Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Credit: Credit: USGS/NASA, Posted on: Sunday, 8 June 2003, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

Located in southeastern Brazil, the city of Rio de Janeiro hugs the western shore of Guanabara Bay, which is right of center in this false-color image. Originally mistaken for the mouth of a great river by the Portuguese explorers who visited it for the first time in January of 1502, the area was subsequently called “Rio” for river, and “de Janeiro, ” for January. In the western portion of the Bay is Governor’s Island, where the city’s international airport is located; in the high-resolution image, the straight lines of the runways are easy to see.

More than 5 million people live in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the world’s most beautiful cities, and thousands more visit each year, especially during late February and early March for the Carnaval Festival that precedes the forty days approaching Easter.

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