Niterói

Sister cities

• Annapolis
• Rio de Janeiro

History

In the year 1555, French navigator Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon allied himself with the Tupinambas Indians who dominated the Guanabara Bay and instituted a French colony in the region, France Antarctique. The region was avoided by the Portuguese because of the hostility of the Tupinamba. The region developed under the command of Villegaignon, who planned to build a city in the region. After a while, Calvinists who had emigrated from France to the colony returned to France, where they accused Villegaignon of prejudice against Protestants and of maladministration. The French navigator had to return to France to explain himself. Following the absence of the French leader, the Portuguese crown began noticing that the bay of Rio de Janeiro would make a strategic scale for the Atlantic route of ships from Portugal to its colonies in Africa and Asia, as well an important advanced bridgehead for the defense of South Brazil. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native Tupi-Guaraní tribes to defend the settlement against other European invaders. Then, in 1560, the Portuguese leader Mem de Sá attacked and destroyed the French fort that was located in Guanabara Bay, Coligny Fort, without, however, being able to definitively expel the French from the region. Estácio de Sá, Mem de Sá's nephew, who would continue to command the war, enlisted the help of the head of the Temiminos Indians, Arariboia, who accepted the governor's request to help the Portuguese expel the French from the Guanabara Bay, in the hope to regain the mother island. With the end of the war in 1567, Estácio de Sá invoked Arariboia and the Temininós Indians to occupy the right side of the entrance to the Guanabara Bay, opposite the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro founded by…

Geography

Niterói has an area of 129,375 square kilometers located between the Guanabara Bay (west), the Atlantic Ocean (south), Maricá (east) and São Gonçalo (north). There are a number of beaches in the area, including Praia de Fora and Praia do Imbuí, with their historical values; Piratininga Beach, Camboinhas Beach, Itaipu Beach and Itacoatiara Beach, the most visited; Praia do Sossego, Praia Adam and Eve and Prainha. It has two saltwater lagoons: Piratininga and Itaipu. The first is linked to the second by means of the Camboatá Canal, opened by the National Department of Sanitation Works in 1946. The Itaipu Lagoon, in turn, connects to the sea through the Itaipu Canal, which was built in 1979. The relief consists of crystalline terrains, divided into massifs and coastal hills. The massifs predominate in the south and form the mountains of Malheiro, Calaboca and Tiririca, where is the Stone of the Elephant, the highest point of the municipality, 412m high. The coastal plains are composed of sediments, obviously located near the sea. The most extensive area covers the entire area of Piratininga and Itaipu lagoons. Niterói has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical monsoon climate, with warm to hot temperatures year round as well as relatively frequent rainfall.

Most-observed species

• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  12,055
• Palm Tanager

  Thraupis palmarum (Wied-Neuwied, 1821) · Aves
  9,913
• Black Vulture

  Coragyps atratus (Bechstein, 1793) · Aves
  9,630
• Bananaquit

  Coereba flaveola (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,501
• Southern House Wren

  Troglodytes musculus J.F.Naumann, 1823 · Aves
  8,696
• Magnificent Frigatebird

  Fregata magnificens Mathews, 1914 · Aves
  8,373
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  7,696
• Tropical Kingbird

  Tyrannus melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 · Aves
  7,302