Guanabara Bay contains over 130 small islands and is the second largest bay in Brazil, at 19 miles long and 17 miles wide. On January the 1st 1502 when the Portuguese first encountered it, Guanabara Bay was originally named Rio de Janeiro, meaning “January River”. Later, the city was named after the bay and the bay adopted the name Guanabara; a word which comes from the Tupi language (an extinct language of the native Tupi people of Brazil) meaning “bosom of the sea”