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This article is about the Brazilian city. For the state with the same name, see Rio de Janeiro (state).
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Flag of Rio de Janeiro
Flag
Official seal of Rio de Janeiro
Seal
Location of Rio de Janeiro
Location of Rio de Janeiro
CountryBrazil
RegionSoutheast
StateRio de Janeiro
Government
 • MayorCesar Maia (PFL)
Population
 (2005)[1][2]
 • City5,613,000
 • Metro
12,620,000
Time zoneUTC-3 (UTC-3)
Websitewww.rio.rj.gov.br

Rio de Janeiro (IPA: Portuguese: [ˈhiw dʒi ʒʌˈnejɾu], "River of January"; English ['ɹioʊ deɪ ʒəˈnɛɹoʊ]) is a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. The city was the capital of Brazil (1763–1960) and of the Portuguese Empire (1808–1821). Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa - "The Marvelous City".

It is famous for its spectacular natural setting, its Carnival celebrations, samba and other music, hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon and pavements decorated with black and cream swirl pattern mosaics. Some of the most famous local landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival; and Maracanã stadium, the world's largest. Rio also boasts the world's largest forest inside an urban area, called Floresta da Tijuca, or 'Tijuca Forest'.

Rio de Janeiro is located at 22 degrees, 54 minutes south latitude, 43 degrees 14 minutes west longitude (22°54′S 43°14′W / 22.900°S 43.233°W / -22.900; -43.233). The population of the City of Rio de Janeiro is about 6,094,183[3] (2005 IBGE estimate), occupying an area of 1,182.3 square kilometres (456.5 sq mi)[4]. The population of the larger metropolitan area is estimated at 11-12 million. It is Brazil's second-largest city after São Paulo and was the country's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas. The city's current mayor (2006) is Cesar Maia. The official song of Rio is "Cidade Maravilhosa" (translated as "Marvelous City").

History

Rio de Janeiro's waterfront and the Morro de Castello, from the Ilha das Cobras in 1919, by Harriet Chalmers Adams.

Guanabara Bay, future site of the city, was reached by Portuguese explorers in an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos on January 20, 1502; hence Rio de Janeiro, "January River". There is a legend that the mariners named the place thus because they thought the mouth of the bay was actually the mouth of a river, but no experienced sailor would make that mistake. At the time, river was the general word for any large body of water.

An unofficial European presence in the area began not long after. In 1519 when Ferdinand Magellan resupplied his ships in the bay, French smugglers were already using the bay as a post for smuggling brazilwood. When French naval officer Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon arrived in 1555 with a fleet of two ships and 600 soldiers and colonists, he founded the first permanent European settlement in the area. The colony was referred to as "France Antarctique". The colonists consisted of mainly French Huguenots and Swiss Calvinists. Villegaignon left in 1557 after disputes with some of the colonists.

The was founded in March 1 1565, by Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá, who called it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro 20 (St Sebastian of the January 20th River), in honour of Saint Sebastian (day of death traditionally on January 20). For centuries, the settlement was commonly called São Sebastião – or even 'Saint Sebastian' – instead of the currently popular second half of its name. The city was founded as a base from which to invade the French settlement. They succeeded in 1567 and the French were expelled. Later, São Sebastião was frequently attacked by pirates and privateers, especially by then enemies of Portugal, such as the Netherlands and France.

Cristo Redentor, the famous Christ the Redeemer statue at the top of the Corcovado mountain

The exact place of Rio's foundation is at the foot of Pão-de-Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain). Later, the whole city was moved within a palisade on top of a hill, imitating the medieval European defence strategy of fortified castles – the place has since then been called Morro do Castelo (Castle Hill). Thus, the city developed from the current centre (Downtown, see below) southwards and then westwards (with large parts built over reclaimed land); an urban movement which continues today.

