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Rio de Janeiro was founded on March 1, 1565, by Portuguese explorer Estacio de Sa on a bay so sheltered and so beautiful that European sailors had assumed for decades it was the mouth of a great river. They named it River of January. The surrounding geography is freakish in its drama: the granite peaks of Corcovado (with Christ the Redeemer at 710 meters, completed 1931) and Sugarloaf Mountain at the mouth of the bay frame a city built on the narrow strips of land between mountains and ocean. The beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon are not incidental to Rio; they are where the city conducts much of its public life.

From 1808 to 1821, Rio was something unprecedented: the capital of a European monarchy operating from its colony.

The Portuguese royal court, fleeing Napoleon's invasion, established here the National Library, the Military Academy, the Botanical Garden, and the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. The city became what only capitals can become, the place where institutions accumulate and architecture states intentions. The Valongo Wharf, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, received between 500,000 and one million enslaved Africans between 1811 and 1831, making it the largest port of entry for enslaved people in the Americas. Both histories belong to the same city.