Ilha Grande

The Ilha Grande ( Big Island Portuguese ) with its 86 beaches, one of the most famous islands of Brazil. It belongs to the city of Angra dos Reis in the west of the state of Rio de Janeiro and is located about 160 km west of the city of Rio de Janeiro between the Bahia de Sepetiba and the Bahia da Ilha Grande in the Atlantic.

There are ferry connections from the main town of Vila do Abraão the city center of Angra dos Reis and after Mangaratiba on the mainland. The journey takes about 75 minutes to about 25 km away in each island.

The National Park of Ilha Grande is only a part ( 5,594 ha ) of the entire island ( 19,300 ha), rice is located off the southern coast of the State of Rio de Janeiro, between the seaside resorts of Mangaratiba and Angra dos. About half of the park (47%) is dense Atlantic Forest ( Mata Atlântica ) covered. Ilha Grande, there are numerous representatives of rare animals, such as howler monkeys, parrots, turtles, snakes and the still relatively little explored Guiana dolphin. From the mountain of Pico and welcoming hosts ( " top parrot ", 982 m) has a view over the whole island and on a clear day across to the mainland to Mangaratiba.

The Ilha Grande is part of the Tamoios nature reserve and is divided into the actual State Park, Marine State Park and the Biological Reserve of Praia do Sul. In addition, the waters and beaches of Ilha Grande now popular excursion and holiday destinations. There are a large number of pousadas ( inns ), some of which are only accessible by boat and are often decorated very luxurious. The only major town on the island is Vila do Abraão. Where ferries to the mainland and start from here most of the excursion tours by boat in nature.

History

Middle of the 16th century wrote of the Landsknecht Hans Staden the first travelogue in which the island is mentioned. He was commander of a small fort north of São Vicente in the service of the Portuguese royal family. Beginning of 1554 he was captured by Indians. On an expedition with the Tupinamba he sat down to rest on the island.

After about nine months of captivity, he was freed in 1555 by a French captain. He came back to Wolf Hagen ( Hesse) and published in 1557 in Marburg his chronicle " Warhaftige history and description of a landscape of savages, naked, Grim ogre - people ". The recording Staden is the first description of Indian customs in Brazil.

Large reserves of fresh water, tropical fruits, large deposits of Brasil wood, a noble wood, but especially the proximity to the port city of Paraty, where the Brazilian gold was shipped to Europe, the Ilha Grande made ​​after the visit Staden's the preferred refuge of European Pirates and Corsairs. Some 50 shipwrecks between Angra do Reis and Ilha Grande are witnessing the battles that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries between pirates, Tamoios Indians and Portuguese.

Then in the 18th century Ilha Grande one of the main hubs of the slave trade. In one of the blackest chapter in Brazil's history ended 200 years on the beaches of Palma and Dois Rios ships with men, children and women from Africa, destined for the hard work on the sugar cane plantations and haciendas ( farms ) of Rio de Janeiro.

1888 to meet the growing demand for labor after the abolition of slavery, Brazil opened its doors - mainly European and Asian - immigrants. Since some of these countries were infested at the time of cholera epidemics, let Dom Pedro I build on Ilha Grande, a quarantine hospital, where the immigrants had to stop for a while until they were officially allowed to enter Brazil. The ruins of the military hospital are now overgrown by tropical rain forest, but still present.

Later, the island was declared a closed colony for lepers ( Hanseníase or Hansen 's disease) and it was the prison Colônia Penal Cândido Mendes built where first dangerous criminals landed and then during the Estado Novo and later during military rule from 1964 mainly political prisoners. The site was therefore selected because an escape from the island was at that time regarded as hopeless, as the mainland was about 25 km away.

In 1993, the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro decided to close the prison. Then the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro won the right to a Centre for Environmental Studies (Centro de Estudos e Desenvolvimento Ambientais Sustentável ( CEADS ) ) to build, which was inaugurated in 1998.

On January 1, 2010, there was a disastrous landslide at the Praia do Bananal. Several building located there Pousada Sankay were destroyed, and 28 people lost their lives.

Photos

Main town: Vila do Abraão

Fishing village in the Natural Park of Ilha Grande

Fishing family on the beach Ilha Grande

Lopes Mendes beach of

Beach Abraão

Beach of Abraãozinho

Beach Aventureiro

Beach Feiticeira

Pico do Papagaio

Main beaches

Clockwise from Abraão Village:

  • Abraão
  • Palmas
  • Pouso
  • Lopes Mendes
  • Dois Rios
  • Parnaioca
  • Sul
  • Leste
  • Aventureiro
  • Provetá
  • Praia Vermelha
  • Araçatiba
  • Longa
  • Ubatubinha
  • Bananal
  • Freguesia de Santana
  • Japariz
  • Enseada the Estrela
  • Feiticeira
  • Preta
Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro Caesalpinia echinata Fazenda
409575
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