Rio De Janeiro
Rio De Janeiro names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Rio De Janeiro re'o da zha-na'e-ro
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
re'o da zha-na'e-ro, the capital of Brazil and second largest city of South America . It is situated on the western coast of the harbor of the same name. The latter is considered one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world. It is entered by a narrow passage, but the bay expands immediately into a broad area comprising over fifty square miles. It is surrounded by rolling bluffs crowned with luxurious vegetation. The city itself was built on a low, ill-drained, flat, unsanitary tract, and was once a "mere chessboard of shabby, narrow streets." All this has been changed. The entire city has been provided with a sewerage system. There are numerous public squares adorned with tropical plants and cooled by stately fountains. Elevated suburbs on the surrounding heights afford delightful places of residence. Since 1750 water has been brought into the city by means of an imposing stone aqueduct resting on a double tier of arches. The water secured in this way is cool and of excellent quality. Among the buildings of note are the royal palace, the exchange, the postoffice, and the custom house. A fine municipal opera house, a national library, a school of fine arts , and other public buildings are arranged along a new central avenue. There are over fifty church buildings, built after what is known as the Jesuit style. A well kept botanic garden in one of the suburbs is a feature of interest. The citizens are fond of outdoor life. One street is given over entirely to cafes, bookstores, and the like, forming a general rendezvous. The city has manufactures of cotton cloth, furniture, and iron goods. The national arsenal is located here. The railways center at the capital city. It has a foreign commerce of considerable importance. Over 2,000 ships, including coasting vessels, clear annually. "Rio" coffee is the chief export. Minor articles are brandy, sugar, hides, diamonds, tapioca, tobacco, medicinal herbs, gold dust, rosewood, and forest products. The bay has been filled with silt gradually, until ships of heavy draft have difficulty in approaching the shore. An artificial quay to cost many millions of dollars is under process of construction. A heavy wall of masonry is built at the edge of deep water , providing over two miles of wharfage. The space between the wharves and the old shore has been filled with earth, giving opportunity for the erection of warehouses and for the construction of railways. Beginning in 1903 the city expended $35,000,000 in public improvements. The population of Rio de Janeiro in 1907 was 811,265. The present dominant element is Portuguese. The city has a system of electric street cars and is well lighted. The current is obtained from a water power situated fifty miles inland. The climate is tropical. The average rainfall is about sixty inches. Rio de Janeiro is the greatest coffee market and the largest Portuguese-speaking city in the world. See Brazil ; Coffee
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or simply RIO, a city and seaport, capital of Brazil and of the province of the same name, and the largest and most important commercial city of South America; on the W. side of one of the finest bays in the world, 80 miles W. of Cape Frio. The city stands on a tongue of land close to the shore, on the W. side of the bay, at the foot of several high mountains which rise behind it. The houses are generally built of stone or brick. The streets are straight, well paved, and have excellent footpaths. The convents and churches are numerous, but none of them can be called fine buildings. The cathedral is of a superior style of architecture . Parallel with the beach runs the main street, Primeiro de Marco, from which the minor streets branch off at right angles and are intersected by others at regular distances. The former imperial palace, now the National Museum, skirts the beach, and is seen to great advantage from the landing-place, which is within 60 yards of its entrance. The other public buildings are the naval and military arsenal, a public hospital, national a library containing about 300,- 000 volumes, colleges, and other educational and charitable establishments. It has, besides, several scientific institutions, a museum of natural history, a botanic garden, and a theater. The harbor is one of the finest known, and indeed can scarcely be excelled for capaciousness and the security which it affords to vessels of every description. The entrance into it from the sea does not exceed a mile from point to point; it afterward widens to about three or four miles, and is commanded in every direction with heavy batteries-all the numerous little islands with which it is interspersed being crowned with artillery. This city is the chief mart of Brazil, and especially of the provinces of Minas-Geraes , São Paulo, Goyaz, and Matto- Grosso. The manufacturing interests are comparatively unimportant. The imports in 1918 were valued at $119,- 419,000, the exports at $65,427,000. Pop. about 1,200,000. The first settlement at , Rio made by the French, dates back to 1555. The Portuguese founded the city proper in 1567, and it became the capital of Brazil in 1762. The court of Portugal was in residence at Rio from 1808 to 1821.
Rio De Janeiro the metropolitan province of Brazil
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the metropolitan province of Brazil, taking its name from the river Janeiro, which runs through it. It is bounded N. by the province of Espiritu Santo, E. and S. by the the Atlantic ocean, and W. by the extensive region of Minas-Geraes; area, 26,634 square mlies; pop. (1917) 1,605,274. It is extremely fertile, producing sugar in great abundance, which is accordingly one of its chief exports. The other products are coffee, cotton, maize, rice, indigo, cacao, and fine woods. The country is mountainous, and is well wooded and watered.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts call Rio "the capital of Brazil" — it stopped being so on 21 April 1960, when the government moved to the purpose-built inland city of Brasília. Collier's also called it in 1921 "the largest and most important commercial city of South America"; São Paulo overtook it during the twentieth century and is now several times larger, while Rio's 1,200,000 people have grown to roughly 6.7 million in the city and around 13 million in the metropolitan area. The skyline the writers describe had no Christ the Redeemer: the statue on Corcovado was unveiled in 1931. The city that Aiton praised for its new sewers and quays later hosted the 2014 World Cup final and the 2016 Olympic Games, and is as well known now for the hillside favelas neither account mentions as for its harbour.
Written for this edition, 2026.