Rio de Janeiro

What is the most famous beach in the world? The answer is almost certainly the Copacabana  The following scenes, beginning on the beach, are of the neighborhood in Rio De Janeiro. The name of the city means "River of January" in Portuguese.

If you wonder how mountains shaped like the ones around Rio came to be, this is what we saw in one of the Supporting Documents, "The Extrusion Mountains Of South America", in the book-length posting on the geology blog, www.markmeekearth.blogspot.com , "The Story Of Planet Earth". There are the same kind of sugarloaf-shaped mountains at a point on the opposite side of South America, such as Manchu Picchu in Peru.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.9656443,-43.1722355,3a,75y,180h,83t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-o3Onm10GJSk%2FVY3E4T1gclI%2FAAAAAAAAEzo%2FngS0E-j3cTAEJAB0Jp_O4OI9frx_ouHTwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-o3Onm10GJSk%2FVY3E4T1gclI%2FAAAAAAAAEzo%2FngS0E-j3cTAEJAB0Jp_O4OI9frx_ouHTwCLIB%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i2508!8i1254

The other of the two most famous beaches in the world is right around the corner, running perpendicular to Copacabana. It is known as Ipanema, named for the adjacent neighborhood:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.9872124,-43.20413,3a,75y,220h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPhPfsgvUCipUTeZf-ak-BPH7fOQQunIFzrhsqe!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPhPfsgvUCipUTeZf-ak-BPH7fOQQunIFzrhsqe%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi10.494973-ya352.28748-ro4.297843-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

Here are some views of downtown Rio. The city was not only once the capital of Brazil, before the capital was moved to the new city of Brasilia, in the interior of the country, it was also once the capital of Portugal, in faraway Europe. The capital was moved to Rio when Portugal was in danger of conquest by Napoleon:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.9065157,-43.1884313,3a,75y,270h,89.71t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfSpuZXuqHwU-C-sn2Cp4uQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DfSpuZXuqHwU-C-sn2Cp4uQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D208.5%26pitch%3D-18.999996!7i13312!8i6656

Everyone knows that, like any other metropolis, Rio is not all prosperous. Following are some views of the area known as Complexo Do Alemao, one of the Rio neighborhoods known as a favela. You will notice how this neighborhood is built on one of the many hillsides in Rio. We saw in the compound posting, "Economics", November 2019, the first section 1) POLITICS AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, that the reason for slums lies in the physical geography of a city.

My theory is that if a city is allowed to grow outward on an idealized flat plain, with no hindrances to it's growth, there will never be any such thing as a slum because housing will be governed by the logic of the market structure. But when there is a hindrance to growth, such as mountains or a harbor or water, this brings a shortage of land for housing and it drives up prices, interfering with the usual logic of the market structure.

This means that there will be workers whose labor is needed, but who cannot afford housing with their wages within the usual market structure. This brings about substandard or makeshift housing that is outside the logic of the market structure, which is commonly referred to as a slum.

The irony is that the factors which create slums are the very reasons that the city is there in the first place, such as a good harbor or a defensible island or abundant fresh water. Rio not only has a good harbor but also those scenic mountains with the sugarloaf shape, both of which take up space that cannot now be used for housing:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.8618006,-43.2772521,3a,75y,48.48h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sOhg4PtytUwRUIIc0f8UIdQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DOhg4PtytUwRUIIc0f8UIdQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D46.143623%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Here is a more average neighborhood nearby, known as Olaria:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.8521578,-43.2655788,3a,75y,36.48h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sRffQeP36djWI8r9QE84yCw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DRffQeP36djWI8r9QE84yCw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D34.269283%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Rio is especially known for the statue of Christ The Redeemer, watching over the city. Here is the view from the very top:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.951905,-43.2104434,2a,75y,266.64h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjMyr02HvyVGak8xJKjfFbA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DjMyr02HvyVGak8xJKjfFbA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D266.35486%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is where the 2016 Olympics was held:

https://www.google.com/maps/@-22.9779785,-43.3944413,1397m/data=!3m1!1e3