it was at this time that the french built a small fortress, today known as casa de pedra, at the same time that they were building posts in rio de janeiro capital hoping to establish what they called french antartica.

subsequently, with the arrival of more portuguese settlers, the region saw a fast increase of the local population, and the nearby city of santa helena was established in 1615, later renamed nossa senhora da assunção de cabo frio - today's cabo frio. this is also when casa de pedra was appropriated by the portuguese, for their own enterprises.

arraial do cabo was for a long time an administrative division of nossa senhora da assunção de cabo frio, with only marginal importance to the trading activities of the territory.