For the drug with trade name Leblon, see Pirenzepine. For the 1898 French motor manufacturer, see Le Blon. For the pioneer driver and aviator, see Hubert Le Blon.
Neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Leblon (Portuguese: /leˈblõ/) is a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also the name of the local beach. The neighborhood is located in the South Zone of the city, between Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Morro Dois Irmãos and the Jardim de Alah channel, bordering the Gávea, Ipanema, Lagoa, and Vidigal neighborhoods. It is regarded as a very affluent area.
Leblon began as a quilombo of escaped slaves created by a Portuguese abolitionist landowner.
The neighborhood is named for Carlos Leblon, a whaling empresario of French origin who possessed a chácara in the region since 1845. Before the area was urbanized it was known as Campo do Leblon (Leblon's Field).
The Quilombo of Leblon was a quilombo (settlement of escaped African slaves) that existed at the end of the 19th century in the present-day region of Clube Campestre da Guanabara and surroundings from what is now Rua Timothy Da Costa to Morro Dois Irmãos (in English "Two Brothers Hill") in Rio de Janeiro.[3]
The creator of the quilombo was the Portuguese José de Seixas Magalhães,[4] who dedicated himself to the manufacture and trade of suitcases.[5] and pod bags on Rua Gonçalves Dias, at the center of the city. His bags were made in a factory with steam engine. In addition to the luggage factory, Seixas also owned a farm in Leblon where he cultivated flowers with the help of slaves fugitives. Seixas hid the fugitives in the Leblon farm with the help of the main abolitionists from the capital of Empire, many of them members of Abolitionist Confederation. The Seixas flower farm was known as the "quilombo Leblon", a name that referred to the former owner of the region, the Frenchman Carlos Leblon. It was in the Quilombo do Leblon that Seixas cultivated his famous camellias, which were the symbol of the abolitionist movement.
The Quilombo do Leblon had the protection of Princess Isabel. As a token of gratitude, Seixas regularly supplied camellias to Isabel Palace, the princess’s residence in Laranjeiras (today, the seat of the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro). The camellias of Seixas adorned the Princess’s work table and her private chapel, where she made her prayers. In addition to the camellias, Seixas also offered the golden penalty to the Princess Regent who, later, on 13 May 1888, would be used to sign the Golden Law. The quilombo gave rise to the current name of the neighborhood of Leblon.
Characteristics
[edit]Leblon Beach.Residential buildings. Leblon has the most expensive price per residential square meter in Latin America.Map of Leblon.
It is located west of Ipanema. In the north, it is bordered by Gávea and, in the west, by a towering hill called Dois Irmãos, which translates as "two brothers", because of its split peak.
Leblon is known for being a very wealthy and cosmopolitan neighborhood, with a lively nightlife across its bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Leblon has been either referenced or depicted in the following media:
Brazil
Media related to Leblon at Wikimedia Commons
