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The first public body exercised legislative , executive , and judicial powers in the territory , which was renamed Royal Village of Praia Grande , named after the monarch ’ s affection for the place , where he was a frequent visitor . The Portuguese Court spent seasons in a manor in São Domingos Square , currently Leoni Ramos Square . The population increase – the starting point for urban development – favored the status promotion granted by the Portuguese Court : from chapel to church , from church to parish , from parish to village and finally from village to city .
The representation of the local power was composed of three city councilmen , an attorney general , and an outsider judge . The latter was a trust position of the king , who appointed magistrates from outside looking to impartiality in administration . The first was Portuguese lawyer José Clemente Pereira ( 1787-1854 ), who later served in Brazil as congressman , minister , senator and advisor to the emperor , as well as provider of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia ( a Portuguese charitable organization , whose mission is to treat and support the sick and the disabled ) and founder of the country ’ s first psychiatric hospital . He is the author of the Village Building Plan , with the layout of Downtown streets that still exists today , designed by French painter Arnaud Julien Pallière – considered the introducer of lithography techniques in Brazil . ( The place would have new transformations in 1841 , with the General Plan for Urbanization of Cidade Nova commissioned by French military engineer Pedro Taulois , who designed Icaraí and Santa Rosa as we know it today .)
In 1834 , when the city of Rio de Janeiro was promoted to the capital of the Empire and emancipated as a Neutral City ( or Federal District , in the contemporary nomenclature ), the congressmen chose the Royal Village as the capital of the province , being promoted in 1835 to city status and renamed Nichteroy . There are two different translations of the name in Tupi into the Portuguese language : hidden water ( reference to the shore protected by the abundant forest ) and cold river ( because , on their arrival , the Portuguese believed that the Guanabara was a river and not a bay ). The renaming recognized the way these lands were already called by the native . Thus , the place is known as the only Brazilian city founded and named by a native .
The status of capital brought to Nichteroy a series of modern urban services , such as the steamboat , whale oil street lighting , the first gas lamps , better organization of the water supply , animal-powered tram , and railroad . Also noteworthy is the installation of the Visconde de Mauá shipyard in 1845 – the first Brazilian industry along the lines of the Industrial Revolution , making the city the precursor pole of the Brazilian naval industry .
Titled by the emperor Dom Pedro II as an Imperial City in 1844 , the provincial capital was still the focus of unrest around the abolitionist and republican movements . It is not by chance that the City Council abolished slavery in the city on April 4th , 1888 , a month and four days before Princess Isabel signed the Lei Áurea ( the law that abolished slavery in Brazil ).
The end of the 19th century was marked by the presence of more significant buildings , with significant investments by their owners . Life was influenced by the proximity to Rio de Janeiro , not only by the consuming standards but also by the reflections of national politics . But , despite the huge development , Niterói had its territory very reduced in 1890 with the separation of the parishes of São Gonçalo , Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Cordeiro and São Sebastião de Itaipu , which became the city of São Gonçalo .
With the Brazilian Naval Revolt , from 1893 to 1894 , which destroyed the city , the capital was transferred to Petrópolis for almost ten years , returning to Niterói in 1903 . The reconquest of this status was the reason for yet another urban reform – known as Renascença Fluminense . The transformations of this time included the construction of headquarters for state administrative institutions , shore embankments , the widening of streets , the improvement of parks and squares , the modernization of public services such as electric trams , gas lighting and sewage systems , in addition to beginning of the construction of the port , opened in 1927 .
More investments in civil construction came in the 1940s , in partnership with the private sector , including the subdivision of areas in the Oceanic Region . In a new administrative organization in the state of Rio de Janeiro , the district of Itaipu was reincorporated in Niterói in 1943 . With the inauguration of the Rio-Niterói Bridge in 1974 , a real estate boom began and urban expansion in the Southern Zone and in the regions Oceanic and Pendotiba . But the 1975 merger of the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro , which once again transferred the state capital from Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro , caused to the transfer of government institutions to the other side of the bay . The widening of the main avenues , the creation of the City Park and the construction of the São Francisco-Icaraí tunnel date from this period .
From the 1980s , Niterói followed the national artistic movement and inaugurated the UFF ( 1982 ) and Abel ( 1986 ) theaters , which increased the local network of cultural buildings initiated by the João Caetano Municipal Theatre in 1842 – considered the cradle of performing arts in Brazil . Later , even more stages came : the Estação Cantareira in 2000 , the Eduardo Kraichete Theater in 2006 , the Popular Theater in 2007 and the Nelson Pereira dos Santos Hall in 2018 . These last two are part of the series of cultural facilities that consolidated Niterói as a national cultural capital with the opening of the Niemeyer Way in 2002 and its monuments of always futuristic traces signed by renowned genius of modern world architecture Oscar Niemeyer – including in this route the Contemporary Art Museum of Niterói ( MAC ), built in 1996 .
Sustainability is another watchword in the city that entered the 21st century with 50 % of its territory composed of Conservation Units and environmental protected areas . Since 2013 , more than 70 thousand seedlings have been planted because of compensatory measures and voluntary work . Were also launched 10,000 seeds in the Itacoatiara sandbank and 75,000 in the City Park . In urban areas , there were 3,700 seedlings . With about 50 trails recorded , the city was included , in early 2018 , in the publication Florestas e Cidades Sustentáveis : histórias inspiradoras de todo o mundo , released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ).
Were implemented 45 kilometers ( 28 miles ) of cycle trails , in addition to a covered bike rack , making the number of cyclists in the city quintuple between 2015 and 2020 . In 2019 , Niterói secured the first place in the Connected Smart Cities Ranking in the Environment area of the State of Rio de Janeiro and assumed the third national position . The Connected Smart Cities Ranking is composed of sixteen indicators related to the environment , energy , mobility and accessibility .
About public security , since 2019 Niterói has been reducing rates of urban violence , theft , and murder in all its regions due to policing programs through agreements with the State Government . In addition to funding the Niterói Presente program , which has almost five hundred military police officers guarding the neighborhoods of Barreto , Icaraí , Santa Rosa , Centro , Fonseca , Charitas , São Francisco and Jurujuba , the municipal government is also responsible for paying the State Integration Program in Security ( Proeis ) – for police officers to work during off hours – and the Additional Service Regime ( RAS ) for municipal guards to work in extra service , among other initiatives . In five years , the number of Municipal Guard personnel rose from 300 to more than 700 agents , all of whom were approved in a public examination . The Niterói Pact Against Violence was also implemented , a Municipal Public Security Plan with strong investment until 2020 in eighteen projects in the areas of prevention , policing and Justice , coexistence and engagement of citizens and integrated territorial action . For all these factors , it has become one of the safest cities to live in the country .
Since the beginning of 2013 , Niterói has been experiencing a new cycle in culture , with important partnerships and a cultural policy aimed at democratizing its spaces , expanding the dialogue with society and unpublished public notices directed to the sector . Cultural heritage of