size of the economy (US$ 190 billion) is comparable to that of Chile, Ireland, Portugal and Denmark (which, curiously, are about the size of the state).

History

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Hereditary captainships

Rio de Janeiro was originated from parts of the captainships of de Tomé and São Vicente. Between 1555 and 1567, the territory was busy with the Frenchmen, who intended to install a colony, France Antarctique. Aiming at to prevent the occupation of the Frenchmen, in March 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was established by Estácio de Sá.

In the 17th century, cattle and the sugar cane they had stimulated the progress, definitively assured when the port started to export the extracted gold of Minas Gerais, in 18 century. In 1763, Rio de Janeiro was became the headquarters of the Colonial Brazil and the capital of the colony. With the change of the royal family for Brazil, in 1808, the region very was benefited with urban reforms to shelter the Portuguese. Inside of the promoted changes they are distinguished: the transference of agencies of public administration and justice, the creation of new churches, hospitals, foundation of the first bank of the country - the Banco do Brasil - and the Imprensa Régia, with the Gazette do Rio of Janeiro. In following years had also appeared the Jardim Botânico, Academia Real Militar.

Thus, a process of cultural introduction, influenced not only by the arrival of the Royal Family, but also by the presence of European artists who had been hired to register the society and Brazilian nature. In this same time, was born the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios (The Royal School of Sciences, Arts, and Works).

The Neutral City

In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro was transformed into neutral city, remaining as capital of the country, while the captainships passed to being provinces, with its headquarters in Niterói, a neighbor city. In 1889, the city was changed into capital of the Republic, the neutral city in federal district and the province in State. With the change of the capital for Brasilia, in 1960, the city of Rio de Janeiro became the State of Guanabara.

The new State of Rio de Janeiro

In 1975, the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro were merged under the name of Rio de Janeiro, with the city of Rio de Janeiro as state capital. The symbols of the former State of Rio de Janeiro were preserved, while the symbols of Guanabara were attributed to the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Cities

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Other cities include:

Angra dos Reis Aperibé Araruama Areal Armação dos Búzios Arraial do Cabo Barra do Piraí Barra Mansa Belford Roxo Bom Jardim Bom Jesus do Itabapoana Cabo Frio Cachoeiras de Macacu Cambuci Campos dos Goytacazes Cantagalo Carapebus Cardoso Moreira Carmo Casimiro de Abreu Comendador Levy Gasparian Conceição de Macabu Cordeiro Duas Barras Duque de Caxias Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin Guapimirim Iguaba Grande Itaboraí Itaguaí

Italva Itaocara Itaperuna Itatiaia Japeri Laje do Muriaé Macaé Macuco Magé Mangaratiba Maricá Mendes Miguel Pereira Miracema Natividade Nilópolis Niterói Nova Friburgo Nova Iguaçu Paracambi Paraíba do Sul Parati Paty do Alferes Petrópolis Pinheiral Piraí Porciúncula Porto Real Quatis Queimados

Quissamã Resende Rio Bonito Rio Claro Rio das Flores Rio das Ostras Santa Maria Madalena Santo Antônio de Pádua São Fidélis São Francisco de Itabapoana São Gonçalo São João da Barra São João de Meriti São José de Ubá São José do Vale do Rio Preto São Pedro da Aldeia São Sebastião do Alto Sapucaia Saquarema Seropédica Silva Jardim Sumidouro Tanguá Teresópolis Trajano de Morais Três Rios Valença Varre-Sai Vassouras Volta Redonda

See also

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List of Governors of Rio de Janeiro

Notes

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External links

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• Official homepage (Portuguese/English)
• State Judiciary (Portuguese)
• State Assembly (Portuguese)
• State University (Portuguese and English)
• Northern State University (Portuguese)
• State Attornery Office (Portuguese)
• State Civil Defence (Portuguese)
• State Military Police
• State Civil Police

States of Brazil | Rio de Janeiro state

Estat de Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro (Bundesstaat) | Estado Río de Janeiro | Rio-de-Ĵanejrio | État de Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro (stát) | Estado de Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro (stato) | Stato di Rio de Janeiro | ריו דה ז'נירו (מדינה) | რიო-დე-ჟანეირო (შტატი) | Rio de Janeiro (stat) | Rio de Janeiro (staat) | Rio de Janeiro (estat) | リオデジャネイロ州 | Rio de Janeiro (delstat) | Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro (osavaltio) | Рио де Жанеиро (држава) | Rio de Janeiro (delstat)