Bay of Guanabara

The bay of Guanabara is a bay Littoral Brésil IEN of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Geography

The bay is the resultant of a depression Tectonique dating from the Cénozoïque, between two blocks of a geological fault, the Serra back Órgãos and various less coastal solid masses.

With its 380 km ², it represents the second more important bay, in surface, of the Litoral Brésil IEN. Inside even of bay are many island S.

By regarding the entry of bay as an imaginary line between the point of Copacabana to the point of Itaipu, this one has a minimal width of 1600 meters between the fortresses of São João, in the town of Rio de Janeiro, and of Santa Cruz, with Niterói. About in the middle of this passage is a rock extent, the island of Laje, used like fulcrum for the defense of bay, with the presence of the fort Tamadaré (in the past Fort of Laje ).

The average depth in bay is of approximately 3 meters, for 17 meters at its entry. The bottom of bay, the mouth of the Fleuve S which flow there, the accumulation of sediments allowed the constitution of Mangrove S, surrounded by Atlantic Forêt.

History

Inhabited by various natives before the Portuguese occupation , the bay was discovered by a Portuguese forwarding (of which the command is allotted to Gaspar de Lemos), on January 1st of 1502. The explorers, confusing bay with the mouth of large a River, named it Rio de Janeiro (“river of January” in French). The natives, for their part, named it, in Tupi-guarani, Iguaá-Mbara (of iguaá = handle of river, and mbará = sea). The reliefs which surround it form a natural shelter favorable to the economic activity which led to the establishment of the towns of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói on its shores.

Principal access to the town of Rio de Janeiro during centuries, it gradually is caught up with by the urban growth of the city starting from second half 20th century.

Since 1974, the bridge President Costa E Silva , known under the name of Pont Rio-Niterói makes it possible to make the connection between two banks of bay.

Sources

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