São João da Barra () is a

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' ...

located in the

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Federative Repu ...

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 ...

. Its population was 36,423 (2020) and its area is 459 km². It is home to the Superporto do Açu.

History

Until the arrival of the Portuguese in Brazil in the 16th century, the entire region of the mouth of the

Paraíba do Sul River Paraíba ( , ; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba is the third most ...

was occupied by the Goitacá Indians. The village was originally settled in 1630 by fishermen from Atafona who decided to relocate following the accidental death of the wife of the village leader. It was originally called ''São João Batista do Paraíba do Sul''. The construction of the Chapel of São João Batista dates from that time, which would give rise to the Vila de São João Batista da Barra. In the 18th century, the village became an important crossing point for sugar from Campos dos Goytacazes towards Salvador. On 17 June 1850, the village was elevated to city status by decree of the Brazilian emperor

Dom Pedro II ''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...

. After a period of decay for most of the 20th century, the city prospered again with the discovery of oil in the Campos Basin at the end of that century.

References

Port cities in Brazil Populated coastal places in Rio de Janeiro (state) Municipalities in Rio de Janeiro (state) Populated places established in 1630 {{RiodeJaneiro-geo-stub