Lagoa, with Corcovado in the background

In the late 16th century the Portuguese crown began treating the village as a strategic location for the Atlantic transit of ships between Brazil, the African colonies and Europe. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native tribes to defend the settlement against invaders – Rio's neighbour, Niterói, for instance, was founded by Araribóia, a Tamoio Indian chief, for defensive purposes. Sugar cane was the first industry in the area. First native, and later African, slaves were used for manual labor. Eventually the industry dwindled as higher quality sugar cane from northern Brazil became more available.

Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several – mostly French – pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc and René Duguay-Trouin. After 1720, when the Portuguese found gold and diamonds in the neighbouring captaincy of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro became a much more useful port for exporting wealth than Salvador, Bahia, which is much farther to the north. In 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved to Rio.

Copacabana Beach

The city remained primarily a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of the associated Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdom's capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, became the only European capital outside of Europe. As there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes.

When Prince Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire, but, by then, the city region was gradually losing importance – economic and political – to São Paulo.

Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic.

Copacabana Palace Hotel at Copacabana beach. One of the best known and most luxurious hotels in Rio, it was built in the 1920s

Until the early years of the 20th century the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic Downtown business district (see below), on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The city's centre of gravity began to shift south and west to the so-called Zona Sul (South Zone) in the early part of the 20th century, when the first tunnel was built under the mountains located between Botafogo and the neighbourhood now known as Copacabana. That beach's natural beauty, combined with the fame of the Copacabana Palace Hotel, the luxury hotel of the Americas in the 1930s, helped Rio to gain the reputation it still holds today as a beachy party town (though, this reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade).

File:Rio08.jpg
Ipanema beach

Plans for moving the nation's capital city to the territorial centre had been occasionally discussed, and when Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955, it was partially on the strength of promises to build a new capital. Though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960. On April 21 that year the capital of Brazil was officially moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília.

Between 1960 and 1975 Rio was a citystate (such as Vienna (Austria), Hamburg (Germany), or Washington, D.C. (United States)) under the name State of Guanabara (after the bay it borders). However, for administrative and political reasons, a presidential decree known as A Fusão ("The Fusion") removed the city's federative status and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975. Even today, some Cariocas advocate the return of municipal autonomy.

City districts

The Municipal Theatre, originally an opera house, is a smaller version of the Garnier Opera in Paris, built in the beginning of the 20th century in the centre of Rio

The city is commonly divided into the historic downtown (Centro); the tourist-friendly South Zone, with world-famous beaches; the industrial North Zone; and the West Zone, with the newer Barra da Tijuca district.

Downtown

Centro (or Downtown in American English) is the historic centre of the city, as well as its financial centre. Sites of interest include the so-called Paço Imperial, built during colonial times to serve as residence to the Portuguese governors of Brazil; many historic churches, such as the Candelária Church, the colonial Cathedral and the modern-style Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. Around the Cinelandia square there are several landmarks of the Belle Epoque of Rio, like the Municipal Theatre and the National Library building. Among its several museums, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) and the Museu Histórico Nacional (National Historical Museum) are the most important. Other important historical attractions in central Rio include its Passeio Público, an 18th-century public garden, as well as the imposing arches of the Arcos da Lapa, a Roman-style aqueduct built around 1750. A bondinho (tram) leaves from a city centre station, crosses the aqueduct (converted to a tram viaduct in 1896) and rambles through the hilly streets of the Santa Teresa neighbourhood nearby.

Downtown remains the heart of the city's business community. Some of the largest companies in Brazil are headquartered here, including Petrobrás and CVRD (the two largest Brazilian corporations).

South Zone

Ipanema beach, in the South Zone, as featured in the Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais song The Girl from Ipanema. Dois irmãos belvedere can be seen in the background.

The South Zone of Rio de Janeiro is composed of several districts, amongst which are São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana and Leme, which compose Rio's famous beach coastline. Other districts in the South Zone are Botafogo, Flamengo and Urca, which border Guanabara Bay and Lagoa, Gávea, Jardim Botânico and Laranjeiras.

The neighbourhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revellers crowd onto the sands to watch the fireworks display. As of 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event.

