Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument Mountain, then an island, on 1 March 1565. The site was chosen to guard the entrance to Guanabara Bay, and the mountain was important as a signalling point. A landfill connected the island to the mainland in 1697, and various buildings were erected to defend the territory, but the Urca urban neighborhood was only built 300 years after the city was founded. The Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument was created by the city of Rio de Janeiro by municipal decree 26578 of 1 June 2006. The objectives are to guarantee green spaces for leisure in a natural area,
Sugarloaf Mountain Monument, created in 2006. This became part of a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 2012. The name "Sugarloaf" was coined in the 16th century by the Portuguese during the heyday of sugar cane trade in Brazil. According to historian Vieira Fazenda, blocks of sugar were placed in conical molds made of clay to be transported on ships. The shape given by these molds was similar to the peak, hence the name. A glass-walled cable car ("bondinho" or, more formally, "teleférico"), capable of holding 65 people, runs along a route between the peaks of Sugarloaf and Morro da Urca