at a glance

after the portuguese firmly established a foothold in the lands surrounding guanabara bay, the natives were driven away and ipanema taken over by colonizers.

by the early seventeenth century, nearly all of the land in what are now the south and west zones of rio de janeiro, was owned by a short succession portuguese aristocrats who utilized the properties in various agricultural enterprises.

while significant, these farms were still very small if compared to the coffee boom that dominated the brazilian southeast in later years.

following two centuries of economic mismanagement, portuguese king dom joão vi, arrived to rio after fleeing the menace of napoleon in europe, and condemned the estate to be divided and auctioned.