Angra dos Reis
Encyclopedia
Angra dos Reis (ˈə̃gɾɐ ˈduʒ heɪʃ) is a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
located in the southern part of Rio de Janeiro state. It is located at an altitude of 6 meters and includes in its territory 365 offshore islands. It was discovered on January 6, 1502, but has been under continual settlement since 1556. Its population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
was estimated on 1 July 2009 to be 168,664 inhabitants.
It has an area of 816.3 km ². The neighboring municipalities are Paraty
Paraty
Paraty [pronounced Par-a-CHEE] is a preserved Portuguese colonial and Brazilian Imperial town with a population of about 36,000. It is located on the Costa Verde , a lush, green corridor that runs along the coastline of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil...
, Rio Claro
Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro
Rio Claro is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 17,834 and its area is 841 km²....
and Mangaratiba
Mangaratiba
Mangaratiba is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population is 29,272 and its area is 352 km².Muddy beaches and the incongruous industrial presence of the Terminal de Sepetiba put off many people stopping at Mangaratiba...
in Rio de Janeiro state, and Bananal
Bananal, São Paulo
Bananal is the easternmost city in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population density is 16.5/km². The population in 2008 was 10,727. The area is 616.320 km²....
and São José do Barreiro
São José do Barreiro
São José do Barreiro is a municipality/county in the microrregion of Bananal in the eastern part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil bordering with state of Rio de Janeiro to the north and south. The population in 2004 was 4,251, the density was 7.37/km² and the area is 571 km²...
, which are adjacent in São Paulo state.
The municipality fell into decline after 1872 with the advent of railways. It came back into prominence in the 1920s when a railway extension connected it to the states of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
and Goias
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
, as a terminus for the transportation of agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
production from these same two states. The railway extension, in meter gauge, still exists and is currently operated by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica company.
In the mid-twentieth century, the municipality was an essential part of the implementation of Companhia Siderurgica Nacional
Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional
Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional is the second major steel-maker company in Brazil. Its main plant is located in the city of Volta Redonda, in the state of Rio de Janeiro...
- CSN, Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda is the name of a city in the Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with 182.81 km² of area, located from 350m to 707m from the sea level and with a population of 259,811 inhabitants . The area around the city has nearly 700,000...
, and the endpoint for coking coal supplied from Santa Catarina
Santa Catarina (state)
Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
. Today the same company also uses the port, in part, for its steel exports.
Its current importance is due, in part, to having a ferry terminal facility in the Bay of Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. The island is largely undeveloped and noted for its scenic beauty, which includes tropical beaches, luxuriant vegetation and a rugged landscape. The land area is...
and in part to its harbour, used by TEBIG Petrobras, which transports large quantities of oil and thus positions the port of Angra dos Reis as one of the busiest in the country.
Today, because of its beautiful beaches and nearby regions, the municipality has become a focal point for tourism - not only statewide but on a national scale also. Within the municipality are over three hundred islands, many of them owned by national and international celebrities, with the largest one called Ilha Grande (Portuguese: Big Island).
Most of the municipality is covered by hills, and its hilly terrain helped generate the landslides that occurred at the beginning of 2010, when numerous homes and hotels were severely damaged or destroyed, mainly on Ilha Grande.
Economy
The most important economic activities are commerce, fishing, industry, services, and tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
. The port has an oil terminal as well as shipbuilding (Keppel Fels, former Verolme) facilities. Brazil's only nuclear power stations, Angra I and Angra II
Angra Nuclear Power Plant
Angra Nuclear Power Plant is Brazil's sole nuclear power plant. It is located at the Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto on the Itaorna Beach in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...
are located nearby. They employ 3,000 people, and generate another 10,000 indirect jobs in Rio de Janeiro State. Tourism is highly developed with countless beaches, islands and pristine waters perfect for swimming or scuba diving.
There is a small amount of cattle raising, with approximately 4,200 head. The main agricultural products cultivated are:
- bananas: 1,460 hectares / 3,600 tons
- coconut: 10 hectares / 130,000 fruits
- oranges: 4 hectares / 25 tons
- hearts of palm (palmito): 50 hectares / 75 tons
- sugarcane: 20 hectares / 390 tons
Data are from IBGE
Meaning of the name
Gaspar de Lemos, a navigatorNavigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
and commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
naval fleet
Naval fleet
A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
landed at (Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. The island is largely undeveloped and noted for its scenic beauty, which includes tropical beaches, luxuriant vegetation and a rugged landscape. The land area is...
) on 6 January 1502, the “Kings’ day”, that is, “Dia de Reis.” Accordingly, the place was named “Angra dos Reis”, which means “Kings’ Cove” or loosely - anchorage of the kings.
Trivia
Júlia da Silva BruhnsJúlia da Silva Bruhns
Júlia da Silva Bruhns was the wife of the Lübeck senator and grain merchant Johann Heinrich Mann, and mother of writers Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann....
, the mother of German writers Heinrich Mann
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
and Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
, was born here. However, there is disagreement about her exact place of birth, as some sources, including the German version of Wikipedia, assert she was born in the nearby town of Parati.
Former three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna once made his residence in Angra Dos Reis.