Gávea is an affluent

residential neighborhood A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

located in the South Zone of 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 ...

, Brazil. It borders

São Conrado São Conrado (Portuguese: /sɐ̃w̃ kõˈʁadu/) is a neighborhood in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is nestled in between the neighborhoods of Barra da Tijuca to the southwest and Leblon to the northeast. The neighborh ...

Leblon Leblon (Portuguese: /leˈblõ/) is a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also the name of the local beach. The neighborhood is located in the South Zone of the city, between Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Morro Dois Irmãos and the Jardim ...

, Lagoa and Jardim Botânico neighborhoods and is famous for its high concentration of artists.

PUC-Rio The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ( pt, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio) is a Jesuit, Catholic, pontifical university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the joint responsibility of the Catholic Ar ...

, as well as several schools, are located in the neighborhood. Gávea is well known because of the "Baixo Gávea" area, which is considered a

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

quarter. The first Europeans to have lived in what would become the neighborhood were the French, who came to extract

Brazilwood ''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood ( pt, pau-de-pernambuco, ; ...

. On July 16, 1565, the neighbourhood was named Gávea for the first time, by

Estácio de Sá Estácio de Sá (1520 – February 20, 1567) was a Portuguese soldier and officer. Sá travelled to the colony of Brazil on the orders of the Portuguese crown to wage war on the French colonists commanded by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. These F ...

Etymology

The neighborhood is named Gávea (which means

topsail A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

) because of an 852 m peak (''Gávea Rock'', or

Pedra da Gávea Pedra da Gávea is a monolithic mountain in Tijuca Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Composed of granite and gneiss, its elevation is , making it one of the highest mountains in the world that ends directly in the ocean. Trails on the mountain wer ...

) that resembles the topsail of the

carrack A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...

, a sailing ship.

Sports

The

Hipódromo da Gávea Hipódromo da Gávea is a Race track, racecourse used for horse racing, located in the Gávea neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Built in 1926, it has 3,000 seats and an overall capacity of 80,000. References External links Jockey C ...

is a horse racing venue located in the neighborhood.

Estádio da Gávea The Estádio da Gávea ("''Gávea Stadium''", in English), also known as Estádio José Bastos Padilha is a football stadium, inaugurated on September 4, 1938, in the Lagoa neighborhood, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has a maximum capacity of 4, ...

the home of

CR Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

football club, despite being named after the neighborhood, is located in the Lagoa neighborhood. Gávea was the site of a street circuit that hosted Grand Prix racing in the 1930s and 1940s.

Notable people

Yasmin Brunet Yasmin Botelho Fernandez (born June 6, 1988), best known as Yasmin Brunet, is a Brazilian model and actress who appeared in the 2008 ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue''. Biography Brunet was born in the neighborhood of Gávea, in the city ...

, model

References

*Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Portuguese-language Wikipedia article (retrieved on January 2, 2006).

External links

Os Bairros
(the districts of Rio de Janeiro, in

) Neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro (city) 1565 establishments in the French colonial empire {{RiodeJaneiro-geo-stub