RIO DE JANEIRO, a maritime state of Brazil, bounded on the north by Minas Geraes, on the east by Espirito Santo and the Atlantic, on the south by the Atlantic, and on the west by Sao Paulo. It is one of the smaller states of the republic : area of 26, 635sq.m.; pop. estimated (1933), 2,220,177. The state is trav ersed longitudinally by the Serra do Mar, which divides it into a low, narrow, irregular coastal zone, and a broad elevated river valley through which the Parahyba flows eastward to the Atlantic. The eastern part of this valley widens out into a great alluvial plain on which are to be found some of the richest sugar estates of Brazil. The well watered Parahyba valley has long been celebrated for its fertility, and is the centre of the coffee-pro ducing industry. Stock-raising has been slowly developing since the abolition of slavery (1888).
The state is watered by the Parahyba (q.v.) and its tribu taries and by numerous short streams flowing from the Serra do Mar to the coast. Manufacturing has been developed largely because of the fine water power supplied by the mountain streams, and among the manufactures are cotton, woollen, silk and jute fabrics, brick, tile and rough pottery, sugar, rum, vehicles, furni ture, beer and fruit conserves. The state is well provided with railways, which include the Central do Brazil, Leopoldina, Mel horamentos and Rio do Ouro. The Central line runs from the city of Rio de Janeiro north-north-westward across the Serra do Mar to the Parahyba valley, where it divides into two branches at the station of Barra do Pirahy, one running westward to sao Paulo, and the other eastward and northward into Minas Geraes., Besides these there are a number of short railways called the Theresopolis, Uniao Valenciana, Rio das Flores, Bananal, and Vassourense lines. The total extension of these railways in the
state in 1925 was 2 joom. Other than Nictheroy, the ports of the state are Sao Joao da Barra, Macahe or Imbetiba, Cabo Frio and Paraty, visited only by the smaller coasting vessels.
The capital of the state is Nictheroy (1933 est. 119,297) on the east side of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, and other cities and towns, with their populations in 1920, are : Campos (48,108), on the lower Parahyba in the midst of a rich sugar-producing region; Rio Bonito (17,763); Itaborahy (22,228) ; Barra Mansa (13, 585), on the upper Parahyba; Rezende (7,876), in a fertile dis trict of the upper Parahyba; Petropolis (38,025) ; Cantagallo (6,963), in a rich coffee district of the Serra do Mar ; Paraty (7,885), a small port on the west side of the bay of Angra dos Reis; Valenta (13,020) ; Vassouras (12,510) ; Sao Fidelis (13, 829), a river port on the lower Parahyba having steamboat corn munication with Campos; Macahe (8,635), an old port on the eastern coast of the state at the mouth of the Macahe river whose original anchorage has been filled with silt, and that of Imbetiba, in the vicinity, with which it is connected by tramway, is now used by vessels both for the town and the Macahe and Campos railway; Barra do Pirahy (13,086), an important station and junction of the Central do Brazil railway on the north side of the Serra do Mar, with large manufacturing and commercial interests; Parahyba do Sul (9,332), in a fertile, long-settled dis trict in the north-east part of the state; Marica (8,467) ; Cabo Frio (14,508) ; Pirahy (7,264) ; Saquarema (7,301) ; Nova Friburgo (23,261) ; and Araruama