Agulhas Negras

Agulhas Negras, meaning Black Needles, is a peak in the Mantiqueira Mountains on the border between the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, within Itatiaia National Park. At 2,790.94 meters, it is the fifth-highest mountain in Brazil and the highest point in Rio de Janeiro state. Its name comes from the sharp, dark rock spires at its summit, and the wider Itatiaia massif of which it is part takes its own name from a Tupi phrase meaning stone with many sharp points. The peak was first climbed in 1919, by Carlos Spierling and Osvaldo Leal, after a series of unsuccessful attempts stretching back to 1856.