Q 01/05

Rio de Janeiro is the second-largest city in Brazil after which city?

A) São Paulo

B) Salvador

C) Brasília

D) Belo Horizonte

Answer · why

A) São Paulo

São Paulo, with over 11 million residents, is Brazil's largest city; Rio's roughly 6 million in the city proper and 13 million in its metro area rank ...

Q 02/05

Rio de Janeiro's name comes from the date Europeans first sighted Guanabara Bay, in which year?

A) 1519

B) 1502

C) 1531

D) 1565

Answer · why

B) 1502

Portuguese explorers entered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502 and, mistaking it for a river mouth, called it the River of January; Amerigo Vespucci is ...

Q 03/05

Which European power landed 500 colonists on an island in Guanabara Bay in 1555, before the Portuguese expelled them?

A) Spain

B) The Netherlands

C) France

D) England

Answer · why

C) France

France's Admiral Villegagnon landed 500 colonists who built Fort Coligny on an island in the bay, the start of 'France Antarctique'; Mem de Sá and his...

Q 04/05

The city was founded on 1 March 1565 by a Portuguese force led by whom?

A) Pedro Álvares Cabral

B) Tomé de Sousa

C) Gaspar de Lemos

D) Estácio de Sá

Answer · why

D) Estácio de Sá

Estácio de Sá, nephew of Governor General Mem de Sá, founded the city on 1 March 1565 as a base against foreign invaders and their Tamoio allies; he d...

Q 05/05

Which saint, also the city's patron, does Rio's full founding name honour?

A) Anthony

B) George

C) Sebastian

D) Francis

Answer · why

C) Sebastian

Saint Sebastian is the city's patron: the 1565 settlement was named São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro for the namesake saint of King Sebastião, and the ...