In the middle of the 17th century, Armação dos Búzios was a small fishing village, with about twenty houses. Invaded by the French and English, it became a base for pirates, a point of trade in brazilwood and the landing of African slaves.
 
At Praia de Manguinhos, you can appreciate the stone pier made by slaves. Later, the French were again expelled by the Portuguese, after bloody disputes that also decimated the indigenous population.
The origin of tourism in the region dates back to the 1940s and 1950s, when Búzios was just a peaceful fishing village.
 
In the beginning, tourists rented fishermen's houses, little by little, the peaceful village was transformed, as it was being "discovered" by the elites of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The first summer houses appeared.

Tourism really began to develop after the arrival of Argentines in the late 1970s, when many  wealthy people settled in Búzios, bought properties and established residences and businesses.