To the north of Leme, and at the entrance to Guanabara Bay, is the district of Urca and the Sugarloaf Mountain ('Pão de Açúcar'), whose name describes the famous mountain rising out of the sea.

File:Pedra da Gavea éloignée.jpg
Pedra da Gavea

The summit can be reached via a two-stage cable car trip from Praia Vermelha, with the intermediate stop on Morro da Urca. It offers views second only to Corcovado mountain.

One of the highest hills in the city is the 842 metres (2,762 ft) high Pedra da Gávea (Crow's nest Rock) near the botanical gardens. On the top of its summit is a huge sculpture of a sphinx-like bearded head that is visible for many kilometers around.

Hang gliding is a popular activity on the nearby Pedra Bonita (Beautiful Rock). After a short flight, gliders land on the Praia do Pepino beach in São Conrado.

Leblon

Since 1961, the Tijuca Forest ("Floresta da Tijuca"), the largest city-surrounded urban forest and the second largest urban forest in the world, has been a National Park. The largest urban forest in the world is the Floresta da Pedra Branca (White Rock Forest), which is also located in the city of Rio de Janeiro [citation needed]. The Catholic University in Rio (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro or PUC-Rio) is located at the edge of the forest linking the city with the forest. The 1984 film Blame it on Rio was filmed nearby, with the rental house used by the story's characters sitting at the edge of the forest on a mountain overlooking the famous beaches.

North Zone

File:Rio De Janeiro Landsat.jpg
A picture of the Zona Norte of Rio de Janeiro, taken from NASA's Landsat 7

The North Zone of Rio is home to the Maracanã stadium, once the world's highest capacity football (soccer) venue, able to hold nearly 180,000 people, as it did the World Cup final of 1950. In modern times its capacity has been reduced to conform with modern safety regulations and the stadium has introduced seating for all fans. Currently undergoing renovation, it only has the capacity for 45,000 fans; it will eventually hold around 120,000 people. Maracanã will be the site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football competition of the 2007 Pan-American Games.

Besides the Maracanã, the North Zone of Rio also holds other tourist and historical attractions, such as 'Manguinhos', the home of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, a centenarian biomedical research institution with a main building fashioned like a Moorish palace, and the beautiful Quinta da Boa Vista, the park where the historical old Imperial Palace is located. Nowadays, the palace hosts the National Museum, specialising in Natural History, Archaeology and Ethnology.

The International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galeão – Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport, named after the famous Brazilian musician "Tom" Jobim), the main campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro at the Fundão Island, and the Governador Island are also located in the Northern part of Rio. Some of the main neighbourhoods of Rio's north zone are Tijuca, who shares the Tijuca Forest with the South Zone, and Grajaú, Vila Isabel, Méier, São Cristovão, Olaria among others.

West Zone

View of Leblon

The West Zone is the region furthest from the centre of Rio de Janeiro. It includes Barra da Tijuca, Jacarepaguá, Recreio dos Bandeirantes, Vargem Grande, Vargem Pequena, Realengo, Padre Miguel, Bangu, Campo Grande, Jardim Sulacap, and Santa Cruz. Neighbouring districts within the West Zone reveal stark differences between social classes. The area has industrial zones, but some agricultural areas still remain in its wide area.

Westwards from the older zones is Barra da Tijuca, a flat expanse of formerly undeveloped coastal land, which is currently experiencing a wave of new construction. It remains an area of accelerated growth, attracting some of the richer sectors of the population as well as luxury companies. High rise flats and sprawling shopping centres give the area a far more American feel than the crowded city centre. The urban planning of the area, made in the late 1960s, resembles that of United States suburbs, though mixing zones of single-family houses with residential skyscrapers. The beaches of Barra da Tijuca are also popular with the city's residents. Barra da Tijuca is the home of Pan-American Village for the 2007 Pan American Games. Barra da Tijuca now has a tiny, but growing movement for separating Barra from the city of Rio and making Barra a new city.

