What time is it in Rio de Janeiro?

Here is the time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Important tip: book a Rio de Janeiro private tour before travelling

The territory of Rio de Janeiro was one of the first to be colonized in the 16th century. The Portuguese landed with the expedition of Gaspar Lemos in 1502, in Guanabara Bay, then called Rio de Janeiro Bay. When Lemos arrived in the bay, he thought it was the mouth of a river, hence the name of the city (Rio de Janeiro: River of January).

Before the Portuguese, the indigenous people, such as the Tamoios and the Goitacás, lived in the territory. In the 16th century, around 1530, French people arrived in Rio de Janeiro to explore natural resources under the orders of Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon. In 1555, they founded Antarctic France in the bay of Guanabara.

Estácio de Sá, considered the first Governor of Rio de Janeiro, was one of the people responsible for expulsing the French. In 1565, the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro was founded under the command of Estácio de Sá. After intense battles, the locals succeeded in expulsing the French, but at the expense of hundreds of thousands of natives.

In the seventeenth century, in 1763, with the decline of sugar cane in the northeast and the intensification of the gold cycle in the Minas Gerais region, the federal capital was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, which belonged to Guanabara State.

The status of capital remained in force until 1960, when the new federal capital, Brasilia, was inaugurated on 21 April this year.

In 1975, the city of Rio de Janeiro became an independent city-state, which ceased to exist fifteen years later, with the merger of the Guanabara State with the city, forming the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Read also: How long does it take to fly from New York to Rio de Janeiro?