Petrópolis 1.29

Petrópolis, also known as The Imperial City, is a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil, located northeast of Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2010 National Brazilian Census, Petrópolis municipality had 305,917 inhabitants that year, up from 286,537 inhabitants at the last census. Besides being the largest and most populous city in the Fluminense Mountain Region, the city also has the largest GDP and HDI in the region. Petrópolis is considered the safest city in the state of Rio de Janeiro and the sixth safest city in Brazil, according to IPEA classification for medium and large cities.The town's name ("city of Peter") honors Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil, who is entombed there at the Cathedral of Saint Peter of Alcantara. The city was the summer residence of the Brazilian Emperors and aristocrats in the 19th century, and was the official capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro during the First Brazilian Republic, between 1894 and 1902.There are projects to annex Petropolis again to the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, because it is linked to the capital by political and economic ties, and contain one of the state's largest HDIs.HistoryColonial periodUntil the 18th century, the region was inhabited by the índios coroados (crowned indians), which earned it the Portuguese name of "Sertão dos Índios Coroados". It was only with the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais and the consequent opening of the new way of the mines that passed through Petrópolis in that century that the region began to be occupied by non-indians. The town's origins can be traced to Bernardo Soares de Proença, who between 1722 and 1725 opened an alternative route between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, across the Serra da Estrela called "Caminho Novo das Minas" (New Road to Mines).