Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay (Portuguese: Baía da Guanabara, IPA: [ɡwanaˈbaɾɐ]) is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lies the city of Rio de Janeiro, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo. Four other municipalities surround the bay's shores. Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in area in Brazil (after the All Saints' Bay), at 412 square kilometres (159 sq mi), with a perimeter of 143 kilometres (89 mi).
Guanabara Bay is 31 kilometres (19 mi) long and 28 kilometres (17 mi) wide at its maximum. Its 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) wide mouth is flanked at the eastern tip by the Pico do Papagaio (Parrot's Peak) and the western tip by Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf).
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[edit] Name origin
The name Guanabara comes from the Tupi language, goanã-pará, from gwa "bay", plus nã "similar to" and ba'ra "sea". Traditionally, it is also translated as "the bosom of sea."
[edit] History
Guanabara Bay was first encountered by Europeans on January 1, 1502, when one of the Portuguese explorers Gaspar de Lemos and Gonçalo Coelho[1] arrived on its shores. According to some historians,[2] the name given by the exploration team to the bay was originally Ria de Janeiro "January Sound", then a confusion took place between the word ria, which at the time was used to designate a bay or a sound, and rio "river". Anyway, the name of the bay was soon fixed as Rio de Janeiro "January River". Later, the city was named after the bay. Natives of the Tamoio and Tupiniquim tribes inhabited the shores of the bay.
After the initial arrival of the Portuguese, no significant European settlements were established until French colonist and soldiers, under the Huguenot Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon invaded the region in 1555 to establish the France Antarctique. They stayed briefly on Lajes Island, then moved to Serigipe Island, near the shore, where they built Fort Coligny. After they were expelled by Portuguese military expeditions in 1563, the colonial government built fortifications in several points of Guanabara Bay, rendering it almost impregnable against a naval attack from the sea. They were the Santa Cruz, São João, Lajes and Villegaignon forts, forming a fearsome crossfire rectangle of big naval guns. Other islands were adapted by the Navy to host naval storehouses, hospitals, drydocks, oil reservoirs and the National Naval Academy.
[edit] Description
There are more than 130 islands dotting the bay, including:
- Lajes
- Governador – site of Rio de Janeiro's Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport
- Galeão
- Paquetá
- Cobras
- Flores
- Fiscal
- Ilha da Boa Viagem
- Villegaignon
- Fundão
The bay is crossed by the mighty Rio-Niterói Bridge (13.29 kilometres (8.26 mi) long and with a central span 72 metres (236 ft) high) and there is heavy boat and ship traffic, including regular ferryboat lines. The Port of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the city's two airports, Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (on Governador Island) and Santos Dumont Airport (on a landfill next to downtown Rio), are located on its shores. The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro main campus is located on the artificial Fundão Island. A maze of smaller bridges seamlessly interconnect the two largest islands, Fundão and Governador, to the mainland.In Guanabara Bay lies an Environmental Protection Area (APA), which is located mostly in the municipality of Guapimirim and given the name of (APA) Guapimirim.
Guanabara's Bay is surrounded by luxuriant tropical forests, beaches, strangely-shaped rocks and peaks, and a backdrop of the high mountains of Serra do Mar. It borders Rio de Janeiro, widely considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, making it one of the world's premier tourist destinations.
[edit] Environment
Guanabara Bay's once rich and diversified ecosystem has suffered extensive damage in recent decades, particularly along its mangrove areas. The bay has been heavily impacted by urbanization, deforestation, and pollution of its waters with sewage, garbage, and oil spills.
In 2000, a leaking underwater pipeline released 1,300,000 litres (340,000 USgal) of oil into Guanabara Bay, destroying large swaths of the mangrove ecosystem. Recovery measures are currently being attempted, but more than a decade after the incident, the mangrove areas have not returned to life. According to reporter Gabriel Elizondo, who visited the scene of the oil spill in 2010, "The mud is thick, black and lifeless. And it stinks. Dead stumps – what used to be thick green mangrove swamps – protrude out from the mud as far as your eyes see....Nothing is growing here, and I can’t imagine anything growing here in a very long time. It's sad."[3]
Coordinates: 22°47′26″S 43°09′20″W / 22.790426°S 43.15567°W
[edit] External links
- Information Center for Guanabara Bay. State Government of Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese).
[edit] References
- ^ (Portuguese)Jorge Couto, 1995, A Construção do Brasil, Lisbon: Cosmos.
- ^ (Portuguese)Vasco Mariz, 2006, "Os Fundadores do Rio de Janeiro: Vespucci, Villegagnon ou Estácio de Sá?", in Brasil-França. Relações históricas no período colonial, Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca do Exército, p. 80.
- ^ Elizondo, Gabriel. "Effects of a Brazilian oil spill 10 years on". The Americas Blog, Aljazeera.net. http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/07/07/effects-brazilian-oil-spill-10-years. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
