As transformações da paisagem na bacia do rio Carioca

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse the process of landscape change along the Carioca River watershed, located within the city of Rio de Janeiro, and reflect on the main events and conjunctures that shaped the environmental history of this valley and on the role of cultural agents and their practices on the evolution of this landscape. The process of landscape change that occurred in this watershed illustrates the tension between the local urban structure and tropical Nature, which is not restricted to this watershed. The Carioca witnessed profound transformations that reproduce what occurred in the city of Rio de Janeiro as a whole. The historical Carioca River was the first source of water for Rio’s inhabitants and a significant landscape reference in the appropriation, control and occupation of this part of Rio de Janeiro’s territory. The river functioned as a vector of urban expansion towards the slopes of the watershed, along its waters pathway, and played an important role in preserving the Atlantic forest on the slopes of the Tijuca Massif. Today, the Carioca is apart of Rio’s city life, hidden from its habitants.