Gávea

Gávea is an affluent residential neighborhood located in the Southern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It borders the São Conrado, Leblon, Lagoa and Jardim Botânico neighborhoods and is famous for its high concentration of artists and intelectuals. PUC-Rio, one of the most important universities of the Rio de Janeiro state, as well as several schools are located in the neighborhood. Gávea is well known because of the "Baixo Gávea" area, which is considered a Bohemian quarter and which is frequented by the city's youth.

The first Europeans to have lived in what would become the neighborhood were the French, who came to extract Brazilwood. On July 16, 1565, the neighbourhood was named Gávea for the first time, by Estácio de Sá.

Etymology

The neighborhood is named Gávea (which means topsail in Portuguese) because of an 852m height peak ("Gávea Rock", or Pedra da Gávea) which resembles the topsail of the carrack, a sailing ship.

ports

The Hipódromo da Gávea is a horse racing venue located in the neighborhood. Estádio da Gávea the home of CR Flamengo football club, despite being named after the neighborhood, is actually located in Lagoa neighborhood.

References

*Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Portuguese-language wikipedia article (retrieved on January 2, 2006).

External links

* [http://jwg.student.utwente.nl/riodejaneiro/br/bairros/gavea.htm Os Bairros] (the districts of Rio de Janeiro, in Portuguese)