BRAZILIAN GIRLS, IPANEMA BEACH, COPACABANA BEACH, RIO DE JANEIRO BEACH, BRAZIL, RIO
BRAZILIAN GIRLS, IPANEMA BEACH, COPACABANA BEACH,
RIO DE JANEIRO BEACH, BRAZIL, RIO,
Copacabana beach, located at the
Atlantic shore, stretches from Posto
Dois (lifeguard watchtower Two) to Posto Seis (lifeguard watchtower Six).
Leme is at Posto Um (lifeguard watchtower One). There are historic forts at both ends of Copacabana beach;
Fort Copacabana, built in
1914, is at the south end by Posto Seis and
Fort Duque de Caxias, built in 1779, at the north end. One curiosity is that the lifeguard watchtower of Posto Seis never existed.[4] Hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs and residential buildings dot the promenade facing
Avenida Atlantica.
Copacabana Beach plays host to millions of revellers during the annual
New Year's Eve celebrations and, in most years, has been the official venue of the
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Rio de Janeiro (/ˈriːoʊ di ʒəˈnɛəroʊ, -deɪ ʒə-, -də dʒə-/;
Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁi.u dʒi ʒɐˈnejɾu];[2]
River of January), or simply Rio,[3] is the second-largest city in
Brazil, the sixth-largest city in the
Americas, and the world's thirty-ninth largest city by population.
The metropolis is anchor to the
Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, the second most populous metropolitan area in Brazil, the seventh-most populous in the Americas, and the twenty-third largest in the world. Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's third-most populous state. Part of the city has been designated as a
World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro:
Carioca Landscapes between the
Mountain and the Sea", by
UNESCO on 1 July
2012 as a
Cultural Landscape.[4]
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 state of the Portuguese Empire. In 1808, when the Portuguese
Royal Court transferred itself from
Portugal to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro became the chosen seat of the court of
Queen Maria I of Portugal, who subsequently, in 1815, under the leadership of her son, the
Prince Regent, and future
King João 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, when the War of
Brazilian Independence began. This is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro subsequently served as the capital of the independent monarchy, the
Empire of Brazil, until 1889, and then the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 when the capital was transferred to
Brasília.
Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal
GDP in the country,[5] and 30th largest in the world in 2008,[6] estimated at about R$343 billion (
IBGE, 2008) (nearly
US$201 billion). It is headquarters to Brazilian oil, mining, and telecommunications companies, including two of the country's major corporations—Petrobras and
Vale—and
Latin America's largest telemedia conglomerate,
Grupo Globo. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to
2005 data.[7]
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[8] such as
Barra da Tijuca,
Copacabana,
Ipanema, and
Leblon. In addition to the beaches, some of the most famous landmarks include the giant statue of
Christ the Redeemer atop
Corcovado mountain, named one of the
New Seven Wonders of the
World;
Sugarloaf Mountain with its cable car; the
Sambódromo, a permanent grandstand-lined
parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and
Maracanã Stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums.
Rio de Janeiro will host the
2016 Summer Olympics and the
2016 Summer Paralympics—the first time a
South American and Portuguese-speaking nation will host these events, and the third time the
Olympics will be held in a Southern Hemisphere city.[9] On 12
August 2012, at the
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Mayor
Eduardo Paes received the
Olympic Flag, via
Jacques Rogge, from
London Mayor Boris Johnson. Rio's Maracanã 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 also hosted
World Youth Day in
2013.[10]. BRAZILIAN GIRLS, IPANEMA BEACH, COPACABANA BEACH, RIO DE JANEIRO BEACH, BRAZIL, RIO