Rio De Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s second biggest city, located on the country’s southern Atlantic coast. Rio de Janeiro is renowned for its magnificent scenery, laid-back beach lifestyle, and yearly carnival. “Carioca Landscapes between Mountain and Sea” has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Rio de Janeiro’s port is distinguished by its unusual entrance from the ocean that resembles the mouth of a river. Additionally, the port is bordered by impressive natural features, like Sugarloaf Mountain (395 meters (1,296 feet), Corcovado Peak (704 meters (2,310 feet), and the Tijuca Hills (1,021 meters) (3,350 feet). These elements combine to make the harbor one of the World’s Seven Natural Wonders.

Rio de Janeiro hosted a number of 2014 FIFA World Cup matches, including the championship match. Additionally, it will host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, becoming it the first South American city to do so.

UNDERSTAND

It is a widespread misconception that Rio is the capital of Brazil, a status it lost on April 21, 1960, when Brasília became the capital. Beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema, the Christ The Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) statue, Maracanã Stadium, and Sugarloaf Mountain (Po de Açcar) are all well-known landmarks of what the inhabitants refer to as the “marvelous city” (cidade maravilhosa), and are also among the first images that come to mind for visitors, along with the Carnaval celebration.

The South Zone contains the majority of Rio’s attractions and world-famous beaches, despite its small size of 43.87 square kilometers (17 square miles). Numerous of them are within easy walking distance of one another (for instance, the Sugarloaf lies about 5 miles from Copacabana Beach). The majority of hotels and hostels are concentrated in this section of the city, which is squeezed between the Tijuca Range and the sea. There are other significant locations in other districts, such as the Maracanã Stadium in the North Zone and the several intriguing structures in the Central Zone.

Regrettably, the majority of people also associate Rio with violence and crime, particularly with drugs. And social difficulties, such as slums or favelas, regions of substandard housing and living; slums are often found next to middle-class communities on the city’s several mountain slopes.

TOURISM AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Rio de Janeiro is the principal tourist destination and resort in Brazil. With 2.82 million foreign tourists each year, it gets the most visitors of any city in South America. The city is home to world-class hotels, roughly 80 kilometers of coastline, and the world-famous Corcovado and Sugarloaf mountains. While the city had had a flourishing tourist business, it began to collapse in the last part of the twentieth century. Between 1985 and 1993, annual international airport arrivals fell from 621,000 to 378,000, and average hotel occupancy fell to 50%.

The fact that Brasilia succeeded Rio de Janeiro as Brazil’s capital in 1960, and that So Paulo succeeded Rio as the country’s economic, financial, and cultural capital in the mid-20th century, has also been noted as a contributing factor to the fall. Rio de Janeiro’s administration has subsequently made steps to modernize the city’s economy, address persistent socioeconomic inequities, and strengthen the city’s commercial position as part of a tourist sector revitalization program.

Rio de Janeiro is a significant worldwide LGBT destination; 1 million LGBT visitors visit the city each year. The Rua Farme de Amoedo is situated in Ipanema, a well-known area in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone. The street and adjacent beach, both renowned tourist destinations, are notable for their popularity with the LGBT population. Rio de Janeiro is the most-awarded place in the South American category of “best destination” by World Travel Awards.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

Every year on December 31, 2.5 million people congregate in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach to celebrate the New Year. The throng, primarily clad in white, dances the night away at the beach’s hundreds of varied concerts and activities. It is the second-biggest festival, after Carnival. Individuals toast the New Year with chilled champagne. At midnight, shaking the champagne bottle and spraying it everywhere is considered good luck. Chilled champagne adds to the festive atmosphere.

CARNIVAL

Carnival is an annual festival in the Roman Catholic faith that allows for revelry and eating of red meat before to the more solemn 40 days of Lent penance, which culminates in Holy or Passion Week and Easter. Carnaval parades were possibly inspired by French or German courts and adopted by Portuguese or Brazilian Imperial dynasties descended from Bourbon and Austrian noble families. Until the marchinhas, the celebration was mostly a high-class and Caucasian-dominated affair. From the early part of the twentieth century, the impact of African-Brazilian drums and music became increasingly obvious. Rio de Janeiro offers a variety of Carnival options, including parades by the famed samba schools (Escolas de Samba) at the sambadrome exposition center and the popular blocos de carnival, or street revelry, which march through practically every neighborhood. The most well-known are as follows:

• Cordão do Bola Preta: Parades through the city’s central business district. It is one of the oldest carnavals. In 2008, the event drew 500,000 attendees in a single day. In 2011, a record-breaking 2 million passengers flooded the city’s three metro stations!
• Suvaco do Cristo: Band that marches in the Botanic Garden, precisely under the arm of the Redeemer monument. The name, which translates into English as ‘Christ’s armpit,’ was selected for that reason.
• Carmelitas: Band that is said to have been founded by nuns, but is really a theme selected by the band. It marches through Santa Teresa, a barrio with breathtaking views.
• Simpatia é Quase Amor: One of Ipanema’s most popular parades. This translates as ‘Friendship is nearly as good as love’.
• Banda de Ipanema: The most traditional in Ipanema. It draws a diverse crowd of revelers, including families and members of the LGBT/Queer community (notably spectacular drag queens).

