South America

° Belem ° Cabedelo ° Manaus ° Paranagua ° Rio de Janeiro ° Rio Grande ° Salvador ° Santos ° Sao Paulo ° Sao Sebastiao ° Tubarao

Rio de Janeiro

Tom de Souza founded the city of Rio de Janeiro (the full name is Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro and it means The River of January) as a stronghold to ward off other "invaders." To populate and protect the area, Portugal defined Rio as one of the administrative centers of the colony (the other was El Salvador) and stimulated the foundation of several villages along the coast.

The economy grew slowly and the pau-brasil trees soon exhausted. Salt, fishing and sugar cane became the main industries. By the end of the 17th century, sugar was the most important production of Rio de Janeiro.

Late in the 17th century, gold was found in Minas Gerais; the King of Portugal determined that all the gold production should be exported through the port of Rio de Janeiro. This brought about remarkable changes in the colony's economy and stimulated a great migration from Europe, thereby increasing the white population. The former village became a town of 24,000 in 1749. In 1763, the colonial capital was transferred from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro. Roman-style aqueduct Arcos ("Arches") were built at this time.

Rio's population began to increase dramatically; after 1808, when the Portuguese Royal family arrived to escape the Napolenic Wars, the population grew to 70,000.

The Rio de Janeiro harbor turned into the a significant nucleus of international commerce.

At the end of the 18th century, the town's economy, as well as that of the colony as a whole, was in a crisis because of the decline of the mines and competition from Central America for the world sugar market. In 1796 the value of exports from Rio's port was less than half of what it had been in 1760.

Coffee production and the resettlement of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil in 1808 again brought prosperity to the colony. By 1815, many streets were lighted and paved, more land was reclaimed, new roads opened, and new public fountains installed. When King John VI returned to Portugal in 1821, Rio had almost 113,000 inhabitants and 13,500 buildings, and the town had extended both northward and southward. A year later Brazil was independent.

Antique Map of North and South America Amerique. Inset Terres Australes Americaines Printed 1880

At that time, gold mining in Brazil was in decline, but was soon to be discovered in California. Rio de Janeiro had plenty of land, an idle working force, a well established commerce structure, animals needed for transportation, and an excellent port. Ships from around the world stopped at Rio during journeys around the Horn.

Botantists discovered the exotic beauty in the jungles of Brazil. As early as 1816, a collector named William Swainson sent a bundle of strange lavender flowers to the Glasgow Botanic Garden. Rio was his port of call. By the time C. labiata became the buzz of the horticultural world, Swainson had moved on to exploring the wilds of New Zealand where no one could talk with him or even find him to clarify the matter.

Antique print. Toucan, Kingfisher. Macaw. 1890

By the mid-1800s, nearly all ships going around the Horn made an intermediate stop at a South American port, usually Rio or on the island of St. Catherine's.

In 1848, one William Wright (who went on to be one of the pioneer agriculturists of Santa Clara County, California) left New York on February 6 (with seven others from Havre de Grace, where he had been working). After 48 days at sea, they reached Rio. For 45 days, the ship was becalmed off the Cape of St. Rogue. In entering the port of Rio during the darkness of a stormy night, the ship barely escaped being wrecked on the rock-bound shore. They stayed in Rio for ten days to restock provisions and water. By the time they rounded the Horn, they were in mid-winter.

Railroads followed Brazil's foray into coffee in order to move product from cities to the port for trade. However, by 1889, the culture of coffee in Rio was in decline in part due to the soil and also due to erosion. Many coffee farms were replaced with cattle ranches). With the economic decline, Rio lost also political predominace, but it retained its exotic flavor and continued to be a major port o'call for ships.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9