Why is Rio de Janeiro, being Brazils biggest and most important city, not its capital?
wickedwillie Jan 30th, 2004 On April 21, 1960, the city of Brasilia was officially inaugurated and started functioning as the new capital of Brazil. Its population today is about 1,750,000 inhabitants (satellite cities included). Shifting the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the heartland was actually quite an old idea. Hipolito Jose da Costa was supportive of it at the turn of the previous century. Jose Bonifacio presented a bill to the Constitutional Assembly of 1823, which was to be dissolved by Dom Pedro I (Emperor of Brazil). All Constitutional Assemblies held after the Republic (1891, 1934, 1937 and 1946) had provisions for the change. There were several reasons why such a measure should be taken: – Fear of invasions. Brazil had been systematically invaded in the past (by the French, the Dutch and even by the Portuguese, after Independence). Having the capital (Rio de Janeiro) by the sea made it very vulnerable. – Helping develop the heartland. – Security reasons. A smaller city wo
