at a glance

Ilha do Governador, or 'Governor's Island', is an important area of the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, containing a number of well known districts with a rich cultural heritage - Portuguesa is one of these neighborhoods, located just east of the Aeroporto Internacional Tom Jobim, or 'Tom Jobim International Airport', and lapped to the north by the waters of the guanabara bay.

It is one of the wealthier and peaceful residential areas of the island, which shares borders with the districts of moneró and jardim carioca to the east, jardim guanabara to the south, and galeão to the west.

For centuries after the arrival of the Portuguese the region was almost entirely covered by woodland. In the early 20th century it was home to a dynamite storage facility, which exploded with horrifying force in 1933. Indeed, it is said that the iron gates in Rio's city center shook from the blast.