Beyond the neighbourhoods of Barra da Tijuca and Jacarepaguá, another district that has exhibited economic growth is Campo Grande. Some sports competitions in the Pan-American Games of 2007 will be held in the Miécimo da Silva Sports Centre, nicknamed the 'Algodão' (Cotton) Gymnasium, and others in the Ítalo del Cima Stadium, in Campo Grande.

Climate

Rio has a tropical climate.

January February March April May June July August September October November December Year
Max (°C) 30 31 29 28 27 26 25 26 25 26 28 29 29
Min (°C) 21 21 20 20 19 18 17 17 17 19 21 21 20
Precipitation (cm) 114 104 104 137 86 81 70 64 59 86 90 170 109

Social conditions

Panoramic view of the Favela Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, August 2006
View of the Favela Vidigal with the Hotel Sheraton Leblon on the right

Rio is a city of contrast: there are enormous disparities between rich and poor. Although the city clearly ranks among the world's major metropolises, a significant proportion (15%) of the city's 6.5 million inhabitants lives in poverty. The worst of the poorer areas are the slums and shanty towns known as 'favelas'; often crowded onto the hillsides, where sturdy buildings are difficult to build, and accidents, mainly from heavy rainfall, are frequent. The favelas are troubled by widespread drug-related crime, gang warfare, police brutality, lack of sanitation and other poverty-related social issues.

A unique aspect of Rio's favelas is their very close proximity to the city's wealthiest districts. Upper-class neighbourhoods such as Ipanema and Copacabana are squeezed in between the beach and the hills, the latter of which are covered with poor neighbourhoods.

Culture

Ethnic groups

Most of Rio de Janeiro's population is of Portuguese descent, with a large number of people of African descent, and mulattos of mixed Portuguese and African descent. Other important ethnic groups are present in the city, such as Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Arabs, Jews, Asians (mostly Koreans and Japanese) and mixed Amerindians. There are also many Mexicans found in the south part of the city.

The population is composed of people of White European descent (56%), of mixed-race descent (32.3%), of Black African descent (11.4%), of Asian descent (0.1%) and of Amerindian descent (0.1%).[5]

Music

The official song of Rio de Janeiro is "Cidade Maravilhosa", which means "marvelous city". The song is considered the "civic anthem" of Rio, and is always the favourite song during Rio's Carnival in February. These are the Portuguese lyrics to the song:

Cidade maravilhosa
Cheia de encantos mil
Cidade maravilhosa
Coração do meu Brasil
Cidade maravilhosa
Cheia de encantos mil
Cidade maravilhosa
Coração do meu Brasil
Berço do samba e das lindas canções
Que vivem n'alma da gente
És o altar dos nossos corações
Que cantam alegremente!
Cidade maravilhosa
Cheia de encantos mil
Cidade maravilhosa
Coração do meu Brasil
Cidade maravilhosa
Cheia de encantos mil
Cidade maravilhosa
Coração do meu Brasil

Rio was eternalized in the super smash hit song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema) composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and recognized worldwide and recorded by Astrud Gilberto and João Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. This is also the main key song of the Bossa Nova, a musical genre that was born in Rio. A genre unique to Rio and Brazil as a whole is Funk Carioca, a youth phenomenon practiced in usually violent Funk Balls in the poorer areas of greater Rio.[3]

Carnaval

Carnival in Rio.

The carnaval in Rio de Janeiro has many choices, including the famous Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) parades in the sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous ones are the following:

  • Cordão do Bola Preta: Parades in the centre of the city. It is one of the most traditional carnavals. In 2006, it gathered 200,000 people in one day.
  • Suvaco do Cristo: Band that parades in the Botanic Garden, directly below the Redeemer statue's arm. The name, in English, translates as 'Christ's armpit', and was chosen for that reason.
  • Carmelitas: Band that was supposedly created by nuns, but in fact it is just a theme chosen by the band. It parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, which have very nice views.
  • Simpatia é Quase Amor: One of the most popular parades in Ipanema. Translates as 'Friendliness is almost love'.
  • Banda de Ipanema: The most traditional in Ipanema. It attracts a wide range of revellers, including families and a wide spectrum of the gay population (notably spectacular drag queens).