In 1840, the first Carnaval was marked with a masked ball. Decorated floats and costumed revelers become a tradition among the celebrants throughout the years. Carnaval is regarded as the cradle of Brazilian music.

RIO’S ROCK

“Rock in Rio” is a music festival founded by entrepreneur Roberto Medina in 1985. Since its inception, it has grown to be the largest music festival in Latin America and the world, with 1.5 million attendees at the first event, 700,000 at the second and fourth, approximately 1.2 million at the third, and approximately 350,000 at each of the three Lisbon events. It began in Rio de Janeiro, where the name originates, and has grown to be a global event, with its first edition taking place in Lisbon, Portugal in 2004, followed by Madrid, Spain, and Las Vegas, United States in 2006. According to the dedicated website Fling Event, the festival is ranked sixth greatest in the world.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Rio has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) that is next to a tropical monsoon climate (Am), and is often marked by extended periods of heavy rain from December to March. In the city’s inland parts, temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) are typical throughout the summer, but seldom for extended periods, although monthly high temperatures over 27 °C (81 °F) are possible.

Along the seaside, the wind, which blows both onshore and offshore, helps to maintain a comfortable temperature. Due to its geographic location, the city is often affected by cold fronts approaching from Antarctica, resulting in frequent weather fluctuations. Summer is the season when powerful rains cause devastating floods and landslides. The mountainous regions get more rainfall because they act as a barrier to the Atlantic’s humid air.

The sea’s average yearly temperature is 23–24°C (73–75°F), ranging from 22°C (72°F) in July–October to 26°C (79°F) in February and March. The warm Brazil Current is the major ocean current (as most of elsewhere in the Santos Bight between Santa Catarina and Cabo Frio; the subsurface part ofthe cold subantarctic Malvinas Current only slightly resurfaces to affect the latter, giving the characteristic semi-arid climate in parts of Arraial do Cabo, the only occurrence of such in the whole state). December and August are often the wettest and driest months.

Rio de Janeiro is located on the extreme western portion of a strip of Brazil’s Atlantic coast (between a strait east to Ilha Grande on the Costa Verde and the Cabo Frio), near to the Tropic of Capricorn, with an east–west coastline. The city, which faces mostly south, was formed on an inlet of this stretch of coast, Guanabara Bay (Baa de Guanabara), and its entry is marked by a piece of land called Sugar Loaf (Po de Açcar), which serves as the city’s “calling card.”

The Centro (Centro), Rio’s central business district, is located on the plains of Guanabara Bay’s western coast. The majority of the city, dubbed the North Zone (Zona Norte), spreads northwestward through plains consisting of marine and continental deposits, as well as hills and various rocky summits. The city’s South Zone (Zona Sul), which reaches the beaches that front the open sea, is separated from the Central Zone and the North Zone by coastal mountains. These mountains and hills are offshoots of the Serra do Mar, the ancient gneiss-granite mountain system that comprises the southern slopes of the Brazilian Highlands to the northwest. By the end of the twentieth century, the huge West Zone (Zona Oeste), formerly blocked off by the rocky terrain, had been made more accessible to residents in the South Zone by new highways and tunnels.

Rio de Janeiro has a population of over 6,000,000 people and covers an area of 1,182.3 square kilometers (456.5 square miles). The broader metropolitan area’s population is projected to be between 11 and 13.5 million. It served as the capital of Brazil until 1960, when Braslia took its place. Cariocas are the residents of the city. Rio’s official song is André Filho’s “Cidade Maravilhosa.”

Rio de Janeiro has the second highest GDP of any Brazilian city, after only Sa Paulo. It was around US$201 billion in 2008, according to the IBGE, or 5.1 percent of the national total. The services sector accounts for 65.52 percent of GDP, followed by commerce (23.38 percent), industrial activities (11.06 percent), and agriculture (11.06 percent) (0.04 percent ).

Benefiting from its lengthy tenure as the federal capital (1763–1960), the city developed into a vibrant administrative, financial, economic, and cultural hub. Greater Rio de Janeiro, as defined by the IBGE, has a GDP of US$187.374.116.000, making it the country’s second biggest wealth centre. The GDP per capita is US$11,786. It accounts for 68 percent of the state’s economic strength and 7.91 percent of the country’s total output of goods and services.

