The State of Guanabara shares its name with Guanabara Bay, which lies to the east of the state. There are many theories as to the name's origins, including hidden water, lagoon of the sea, and bosom of the sea.
History
In 1834, the city of Rio de Janeiro was elevated to Imperial capital of the Empire of Brazil, and was included in the Neutral Municipality. The surrounding Province of Rio de Janeiro had its capital city in Niterói. When Brazil became a republic in 1889, the city of Rio de Janeiro remained the national capital, and the territory of the Neutral Municipality became the Federal District, while the surrounding homonymous province became a state, still with Niterói as its capital. When the national capital was moved to Brasília in 1960, and a new Federal District was created for it, the old Federal District became the state of Guanabara. Throughout its 15-year existence, Guanabara was a unique state in many ways. Comprising only one city, Guanabara was the smallestBrazilian state by land. It also had the peculiarity of being the only Brazilian state that was not divided into municipalities. There was no mayor, municipal legislature or any other municipal government institution there, as the city of Rio de Janeiro was directly administered by the state government of Guanabara. On the other hand, that also meant that the Guanabara state government had some functions that were normally assigned to municipalities elsewhere, such as regulating urban zoning, inspecting the safety of buildings, or issuing licenses for commercial venues, for example. All the characteristics disappeared in 1975, when the state of Guanabara merged into the state of Rio de Janeiro. With the merge, the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro was transferred back from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro, as it was until 1834 when the empire created the Neutral Municipality.
In gubernatorial elections held on 3 October 1965,, a candidate supported by a coalition formed by PTB and PSD and a close associate of former President Juscelino Kubitschek, won the race to be the state's governor, garnering 52% of the votes cast.
