Cantagalo, formerly spelled Cantagallo, is a city located in the east-central area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The population is 20,168 in an ar…Cantagalo, formerly spelled Cantagallo, is a city located in the east-central area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The population is 20,168 in an area of 749 km. Its elevation is 391 m. Colonization of Cantagalo began in 1755, when Portuguese nobleman Manoel Henriques, Duke of Terso and a clandestine gold miner, left the state of Minas Gerais in search of unexplored riches. Henriques and his group erected a settlement on a small tributary of the Parahyba approximately 80 miles northwest of Rio and began exploring along the local rivers. It was originally known as Sertões de Macacu after the nearby Macacu River.
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