at a glance

ipanema is one the best known district in rio and arguably one of the most famous in the world, the name being widely recognized due to the immensely popular bossa nova hit 'the girl from ipanema' yet, its history and cultural significance extend back to well before its explosive entrance onto the global music and intellectual scene in the mid-twentieth century.

artifacts from early settlements and other archaeological evidence indicate the area now referred to as ipanema has been continuously inhabited by humans since at least the sixth century, and french maps of the region dating back to 1558 contain references to two tamoio villages nearby.  

the tamoios were one of the main subgroups of the tupi-speaking indigenous peoples that dominated the brazilian coastline before european contact and colonization.