History
The Tamoio, one of the native peoples that inhabited the area, called the place Guanabara which means "arm of the sea," a name that is still used today. When Europeans tried to settle along the edge of Guanabara Bay they found it tough going. There was practically no flat land along the water's edge and those places that were flat were also swampy. In 1555 five hundred French colonists built a Fort on one of the Bay's islands they named for their leader, French Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Five years later the citadel, Fort Coligny, fell to a siege by Portugal's navy and the French fled. Today the location, now called The Isle of Villegaignon, is home to the Brazilian Naval School.