France Antarctique In the year 1555, French navigator
Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon allied himself with the
Tupinambas Indians who dominated the Guanabara Bay and instituted a French colony in the region,
France Antarctique. The region was avoided by the Portuguese because of the hostility of the Tupinamba. The region developed under the command of Villegaignon, who planned to build a city in the region. After a while, Calvinists who had emigrated from France to the colony returned to France, where they accused Villegaignon of prejudice against Protestants and of maladministration. The French navigator had to return to France to explain himself. Following the absence of the French leader, the Portuguese crown began noticing that the
bay of Rio de Janeiro would make a strategic scale for the Atlantic route of ships from
Portugal to its colonies in Africa and Asia, as well an important advanced bridgehead for the defense of South Brazil. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native
Tupi-Guaraní tribes to defend the settlement against other European invaders. Then, in 1560, the Portuguese leader
Mem de Sá attacked and destroyed the French fort that was located in Guanabara Bay, Coligny Fort, without, however, being able to definitively expel the French from the region.
Estácio de Sá, Mem de Sá's nephew, who would continue to command the war, enlisted the help of the head of the Temiminos Indians,
Arariboia, who accepted the governor's request to help the Portuguese expel the French from the Guanabara Bay, in the hope to regain the mother island. With the end of the war in 1567, Estácio de Sá invoked Arariboia and the
Temininós Indians to occupy the right side of the entrance to the Guanabara Bay, opposite the city of
São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro founded by Estácio in 1565, as previously requested by Arariboia a tract of land. Thus, the entrance to the bay would be fully protected from intrusion. The place to be occupied by Arariboia was known as "Banda D'Além" (the land beyond), in the eastern side of the bay, from
River Marui to the
Red Barriers between
Gragoata and
Boa Viagem beaches. This area corresponded to what is nowadays the northwestern part of the municipality of Niterói, which includes the central and northern zones of its urban area. There, in the "Land Beyond", Arariboia founded the Town of Saint Lawrence of the Indians (in
Portuguese,
Vila de São Lourenço dos Índios), the embryo for the future city of
Niterói, a Tupi name that means "Hidden Waters".
Imperial era area, 1853 The village was visited by the
King of Brazil,
John VI, in 1816, who also decreed its emancipation from
Rio de Janeiro on 10 May 1819 and gave the new-created municipality a new name,
Vila Real da Praia Grande (Royal Town of Great Beach). In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro, capital of the newly established
Empire of Brazil, was detached from the rest of
Rio de Janeiro Province; Vila Real da Praia Grande was then chosen as the new capital of that province, while the city of Rio de Janeiro itself was converted into a
neutral municipality, following the
Ato Adicional. Niterói served the function of capital until the year of 1975 – except for the period between 1894 and 1903 when it was temporarily transferred to the city of
Petrópolis. Vila Real da Praia Grande was officially renamed
Nictheroy (
Tupi for "hidden waters") on 6 March 1835. This old spelling persisted until the mid-20th century, when the current spelling–Niterói–was adopted. The capital condition has brought a number of urban developments such as the steam boat, public lighting to whale oil, water supply and new means of transport to connect the city to the interior of the province. Nine years later, the Emperor
D. Pedro II granted the city of Niterói the title of
Imperial City. The appointment was given to the most important cities, giving them some autonomy and regional power. At the end of the 19th century, around 1885, some tram systems were founded, which allowed the expansion of the city to Icaraí, Ponta d'Areia and
Itaipu districts.
Republican era In 1890, the Brazilian provinces began being called states and the neutral municipality (Rio de Janeiro city) had its status changed to
Federal District (or simply
DF, the Portuguese acronym for
Distrito Federal). The monarchist
navy revolt in 1893 damaged productive activities and forced the transfer of the capital's headquarters to
Petrópolis. In 1903, Niterói returned to be the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. This brought about a new impulse to modernize the city with the construction of squares, decks, parks, waterway station and sewage network, as well as widening of the streets and main avenues. A
circus fire in the city killed 323 people on 17 December 1961; the fire was later found to have been deliberately set by disgruntled circus employees. It is one of the worst tragedies in Brazilian history and the most fatal in the annals of world circus show history. Following the transference of Brazil's capital to
Brasília in 1960, the city of Rio de Janeiro became a
city-state named
Guanabara. This state was merged with Rio de Janeiro State in 1975; since then, Niterói lost its condition of the state's capital in favor of the
city of Rio de Janeiro. On 8 April 2010; the mudslide triggered due to heavy rainfall cost at least 200 lives. At least 11,000 people were forced to flee homes due to further mudslides. ==Geography==