The State of Guanabara (, ) was a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

from 1960 to 1975, which included the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. It was named after

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay (, , ) is an oceanic bay in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro (city), Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias, a ...

to the east of the state. It was created from the territory of the old Federal District when the federal capital moved from Rio de Janeiro to

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

and a new Federal District was erected around the new capital. In 1975 the State of Guanabara was merged with the surrounding

State of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

, within which its territory became the

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Rio de Janeiro.

History

In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro was elevated to Imperial capital of the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...

, and was included in the Neutral Municipality (). The surrounding Province of Rio de Janeiro (which did not include the city) had its capital city in

Niterói Niterói () is a List of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay, facing the city of Rio de ...

. When Brazil became a republic in 1889, the city of Rio de Janeiro remained the national capital, and the territory of the Neutral Municipality became the

Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

(), while the surrounding homonymous province became a state, still with Niterói as its capital. In 1960 the

Fourth Brazilian Republic The Fourth Brazilian Republic, also known as the "Populist Republic" or as the "Republic of 46", is the period of History of Brazil, Brazilian history between 1946 and 1964. It was marked by political instability and the military's pressure on ci ...

moved the national capital to

and a new Federal District was created for it. The old Federal District became a state, named Guanabara. Throughout its 15-year existence, Guanabara was a unique state in many ways. Comprising only one city (albeit a large one), Guanabara was the smallest Brazilian state by land. It also had the peculiarity of being the only Brazilian state that was not divided into municipalities. There was no mayor, municipal legislature or any other municipal government institution there, as the city of Rio de Janeiro was directly administered by the state government of Guanabara. On the other hand, that also meant that the Guanabara state government had some functions that were normally assigned to municipalities elsewhere, such as regulating urban

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

, inspecting the safety of buildings, or issuing licenses for commercial venues, for example. All the characteristics disappeared in 1975, when the military dictatorship merged the state of Guanabara into the state of

. (Legally, the merger dissolved both Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro, creating a new state, also named Rio de Janeiro.) The capital of the reconstituted state of Rio de Janeiro was changed from Niterói back to the city of Rio de Janeiro, as had been the case until 1834.

Electoral history

In gubernatorial elections held on 3 October 1965, , a candidate supported by a coalition formed by PTB and PSD and a close associate of former President

Juscelino Kubitschek Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. Kubitschek's government plan, dubbed "50 years i ...

, won the race to be the state's governor, garnering 52% of the votes cast.

References

{{Authority control 1975 disestablishments in Brazil Former subdivisions of Brazil 1960 establishments in Brazil States and territories established in 1960 States and territories disestablished in 1975 History of Rio de Janeiro (state)