Cultural events in Rio de Janeiro

Sugarloaf Mountain

Rio de Janeiro is among the biggest cities in South America, but the city is more widely renowned for the various cultural celebrations that are held there every year. The most popular of these is the Carnaval, held two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent.

People from all over Brazil and from all parts of the world come to Rio to take part and witness the extravaganza. The Carnival brings a lot of people, good food, colour and of course the Samba dance. The celebration of Carnival ends on "Mardi Gras" Tuesday.

Apart from the Carnival, New Year is also a big deal in Rio and is also one of the other major festivals. It's celebrated with several concerts and firework displays all around Rio, the largest one being in Copacabana beach. People wear white clothes, and some of them make offerings to a Candomblé deity called Iemanjá.

Rio also has one of the world's most talked-about nightlife. Rio has a lot of nightclubs where the rich enjoy themselves and party the night away. Clubs like Baronneti, Nuth and Catwalk are some of the country's best known and frequented by celebrities such as Ronaldo, Calvin Klein, Mick Jagger and Naomi Campbell.

Sport

File:Maracana estadium.jpg
Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro

More notable sports events in Rio include the MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix and the World Beach volleyball finals. Jacarepaguá was the place of Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix into 1978-1990 and the Champ Car event into 1996-1999. WCT/WQS Surf championships were contested on the beaches from 1985-2001. The city is building a new stadium near the Maracanã, to hold 145,000 people. It will be named after Brazilian ex-FIFA president João Havelange.

File:Fot pan 2007.jpg

Rio de Janeiro was an applicant city for the 2012 Summer Olympics but failed to make the shortlist of official candidate cities. Copacabana beach would have been the site of the triathlon and beach volleyball, while yachting competitions would have been held in Guanabara Bay. On September 2006, it was announced that Rio would bid for 2016 Summer Olympics. Depending on quantity and quality of bids that the IOC will receive from other NOCs, the IOC will probably announce a shortlist of official candidate cities (Rio was cut at this stage for the 2012 Games) in early 2008, and conduct voting for the host city in 2009.

Interior of Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sports are a very popular pastime in Rio de Janeiro. The most popular is futebol (football/soccer). Rio de Janeiro is home to four traditional Brazilian football clubs: Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco.

Other popular sports are beach football, beach volleyball, surfing, kitesurfing, hang gliding, motor racing, jiu-jitsu, recreational sailing, and competitive rowing. The peculiarly Brazilian dance/sport/martial art Capoeira is also popular. Another sport that is highly popular on the beaches of Rio is called "Fresco Ball" (or Matkot), a type of beach tennis.

Rio de Janeiro is also a paradise for rock climbers, with hundreds of routes all over the town, ranging from easy boulders to highly technical big wall climbs, all inside the city. The most famous, Rio's granite mountain, the Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar), is an example, with routes from the easy 3rd grade (American 5.4, French 3) to the extremely difficult 9th grade (5.13/8b), up to 280 metres.

Hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro started in the mid 1970s and quickly proved to be perfectly suited for this town, becuse of its geography: steep mountains encounter the Atlantic Ocean, which provide excellent take-off locations and great landing zones on the beach. Starting with amateur flights, this activity soon turned into a profitable industry of tandem hang gliding with some very experienced pilots at a cost for a ride around US$100. In the Summer, between December and March, booking in advance is recommended.

Fishing is a very popular activity in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, one can expect to catch a plethora of famous Brazilian copperfish, known as peixe de cobre. Many markets sell peixes de cobre and these fish are quite popular for traditional meals.

Transportation

A map of Rio de Janeiro subway and integrated bus lines.

In Rio de Janeiro, buses are the main means of mass transportation. There are nearly 440 municipal bus lines serving over four million passengers each day, in addition to intercity lines. Although cheap and frequent, Rio's transportation policy has been moving towards trains and subway in order to reduce traffic jams and increase capacity.

