The State of Guanabara ( pt, Estado da Guanabara, ) was a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

within the

Fourth Brazilian Republic ) , national_anthem =" Hino Nacional Brasileiro"( en, "Brazilian National Anthem") , common_languages = Portuguese , government_type = Federal presidential republic(1946–1961; 1963–1964) Federal parliamentary republic(1961–1 ...

from 1960 to 1964, and the

Federative Republic of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area an ...

from 1964 to 1975. It included the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The state was established in 1960, replacing the

Federal District of Brazil The Federal District ( pt, Distrito Federal ) is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. Located in the Center-West Region, it is the smallest Brazilian federal unit and the only one that has no municipalities, being divided into 31 administr ...

, and existed until 1975, when it was merged with the old

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 ...

to create a juridically new state also named State of Rio de Janeiro. Upon the merger of states, the territory of the former State of Guanabara became the municipality of

Etymology

The State of Guanabara shares its name with

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and ...

, which lies to the east of the state. There are many theories as to the name's origins, including ''hidden water'', ''lagoon of the sea'', and ''bosom of the sea''.

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 (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pe ...

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

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of 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 Janeiro and forms ...

. 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 type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...

( pt, Distrito Federal), while the surrounding homonymous province became a state, still with Niterói as its capital. When the national capital was moved to

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

in 1960, and a new

was created for it, the old Federal District became the state of 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 Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

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

. With the merge, the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro was transferred back from the city of

to the city of Rio de Janeiro, as it was until 1834 when the

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

created the Neutral Municipality.

Electoral history

In gubernatorial elections held on 3 October 1965, , a candidate supported by a coalition formed by PTB and

PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino scho ...

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 prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His term was marked by economic prosp ...

, 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)