Rio de Janeiro ( "River of January" ), commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, 6th largest in the Americas and 26th in the world. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1815 during the Portuguese colonial era, 1815 to 1821 as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. Rio is nicknamed the Cidade Maravilhosa or "Marvelous City." Rio de Janeiro represents the second largest GDP in the country (and 30th largest in the world ), estimated at about 140 billion reais (IBGE/2007), and is the headquarters of two major Brazilian companies – Petrobras and Vale, and major oil companies and telephony in Brazil, besides the largest conglomerate of media and communications companies in Latin America, the Globo Organizations. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific production – according to 2005 data. Rio de Janeiro is the most visited city in the southern hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova, balneario beaches such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambodromo, a permanent grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracana stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. A collection of high quality free computer desktop wallpapers featuring Rio de Janeiro wallpapers - City wallpapers. See these beautiful scenes and view on your computer. Make sure to checkout our wallpaper collection of Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin Bombay, Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Dublin , Dusseldorf, Geneva, Istanbul, Kiev, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico, Milan, Monte Carlo, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, New York, NYC, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vancouver, Vatican City, Vienna, Zurich. All wallpapers are in 1024x768, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 resolutions. We have also hundreds of widescreen wallpapers / HD wallpapers available for our visitors in many resolutions such as : 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1440x900, 1280x800 . Amazing wallpapers , alive on your desktop for Mac & PC. Click on link below the picture to download.