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

About 6 million people live in the city proper and 13 million in the metro area, making it the sixth most populous city in the Americas.

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

The Portuguese mistook the bay for a river mouth; the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci is said to have been aboard as an observer.

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

Admiral Villegagnon's 500 colonists built Fort Coligny; Mem de Sá and his nephew finally drove them out in 1567.

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

He was the nephew of Governor General Mem de Sá and named the settlement São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro after the king's patron saint.

Q 05/05

The city's full founding name honours which saint, still its patron?

A) Anthony

B) George

C) Sebastian

D) Francis

Answer · why

C) Sebastian

He was also the namesake of the reigning Portuguese king Sebastião; the modern conical cathedral downtown carries the same dedication.