Rio de Janeiro has two subway lines (Metro Rio) and several commuter rail lines. Future plans include building a third subway line to Niterói and São Gonçalo, including an underwater tunnel beneath Guanabara Bay to supplement the ferry service currently there.

In Brazil, most interstate transportation is done by road. A large terminal for long-distance buses is in the Santo Cristo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. There are also two port facilities for cargo and passenger ships (Rio de Janeiro and Sepetiba port).

Airports

A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro

The City of Rio de Janeiro has five airports.

Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport
used for all the international flights and some long-haul domestic flights;
Santos Dumont Regional Airport
Rio de Janeiro's first airport, and formerly the International Airport. It is considered one of the best set airports in whole world because of its location between Sugar Loaf, Corcovado, the Aterro do Flamengo, and Guanabara Bay. Today it is used by the São Paulo – Rio de Janeiro Air Shuttle Service and some flights inside the Rio de Janeiro state, especially to oil-producing cities in the north.
Aeroporto de Jacarepaguá
In the Barra da Tijuca district. It is currently used by Aeroclube do Brasil (Brasil Flying Club) with small aircraft but is planned to be used for the Rio de Janeiro - São Paulo Air Shuttle Service since it is just inside Barra, the city's fastest-growing district.
Campo dos Afonsos
Military airport, where the Brazilian Air Force presents its aerobatic shows. It also holds the MUSAL (Museu Aero-Espacial), one of the largest aviation museums in Latin America.
Santa Cruz Air Base
Military airport.

Parks and squares

Famous Cariocas

'Cariocas', as residents of Rio de Janeiro are called in Brazil, have made extensive contributions to Brazil's history, culture, music, literature, education, science, technology etc. – particularly when Rio de Janeiro was the federal capital and a great hub of Brazilian growth and innovation in all these areas. Some important Cariocas, who were born in Rio, are:

Important colleges

Miscellaneous

In 1992 the city hosted the UNCED Earth Summit on sustainable development.

Rio has also been used as a backdrop for many films, such as Notorious (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), L'Homme de Rio (1964), 007 Moonraker (1979), Blame It on Rio (1984), Wild Orchid (1990), Bossa Nova (2000), The Girl From Rio (2002), City of God (2002) and Dhoom 2 (2006). The film The Brazilian Job, a sequel for The Italian Job (2004) is being filmed in the city.

In The Simpsons episode "Blame it on Lisa", the family visited Rio de Janeiro, only to encounter a myriad of ludicrously exaggerated problems. The episode infuriated Brazilian tourist officials and they threatened to sue the producers of the show.

Featured/recreated in the video game Driver 2, for the PlayStation. Stage of the SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs for PlayStation 2. It is also a level in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC.

The Harbour of Rio de Janeiro was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World by CNN.

Rio de Janeiro was also mentioned in the both version of The Producers as being the place the Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom would escape to after their sure-fire-flop musical. In the 2005 version, they sing a song about Rio entitled "You'll Find Your Happiness in Rio".

In the popular Ender's Shadow series, Rio de Janeiro is the location of Peter Wiggin's Hegemon Headquarters.

In the series Lupin III, Rio is visited on many occasions. One time for a robbery of the Maracana Stadium, where they stuffed the ticket money inside the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and nearly escaped.

In the game World of Warcraft there is a place in Stranglethorn Vale called Janerio's Point, with a statue of a goblin in the same pose as the Redeeming Christ statue.

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ The Free Radical - In The Fight Clubs of Rio." By Nicole Veash. Originally published on 21 February 2000. Retrieved on 10 April 2007.

See also

Sister cities

Sugarloaf Mountain

Rio de Janeiro's sister cities are:

Official

Education

Photos

Tourism

22°54′30″S 43°14′37″W / 22.90833°S 43.24361°W / -22.90833; -43.24361 Template:Capitals of Brazil

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