Joe MacDonald, age 15, of Nashua, N.H., for his question:
HOW WAS RIO DE JANEIRO NAMED?
Brazil's Rio de Janeiro often called simply Rio is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is Brazil's second largest city and also the nation's leading cultural and tourist center. Sao Paulo is the largest city.
Goncalo Coelho, a Portuguese explorer, discovered the large bay in January 1503. Rio de Janeiro was actually founded in 1565 when Portuguese soldiers built a fort and a village near what is now Guanabara Bay. They named the village for the bay, which at that time was called Rio de Janeiro, meaning "river of January."
Rio lies between forest covered mountains and the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The 1,296 foot peak of Sugar Loaf Mountain rises from a peninsula in the bay. Spectacular white beaches and graceful palm trees rim the shore where Rio meets the sea.
The city's central zone and business district lie at the entrance of the bay. A long, narrow zone south of the business district includes the world famous Copacabana Beach. It is here that many elegant hotels and high rise apartment houses are located. The sidewalks are patterned in colored stones.
In sharp contrast to the luxury of the Copacabana Beach area is a large slum section which starts in swampy shore lands and crawls up the steep hills in the north part of the city.
Rio is one of the world's most crowded cities. Today it has a population of about 6 million with a population of more than 10 million living in the sprawling city's neighboring metropolitan areas.
Just before Lent each spring, Rio stages a week long festival called Carnival.
Maracana Stadium, one of the world's largest sports arenas, is located in Rio de Janeiro. As many as 200,000 can gather at one time to watch a soccer match.
A huge statue called "Christ the Redeemer" overlooks the city from atop Corcovado Mountain, the highest of the hills which surround the city.
Since the city's earliest days, residents of Rio de Janeiro have been called Cariocas. The Portuguese settlers took the nickname from a South American Indian expression meaning "white man's house."
Today Cariocas include people of American Indian, European or Negro descent, with many people having ancestors of two or three races. The language of the people is Portuguese.