2023-06-17 15:41:13
Cais do Valongo, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a historical site of great importance that has left a deep mark on the country’s history and on the collective memory of its people. The Valongo wharf was built in 1811 for the purpose of trading African men and women. Luis de Almeida, the Viceroy, ordered its construction to create a specific area for commerce. While it was legal at the time, everything going on around selling people was not a pretty sight; Thus, what used to happen in a more central area was transferred to the port area.
It was originally known as the “Dungeon Dock”. As was the case with all arrivals, before being sold to the markets, many people died in the area, due to diseases, malnutrition or trauma caused by the inhumane conditions of the transfers and life on the dock.
As the slave trade grew in Latin America, Rio de Janeiro became one of the main destinations for this abhorrent practice.
In 2011, during the revitalization works of the Rio port area, the remains of Cais do Valongo were rediscovered. They found objects from what is now Congo, Angola and Mozambique, thus providing very important information for the identity construction of Afro-descendants in Brazil. These archaeological finds led to the creation of the Archaeological and Environmental Park of Cais do Valongowhich was inaugurated in 2017. In this year, UNESCO declared it Historical Heritage of Humanity. The paved road where the enslaved people walked is still preserved; it is estimated that more than a million people were forcibly disembarked there.
Brazil being the last country in the region to abolish – or end – slavery, in 1888, today it is the country with the largest Afro-descendant population in the world (56% of its inhabitants). As part of the repair policies that President Lula Da Silva and his administration have been carrying out, announced in March of this year that he would value this historic site. The Cais do Valongo Park is an important historical site and a monument to the memory of enslaved Africans. It has become a place of reflection and homage to the victims, and also a symbol of the fight once morest oppression and the search for equality.
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