Valongo Wharf

The market

The slave market was moved out of the city center to Valongo in 1774

Until the mid-1770s, enslaved Africans were landed at Praia do Peixe and traded in Rua Direita, in the center of Rio, in plain sight. A new law in 1774 moved the market to the Valongo region. The trade finally settled there in 1779.

The wharf

The wharf was not built until 1811, and landings went on until 1831

The market had moved, but the wharf was not built until 1811, when landings were made directly at Valongo. Between 500,000 and a million people landed there from 1811 to 1831. Valongo was the main gateway for people from Angola and East and Central West Africa.

500,000to a million people landed here from 1811 to 1831

Closed

The trade was banned in 1831, and the landings went on in hidden ports

In 1831 the transatlantic slave trade was banned under pressure from England, and Valongo was closed. The traffickers then made the landings in clandestine ports. The Brazilian government continued to turn a blind eye to the trade until 1850.

Buried

The wharf was renamed the Empress Wharf in 1843 and buried in 1911

In 1843 the wharf was renovated for the landing of Princess Teresa Cristina, who was to marry the emperor Pedro II, and renamed Cais da Imperatriz. It was buried in 1911 during the urban reform under mayor Pereira Passos.

Rediscovered

Excavations in 2011 found both wharves, one on top of the other

In 2011, during excavations before the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the two wharves were discovered, one on top of the other, with a large number of amulets and worship objects from Congo, Angola and Mozambique. It became a World Heritage Site in July 2017.