Rio de Janeiro is a place.
Rio de Janeiro ( [ ˈriːoʊ_di_ʒəˈnɛəroʊ , _ - deɪ_ʒə - , _ - də_dʒə - ] [ ˈʁi.u d ( ʒi ) ʒɐˈnejɾu ] ; River of January ) , or simply Rio , is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas . Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro , Brazil 's third-most populous state . Later , in 1763 , it became the capital of the State of Brazil , a state of the Portuguese Empire .