1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nictheroy

NICTHEROY, or Niteroy, a city of Brazil and capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, on the E. shore of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, opposite the city of that name. Pop. (1890) 34,269, (1900 estimate) 35,000. A railway connects the city with the interior—the old Cantagallo line, now a part of the Leopoldina system, a branch of which runs north-eastward to Macahé, on the coast, and another northward from Nova Friburgo to a junction with the railway lines of Minas Geraes. Nictheroy is practically a residential suburb of Rio de Janeiro. It occupies, in great part, the low alluvial plain that skirts the shores of the bay and fills the valleys between numerous low wooded hills. The site is shut off from the sea coast by a range of high rugged mountains. The shore line of the bay is broken by large, deeply indented bays (that of Jurujuba being nearly surrounded by wooded hills), shallow curves and sharp promontories. Within these bays are beaches of white sand, called praias, such as the Praia da Icarahy, Praia das Flechas and Praia Grande, upon which face low tile-covered residences surrounded with gardens. The city consists of a number of these partially separated districts—Praia Grande, São Domingos, Icarahy, Jurujuba, Santa Rosa, São Lourenço, Ponta d’Areia and Barreto—all together covering 8 or 9 m. of the shore. An electric street railway connects all the outlying districts with the ferry stations of Praia Grande and São Domingos. The city is characteristically Portuguese in the construction and style of its buildings—low, heavy walls of broken stone and mortar, plastered and coloured outside, with an occasional facing of glazed Lisbon tiles, and covered with red tiles. Among the public buildings are several churches and hospitals (including the Jurujuba yellow-fever hospital and the Barreto isolation hospital), the government palace, a municipal theatre and a large Salesian college situated in the suburbs of Santa Rosa on an eminence overlooking the lower bay. Several large islands fill the upper bay near the eastern shore; some are used as coal deposits for the great steamship companies, and one (Flores) is used as an immigrants' depôt. There is a small, rocky and picturesque island nearer the harbour entrance, which is crowned by a small chapel, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem. Manufactures include cotton and woollen fabrics, tobacco, spirits, soap and tiles.

The first settlement on the east side of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro dates from 1671, when a chapel was erected at Praia Grande, in the vicinity of an Indian village. The settlement did not become a village until 1819, when it was named Villa Real da Praia Grande. In 1834 the city and municipal district of Rio de Janeiro was separated from the province, and Praia Grande became the capital of the latter in the following year. In 1836 it was raised to the dignity of a city and received the appropriate name of Nictheroy, from the Indian name Nyterōi, “hidden water.” In the naval revolt of 1893–4 the older districts of the city suffered much damage from desultory bombardments, but the insurgents were too few to take possession. Soon afterwards the seat of government was removed to Petropolis, where it remained until 1903, when Nictheroy again became the capital of the state.