at a glance

Historical documents demonstrate that, since the early years of the discovery of the site of Rio de Janeiro by the Portuguese, the whole of Baixada de Jacarepaguá, including Barra da Tijuca, were well known and valued by the colonizers. The occupation forces, in the early stages of the 17th and 18th Centuries, showed a general tendency towards the earliest forms of exploitation; great allotments, farms and mills were being taken apart for sale, inheritance, donations and rent. Once they had occupied the bay area and coastal plains, their interest in the contiguous enclaves and lands on the periphery of the city increased, limited by major connections and outlets to the sea - Jacarepaguá, to the west of Rio, and, to the North, the lands between the heights of Pedra Branca and Gericinó, coinciding with the well-known neighborhoods of Bangu, Campo Grande, Paciência and Santa Cruz.