Nova Friburgo

Sister cities

• Fribourg

History

Up to the 19th century, the region of the present Nova Friburgo was inhabited by Coroado Purí Indians. In 1818, seeking to improve relations with Germany to obtain its support against the French empire, King John VI proposed the creation of a planned settlement in Brazil. A royal decree of May 1818, authorized the Canton of Fribourg of Switzerland, to establish a colony of 100 Swiss families in the Morro Queimado Farm, in Cantagalo District, a place with climate and natural characteristics similar to those in their country. Between 1819 and 1820, the region was settled by 265 Swiss families, in total 1,458 immigrants. It was named Nova Friburgo (New Fribourg) by the Swiss after the homeland of most of the families. Following the Independence of Brazil in 1822, the Imperial Government continued the policy of populating the nation by attracting European colonization. Eighty German families previously assigned to settlements in the Province of Bahia, for unknown reasons ended up in Nova Friburgo, where they arrived on the 3 and 4 May 1824. Similar arrivals of Italians, Portuguese and a minority of Syrians led to such population increases that the once village was elevated to city status on 8 January 1890. In 1872, the Baron of Nova Friburgo brought to the region the Leopoldina Railroad, to allow for the flow of the coffee from Cantagalo. Agriculture was the basis of economic activity until 1910, when the arrival of industrialists pioneered the development of an industrial sector still thriving to the present day. Of similar importance was the relative proximity to Niterói and Rio de Janeiro and the improvement of transport and communication links such as paved roads and telegraph. This encouraged a small tourist industry to grow, which, together with local commerce,…

Geography

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2022, the municipality covers an area of 935.429 km², of which 43.43 km² is urban. It is located at 22° 16' 55" S south latitude and 42° 31' 51" W west longitude. Its neighboring municipalities are: Cachoeiras de Macacu, Silva Jardim, Casimiro de Abreu, Macaé, Trajano de Morais, Bom Jardim, Duas Barras, Sumidouro, and Teresópolis. According to the regional division in effect since 2017, established by the IBGE, the municipality belongs to the Petrópolis Intermediate Geographic Region and the Nova Friburgo Immediate Geographic Region. Until then, under the system of micro-regions and meso-regions, it was part of the Nova Friburgo micro-region, which in turn was part of the Centro Fluminense meso-region. The terrain of Nova Friburgo is predominantly mountainous, featuring hills and peaks, and the elevation is over 200 meters above sea level. The highest point is Pico Maior de Friburgo, which rises to 2,366 meters, while the minimum altitude is 846 meters. The main watercourse that flows through Nova Friburgo is the Bengalas River. The municipality is part of the Grande River basin. Sometimes, during the rainy season, the rivers that flow through the municipality, especially the Bengalas River, experience rising water levels, causing flooding along their banks, which necessitates an effective flood warning system. The city was one of the areas most affected by the 2011 floods. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the climate is characterized as mild mesothermal (Cfb). According to data from the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) covering the period from 1961 to 2003, the lowest temperature recorded in Nova Friburgo was 1 °C on four occasions: twice in…