List of Mayors of Rio de Janeiro

This is a list of mayors of Rio de Janeiro.

The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1565. It was the seat of the Crown captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a district of colonial Brazil under Portuguese rule. In 1763 Rio de Janeiro city became the capital of the colony, then named State of Brazil. In 1815 Brazil became a kingdom within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves; the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro became the province of Rio de Janeiro, within the Kingdom of Brazil, and the city of Rio de Janeiro continued to be the capital of both the Kingdom and the Province. Also, the Portuguese Court had moved to Rio in 1808, so that, even before the creation of the United Kingdom, the city was the de facto capital of the whole Portuguese Empire. In 1821 the Royal Court returned to Portugal, and in 1822 Brazil proclaimed its independence, with the establishment of the Empire of Brazil. The city of Rio de Janeiro was the Empire's capital, and, until 1834, it also remained the capital of the Province of Rio de Janeiro.

Not only in the case of Rio, but for all Brazilian cities, the office of Mayor, separate from the City Council, only came into existence after Brazil became a Republic in 1889. In the pre-independence era (comprising both the colonial and the United Kingdom periods), the city council discharged both Executive, as well as limited Legislative and Judicial functions. After independence, city councils lost its Judicial powers with the establishment of an independent Judicial Branch distinct from the political Branches of the State, but, during the Empire of Brazil era (1822-1889), City Councils remained invested with limited legislative powers (the enactment of municipal postures, in Portuguese posturas municipais), as well as with Executive functions, with no office of Mayor.

During the colonial period, the city councils of the major cities, such as Rio, were referred to as the Senado da Câmara. Also, during the pre-independence period, the presiding officer of the most important city councils was a royal magistrate (known as the Juiz de Fora, literally Outside Judge) appointed by the King or by other royal functionaries (colonial governors, etc), to lead the city council. After the Independence of Brazil, the office of Juiz de Fora was abolished, city councils ceased to have a judicial role; after Independence, in the Empire of Brazil era, all Brazilian city councils were led by a President, who was the councilman with the most votes in the elections for the Council. The composition, structure and powers of Rio's City Council, and of all the City and Village Councils of Brazil, was reformed in 1828, with the adoption of the Organic Law of the Municipal Councils (Imperial Law of 1 October 1828). In the case of Rio, the newly constituted City Council (no longer titled Senado da Câmara, but instead named Câmara de Vereadores or Ilustríssima Câmara Municipal, literally meaning Most Illustrous Municipal Chamber), began to operate in 1830.

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