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Pictures for Printing - Brazil Travel

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Sugar Loaf Mountain and the entrance of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502 (hence Rio de Janeiro, "January River"), by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet, or under Gonçalo Coelho. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakalí peoples. In 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony. The city of Rio de Janeiro proper was founded by the Portuguese on March 1, 1565 and was named Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, in honor of St. Sebastian, the saint who was the namesake and patron of the then Portuguese Monarch D. Sebastiao. Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several, mostly French, pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc and Rene Duguay-Trouin.