hoping to create a 'french antartica', in 1555 the french established a settlement, but they were driven out in 1567 by rival portuguese colonists - who in the meantime founded the city of são sebastião do rio de janeiro in 1565.

in fact, on the small beach ' praia de fora ', located between the sugar loaf (pão de açúcar) and the morro cara de cão, estácio de sá officially founded the city on march 1st 1565, and named it são sebastião de rio de janeiro, as são sebastião was also the title of portugal's king at the time.

for many years rio would only be known as 'são sebastião', and the current name rio de janeiro would only became widely used in the eighteenth century, when rio when became the crucially important shipping port for all gold and trades from minas gerais, in the interior of brazil.