at a glance

artifacts from early settlements and other archaeological evidence indicate the area now 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 - 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 for various agricultural enterprises.