on march 1st, the foundation of the city of rio de janeiro celebrates andré gonçalves' discovery in january 1502 of what was thought to be the estuary of a river ('rio') but that instead was the bay that is now home to the city.

the region known as brazil was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous populations who by some accounts reached the americas from asia, by land across alaska or by sea along the pacific.

these semi-nomadic tribes lived as migrant hunters-gatherers, and never developed written records or monumental architecture, therefore not much is known about their history.