Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, stands on the west side of one of the most magnificent natural harbours in the world. An inlet of the Atlantic, the bay of Rio de Janeiro runs northwards for some 15 miles, varying in width from 2 miles to 7; it is girdled on all sides by picturesque mountains, covered with tropical vegetation. The entrance, which is less than a mile wide, passes between two bold headlands, on one of which is a steep conical mass called the Sugar-loaf (1270 feet). The city and its suburbs stretch nearly 10 miles along the shore, climbing up the numerous irregular eminences and dipping into the little green valleys between them, whilst great mountain-ranges (1500 to 3000 feet) shut in the background. About 3 miles SW. of the city stands the precipitous cone of Corcovado (2336 feet), up which a cog-railway carries 50,000 visitors every year to enjoy the magnificent view. The streets are mostly narrow and often mean, and the houses and public buildings, though generally quaint and gay with colour, seldom boast of any very striking architectural features. Although Rio has few magnificent public buildings, it possesses very useful public institutions, as the vast hospital of La Misericordia (1200 patients), the national library (1807), with nearly 150,000 volumes, the national museum (with unique collections), the large lunatic asylum (1841) at the suburb of Botafogo, the botanical gardens with a celebrated avenue of palms (beyond Botafogo), the observatory, the Geographical and Historical Institute (1838), the former royal palace at São Christovão, the arsenal, the naval dock-yards, the academy of fine arts, a cadet-school, a school of medicine, a 'Pasteur' institute, a conservatory of music, a polytechnic school, &c. In spite of a good water-supply, chiefly by an aqueduct (1750) 12 miles long, and a new system of sewage-draining, the city is not very healthy; the surrounding hills shut out the breezes, and the heat grows intense in summer. Yellow fever prevails during the hot season; and the Negro population suffer from smallpox. Pop. (1872) 274,972; (1890) 522,651, including many foreigners—Portuguese, British, French, and Germans.
Rio is also the commercial capital, sending out 51 per cent. of the total exports of the country, and bringing in 45 per cent. of the imports. The exports average £10,895,000 a year in value, all except about half a million sterling being for coffee; of the total, £6,500,000 go to the United States, more than £1,000,000 to Germany; Great Britain buys £500,000 less than France and Austria. The imports, chiefly cotton, gold and silver, metals, wool, provisions, and machinery, average about £12,735,000 a year. Great Britain supplies 5½ millions sterling of this, Uruguay and Argentine Republic about 3½ millions, France close upon 2 millions, and Germany nearly 1½ million. The whole sea-frontage of the city is lined with quays, and in 1889 extensive new harbour-works were begun, embracing a dock of 75 acres, a break-water 3200 yards long, an elevated railway, hydraulic cranes, warehouses, &c. There enter every year some 1500 vessels of 1,674,000 tons, about one-third (614,000 tons) British. The city possesses cotton, jute, and silk mills, tobacco and hat factories, machine-shops, tanneries, &c.
On 1st January 1531 a Portuguese captain, Alphonso de Souza, entered the bay, and thinking it was the mouth of a large river he called it Rio de Janeiro—i.e. January River. The French established themselves on one of its islands (Ville-gagnon) in 1555; but they were driven away by the Portuguese in 1567. Rio was founded in the preceding year; was plundered by Duguay-Trouin in 1711; supplanted Bahia as the capital of the viceroy in 1763; and in 1822 was made the capital of the empire of Brazil. The revolution of 15th November 1889, which transformed the empire into a republic, centred in Rio; and its bay was the scene of most of the naval fighting in the revolution of 1893-94. The federal district in which the city stands (area, 538 sq. m.; pop. 800,000) is administered directly by the federal authorities.