1575 by the expedition of the governor of captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, Antonio Salema, who went to Cabo Frio and that decimated hundreds of French and Indigenous. The records on the territory of Araruama dating from 1615, as a result of the foundation of the present city of Cabo Frio, which came to promote recognition of the São João River and Lagoon Araruama. In 1626, the land encompassed by the Araruama sesmarias donated to Manuel Riscado which implemented a sawmill using Brazil wood and other hardwoods. Through the edict of January 10, 1799, created the parish of San Sebastian Araruama, which belonged to the municipality of Cabo Frio until 1852, when, by Provincial Law No. 628, became part of the municipality of Saquarema. On February 6, 1859, the parish of San Sebastian Araruama was elevated to a town of Araruama due to the extinction of the Village of Saquarema. The elevation of Araruama to city occurred on January 22, 1890, by decree of Governor Francis Portela. "Park Hotel" which gives its name to the neighborhood, is a historic building at the top of the current Praça João Hélio (pictured), and today houses a unit of Faetec offering technical courses in Tourism and Hospitality. It was inaugurated by President Getúlio Vargas as hotel and casino in 1943, and worked well until 1946, when the game was banned in Brazil. We remained until the end of the 1990s, leaving few years left to turn into Faetec. The anthem of the city of Araruama was incorporated into the city's history in 1999 by composer Pedro Paulo Pessoa Pinto. Currently, the city is known throughout the state of Rio de Janeiro for its commercial vocation, and especially by its tourist vocation soon after the construction of the lakes, Araruama underwent a process of great tourist abandonment, but in recent years has growing and rapidly recovering, even more than in the past. Tourists are attracted by the beaches, especially the ocean, bathed by the crystalline waters of the Atlantic. Are also attractive plazas, parks, centers of gastronomy and entertainment centers. Hydrography Araruama has the largest variety and diversity of beaches throughout the Lakes Region, both the lagoon (lapped by calm, warm waters of the Araruama Lagoon), the ocean (lapped by the blue waters of the icy Atlantic Ocean). The city's main beaches are: Hawk Beach, - calm beach and warm. Belongs to Araruama Lagoon.