The Historic village of Mambucaba is located in the 4th district of the municipality of
Angra dos Reis
Angra dos Reis (; Portuguese for ''cove'' or ''bay of the Kings'') is a Brazilian municipality located in the southern part of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The city is located by the sea and includes in its territory many offshore islands, the l ...
, on the west coast of the state 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
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 ...
.
In the former headquarters of the district of Mambucaba, currently recognized as historical village, are the districts of Parque Mambucaba (Perequê), Praia Vermelha, Residential village of Praia Brava and Boa Vista.
Across the
Mambucaba River
The Mambucaba River is a river of Rio de Janeiro state in southeastern Brazil. It lies adjacent to the historic village of Mambucaba.
See also
*List of rivers of Rio de Janeiro
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also re ...
, near the village, lies the Mambucaba Residential Village (formerly known as Parada Beach) and the Batanguera Beach (now known as Coqueiro or Morrinho).
The access to the village is by Rodovia Governador
Mário Covas
Mário Covas Almeida Júnior ( or ; 21 April 1930 – 6 March 2001) was a Brazilian politician.
Biography
Covas studied engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo. He entered politics in his native city of Santos, i ...
, also known as
Rio-Santos highway.
History
The first record of Mambucaba may be the
Tamoio
A subdivision of the Tupi–Guarani languages, Tupi-Guarani linguistic families, the Tupi people were one of the largest groups of Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous Brazilians before its colonization. Scholars believe that while they fi ...
village of Mambucaba, which is cited in the 1557 book
''História Verídica e Descrição de uma Terra de Selvagens'' by the German mercenary
Hans Staden
Hans Staden (c. 1525 – c. 1576) was a German soldier and explorer who voyaged to South America in the middle of the sixteenth century, where he was captured by the Tupinambá people of Brazil. He managed to survive and return safe to Europe. In ...
,
which established contact with the local Indians in the 16th century. Faced with the occupation of the region by the Portuguese in that century, the Indians would have remained on the south bank of the river, where they would frequently attack the Portuguese who settled on the north bank (site of the present village). The Portuguese were forced to maintain vigilance in the face of the threat. The Europeans remained there and established an important point of whale hunting for the production of whale oil. It is worth noting that these places were of such importance to the
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...
that their establishment could be only authorized by the king himself.
From the end of the 18th to the 19th century, the village was an important exporter of coffee and importer of slaves to the Vale do Paraíba, located at the mouth of the Mambucaba River, since those who were brought to the
municipality of Rio de Janeiro, came in vessels to the islands situated in front of the village and, there, their screening and forwarding to the farms inland was done. House were built in the village during the Golden Age of coffee plantation, a church dedicated to
Our Lady of the Rosary
Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title.
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Roma ...
, reasonable commerce activity, with records of an establishment for a Vice consul of France.
With the decadence of the port, after the railway connection between
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
and Rio de Janeiro in 1872, the village went through decades of abandonment and economic lethargy. In 1968, it was listed by the
National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage
The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register and ...
— IPHAN, the historic village of Mambucaba is one of the Brazilian historical sites that were listed in its entirety, not only the buildings, with the urban layout and equipment related to the occupation of the site as well.
The construction of the Rio-Santos highway in the early 1970s threatened the village, generating several protests of cultural movements of the society in Angra dos Reis. In that decade, the existing police station was deactivated, and a military police company installed in barracks on the edge of the highway, now with the purpose of providing protection to the construction works of the nuclear power plant.
Etymology
The name, of indigenous origin, has a controversial meaning. Some people claim that it derives from ''Mambuca'', a small stingless bee better known as
"Japurá", a bee-dog abundant in the region. Some others refer to a very abundant plant in the region. There are still others who advocate the meaning as "passage". This last interpretation seeks origin in the fact that, by bordering the river, we have a path that was already used by the Indians of the region as means of connection with the Planalto Paulista. This path came to have long rocky sidewalks built by African slaves for disposal of coffee production.
The name "Mambucaba" also designates the river that finds the sea, having its source in the state of
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, within the
Serra da Bocaina National Park
Serra da Bocaina National Park is a national park of Brazil. It is located at the border between the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in southeastern Brazil.
Location
Created by Federal Decree in 1971 and comprises an area of approximately ...
, in the municipality of
São José do Barreiro
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...
. Within the
Fluminense territory, the river marks the boundary between the municipalities of Angra dos Reis and
Paraty
Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. Indeed, the name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' Indigenous Tupi l ...
. With this, according to historian Alípio Mendes, the name Mambucaba can also mean "
sea loch
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...
", since the Mambucaba river waters into the sea, as if it were an extension of it.
Village and neighborhood
Nowadays, the old village, which keeps much of its colonial houses, is a point of vacationers that come from other regions of the west of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the city of Rio de Janeiro and the state of São Paulo. It has about 700 inhabitants, reaching approximately 10,000 visitors in the summer. Its infrastructure has had great improvements in recent years, having practically all streets received pavement and public lighting. A health post and a school are also offered to the local population by the municipality of Angra dos Reis.
There is also residential villages maintained by the
Eletrobras
Eletrobras (, full name: Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A.) is a major Brazilian electric utilities company. The company's headquarters are located in Rio de Janeiro.
It is Latin America's biggest power utility company, tenth largest in the wo ...
, the state energy company for employees of the
Angra Nuclear Power Plant
Angra Nuclear Power Plant is Brazil's only nuclear power plant. It is located at the Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto (CNAAA) on the Itaorna Beach in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It consists of two Pressurized water reactors, A ...
. In the neighborhood, Parque Mambucaba, known until a few years ago as Perequê (which means "Path of ascent of the fish", due to the mangrove areas on its shores where the fish reproduce), reside around 21000 people, population that multiply on weekends and holidays during the summer months, when the influx of people come mainly from the region of Vale do Paraíba, and those who have summer residences there. In the last 15 years, this neighborhood has won a reasonable infrastructure for the trade and provision of public and private services, since many workers and former workers of the nuclear power plant resolved to reside permanently, due to the proximity of other localities with access to the sea, as well as the ease of access to Rodovia Rio-Santos.
This region is attended, in relation to public security and civil defense, by the 33 battalion of Military police, whose headquarters is located at the entrance of Parque Mambucaba, and by the 1st Detachment of the 26th group of Military Fireman, located in the working village. Another hospital is located in the neighborhood of Praia Brava and is maintained by Eletronuclear. There are other health posts and a detachment of the Municipal Civil Defense of Angra dos Reis held in Mambucaba Park.
References
;Attribution
*''Part of this article has been derived from the translation of the corresponding article of the Portuguese Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the'
History''section''.
External links
*{{Commonscat-inline, Mambucaba
Municipalities in Rio de Janeiro (state)