Irajá

Image description: The image is a black-and-white map showing the Guanabara Bay region, highlighting the neighborhood of Irajá. On the left, we see the Sarapuí River and the São João de Meriti River, marking the boundary with Centro. To the right, we find the Irajá River and Vila da Penha. In the center, the Ilha do Governador and Praia da Bica stand out. To the right, there is the Tijuca National Park and Praia da Bandeira. The map includes several locations and indigenous tribes, such as Tarakuirapã, Itanã, Pindobusu, Jequiá, Pirabiju, and others.

One of the most representative neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, birthplace of sambistas and poets, Irajá is one of the city's regions that retained the original designation of one of the land's ancestral indigenous communities, already recorded in sources since the time of the French presence, in the mid-16th century. This neighborhood's name is one of the strongest legacies left by the Tupinambá natives. The carioca or Irajá resident who takes an interest in reading Uma viagem à terra do Brasil, a book by the French traveler Jean de Léry, published in 1578, will be surprised by the mention of a Guanabara taba named Eiraiá, cited in Léry's first list of villages. This list was reproduced in his book from notes by a truchement (as the French who remained in Guanabara, living among the indigenous people, were called), who had already been living here since the mid-1540s.

Eiraiá was located on the left bank of the bay, being the fifth village listed among those closest to the coast. Following the left bank of Guanabara Bay and passing the mouth of the group of rivers and streams that today form the Faria-Timbó (the former Inhaúma river, from which the inhabitants of Eiramirĩ, Pirakãiopã, and, further inland, Piraûasu, drew their living), one reached the mangroves that characterized this part of the coast. One then traveled through this stretch, which runs parallel to today's Fundão and Governador Islands, passing a few streams. Next, another great estuary appears: that of the river which, not without reason, the Portuguese came to know and named on their maps as the Irajá river. The original name of this river, which perpetuated the designation of those lands, was nothing more than the name of the taba of the Tupinambás who had inhabited that region since time immemorial. They used this river to travel to and from the village.

Even today there are those who reproduce a colonial explanation regarding these place names, concealing the existence of this ancestral village. As with much of the "popular" explanations about Rio's oldest names, one notices the aim of incorporating a Portuguese heritage into the origin of these designations. It is said that, when the first sugar mills began to be introduced in that part of the bay, the enslaved Tupinambás who worked there would have been surprised by the sugarcane molasses, saying that it resembled the honey they knew so well.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving of an insect. From left to right, we see the details of the insect's body, including the antennae, eyes, and wings. The legs are arranged beneath the body, with details of the feet. The layout is clear and organized, highlighting the insect's features.

The name Eiraiá in Old Tupi is formed from Eira-iá (Eirá can denote either honey or bee; iá is a suffix expressing totality, abundance, or, simply, "full"). Synonymous with abundance, Eiraiá was the Tupinambás' community "full of honey." It certainly alluded to this characteristic of the place, which had lush nature and fauna, with plentiful fishing and hunting, as well as large hives of native bees (called "dog bees" or "black bees"), which took advantage of the nectar available in the Atlantic Forest to supply honey in abundance to their neighbors. Besides being a food source, honey was used as glue, resin, and for other cosmetic purposes.

As a corruption, Eirá became "Ira" in Portuguese, and the ending iá became "já." The village of Eiráîá is, therefore, the origin of the Irajá neighborhood. It is estimated that the location of Eiraiá lay along the course of the present-day Irajá river, once navigable and teeming with life, and that it encompassed the lands of the present-day neighborhoods of Cordovil, Brás de Pina, Vista Alegre, and Irajá itself, flowing into Guanabara Bay near the end of Ilha do Governador.

The Eiraiá village, as was characteristic of the indigenous communities of Guanabara, was located close to the river, but on elevated ground, as a precaution against constant flooding. The central point of this entire region is precisely the oldest church in Rio de Janeiro, the Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Apresentação do Irajá, from 1613, which sits atop a plateau, just a few meters from the Irajá river. It is possible that the chapel that gave rise to this church was built on the indigenous taba of Eiraiá, the starting point of colonial occupation and the center from which the conquest of the region spread.

That entire area was occupied and devastated by immense sugarcane plantations during the first hundred years of Portuguese colonization. The village name used to designate the region became popular in the following years as a way to refer to the vast land stretching from that river. With the increase in the number of sugar mills, an important port for shipping out sugar production also emerged there: a bustling trading post where crates of sugar were loaded, which became known as the Paço do Irajá.

The site was different from the other depots of the time in that it was a convergence point for the paths that served the countless sugar mills further inland, with an imposing warehouse and a residence beside it. It had already existed formally as a place for tax collection and storage of crates of sugarcane derivatives, which from there went on launches and small boats to the ships anchored within the bay, at least since the 1660s.

Irajá even came to become a prestigious and valuable title of honor during the era of the Brazilian Empire, which sought in the country's native, pre-Portuguese origins to promote the recovery of native names and the appreciation of the country's culture. Because of this, Manuel do Monte Rodrigues de Araújo, a politician and chief chaplain to Emperors D. Pedro I and D. Pedro II, was decorated as Count of Irajá, through the decree of March 25, 1845. This citizen probably could not even imagine what the insignia actually meant and carried, as a self-glorifying status, the noble title of the honey-filled village of Rio de Janeiro.

The original taba of Eiraiá imposed its cultural heritage through the constructive force carried by its name — a toponym so carioca, so Brazilian, so Irajá, sung about in many popular songs. From its ancestral name and its original lands, there now emerges a part of the city that so characterizes the roots of Rio de Janeiro, home to humble, hardworking people who, like the Tupinambás, are also skilled musicians and warriors, and who know better than anyone how to throw a party fueled by beer — today's cauim.