Duque de Caxias

Duque de Caxias is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, on the shore of Guanabara Bay in the northern part of the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area. It borders the city of Rio de Janeiro to the south, with the Meriti River forming part of the boundary, and it is the second most populous suburb of that city, with 866,347 inhabitants in a 2024 estimate over about 465 square kilometres. The city is named for Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, who was born there in 1803, and it became a separate municipality in 1943 after separating from Nova Iguaçu. Its history runs from 16th century sugarcane estates and river ports on the road from the gold fields of Minas Gerais, through decline from malaria and silted rivers, to 20th century growth beside the railways and the Rio-Petrópolis highway. Today it is a major industrial centre with a large Petrobras refinery and a petrochemical complex, and it is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese.