Itá-kûa-y

Itá-kuâ-y is the Indigenous name associated with Itaguaí, west of Rio de Janeiro. The settlement of São Francisco Xavier grew from a Jesuit mission whose Indigenous residents were moved to a site near the Santa Cruz estate. Construction of a church dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier began there in 1718. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1759, the settlement lost its school and its missionary administration, but it endured and became a town in 1818.