A city of southeast Brazil on Guanabara Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The city's name, Portuguese for "River of January," reflects the fact that the first European explorers to visit the bay, in January 1502, believed it was the mouth of a river. The city, founded in 1565, was the capital of Brazil from 1763 until 1960, when the government was transferred to Brasília. Population: 6,090,000.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