When the metropolitan metropolis’s network of influence is included (11.3 percent of the population), this percentage of GDP increases to 14.4 percent, according to a report issued in October 2008 by the IBGE. For many years, has served as Brazil’s second biggest industrial center, home to oil refineries, shipbuilding industries, steel, metallurgy, petrochemical, gas, chemical, textile, printing, publishing, pharmaceutical, beverage, and cement manufacturing. However, the previous several decades have seen a dramatic shift in its economic character, which is increasingly resembling that of a major national centre for services and commerce. The Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange (BVRJ), which presently trades mainly government securities, was created in 1845 and is situated in the center area of the country.

Rio de Janeiro became a desirable location for businesses during its time as Brazil’s capital, due to the city’s proximity to significant sections of society and government. The city was selected as the headquarters of many state-owned enterprises, including Petrobras, Eletrobras, Caixa Economica Federal, and Vale (which was privatized in the 1990s). With the capital was transferred to Brasilia in 1960, it continued to draw new enterprises, particularly after the discovery of oil in the Campos Basin, which accounts for the majority of Brazil’s total oil output. This resulted in the establishment of several oil and gas firms in Rio de Janeiro, including the Brazilian subsidiaries of Shell, EBX, and Esso. Rio de Janeiro is also home to the headquarters of BNDES, a significant governmental organization. Additionally, the city is home to the headquarters of many important telecom businesses, including Intelig, Oi, and Embratel.

Rio is the second largest industrial producer in the country and the second largest financial and service hub, after only So Paulo. Processed foods, chemicals, petroleum products, medicines, metal goods, ships, textiles, apparel, and furniture are all manufactured in the city’s industries. However, the service sector dominates the economy, including banking and the country’s second most active stock exchange, the Bolsa do Valores do Brasil. Tourism and entertainment are also significant components of the city’s economic life, and the city is the top tourist destination in the country for both Brazilians and international visitors.

Rio de Janeiro was selected as the headquarters of several private, national, international, and state enterprises despite the fact that their factories were situated in other cities or states. Despite the capital’s move to Brasilia, several of these headquarters remained in the Rio metropolitan region, notably Petrobrás, the state oil corporation, and the National Economic and Social Development Bank, a federal investment bank.

To the ancient sectors of metallurgy, engineering, and printing and publishing, a contemporary electronics and computer industry has been introduced. Other manufacturing industries provide materials for shipbuilding, clothes and footwear, textiles, nonmetallic mineral goods, food and drinks, chemicals, and medicines. Construction, another key business, employs a huge number of unskilled employees and is bolstered by the seasonal inhabitants who construct second houses in the Greater Rio de Janeiro region.

To entice business, the state government designated specific regions on the city’s outskirts as industrial zones, where infrastructure is supplied and land is sold under preferential terms. Oil and natural gas extracted from resources off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state are a significant asset for the development of manufacturing operations in the Rio metropolitan region, allowing it to compete with other large cities for new industrial investment.

Rio, like manufacturing, is a significant financial center, second only to So Paulo in terms of financial markets and banking volume. Although its securities market is dwindling in comparison to So Paulo, it remains significant. Due to the closeness of Rio’s port facilities, the city is home to a large number of Brazil’s export-import enterprises. Retail commerce is significant in Greater Rio, which has one of the highest per capita incomes in Brazil. While many of the largest retail establishments are concentrated in the Centre, others are dispersed across the commercial sections of the other districts, where shopping malls, supermarkets, and other retail establishments handle a significant amount of consumer commerce.

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s second biggest exporting municipality (as of 2014). Rio exports commodities worth a total of $7.49 billion (USD) every year. The municipality’s top three exports were crude petroleum (40 percent), semi-finished iron products (16 percent), and semi-finished steel products (16 percent) (11 percent ). Mineral items (42% of total exports) and metals (29% of total exports) account for 71% of total Rio exports.

Rio de Janeiro is home to many important Brazilian entertainment and media organizations, including Organizaçes Globo and some of Brazil’s largest newspapers, including Jornal do Brasil, O Dia, and Business Rio. Merck, Roche, Arrow, Darrow, Baxter, Mayne, and Mappel all have their Brazilian headquarters in Rio.

Rio de Janeiro’s economy is the second biggest in Brazil, following Sa Paulo, and the thirty-first largest in the world, with a GDP of R$ 201,9 billion in 2010. In 2007, the city’s per capita income was R$22,903 (about US$14,630). According to Mercer’s city rankings of the most costly cities in the world for expatriate workers, Rio de Janeiro ranks 12th in 2011, up from 29th in 2010, close behind Sa Paulo (ranked tenth) and ahead of London, Paris, Milan, and New York City. Rio also boasts the highest hotel prices in Brazil, and the daily fee at its five-star hotels is the second highest in the world, behind only New York City.