Valongo Wharf
A historic dock where enslaved Africans were landed and traded.
The Valongo Wharf, known in Portuguese as Cais do Valongo, sits in Rio de Janeiro’s port district, between what are now Coelho e Castro and Sacadura Cabral streets. Constructed in 1811, it served as the arrival and trading point for enslaved Africans until 1831, when the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil was officially banned through the blockade of Africa—though the Brazilian government largely ignored the law until 1850. Over its two decades of use, between 500,000 and one million enslaved people came ashore at Valongo. Brazil as a whole received roughly 4.9 million enslaved Africans through the Atlantic trade.
In 1843, the wharf was remodeled to welcome Princess Teresa Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who was arriving to marry Emperor Dom Pedro II. It was then renamed Cais da Imperatriz (Empress Wharf). From 1850 to 1920, the area around the old pier became a neighborhood inhabited by Black slaves and freed people from various nations—a region that Heitor dos Prazeres called Pequena África (Little Africa).
Before the mid-1770s, enslaved people were unloaded at Praia do Peixe (now Praça 15) and sold on Rua Direita (today Rua 1º de Março), in central Rio de Janeiro, openly. In 1774, alarmed by the sight of sick, naked Africans entering the city’s main streets, the viceroy, Dom Luís de Almeida Portugal Soares de Alarcão d'Eça e Melo Silva Mascarenhas (the second Marquis of Lavradio), ordered the market moved to Valongo. At first, no wharf existed there; slaves were landed at customs and then ferried to Valongo, where they jumped onto the beach. The slave trade settled permanently in Valongo by 1779, peaking after 1808 with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family and continuing until the 1831 ban, after which it went underground.
From 1808, the trade nearly doubled as Rio’s population grew from 15,000 to 30,000 following the court’s transfer. The wharf itself was finally built in 1811, allowing direct landings. Between 1811 and 1831, 500,000 to one million enslaved people arrived there. By the late 1820s, the slave trade to Brazil was at its height. Rio de Janeiro was a major slave-trading hub, and Valongo was the primary entry point for people from Angola, East Africa, and Central West Africa—while ships to Maranhão came from Guinea, and those to Bahia from West Africa. After the 1831 ban, traffickers used hidden ports.
Quick Facts
- Native Names
- pt · Cais do Valongo
- Other Name
- Cais da Imperatriz (Empress Wharf)
- Location
- Port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Built
- 1811
- Abandoned
- 1911
- Excavations
- 2011
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Until the mid-1770s, slaves disembarked at Praia do Peixe and were traded in Rua Direita in plain sight. In 1774, new legislation transferred this market to the Valongo region, on the initiative of the second Marquis of Lavradio, viceroy of Brazil, alarmed at the custom of enslaved Africans entering the city through main thoroughfares 'loaded with innumerable diseases but naked'. The wharf was not built until 1811; before that, slaves were sent by boat to Valongo and jumped directly onto the beach. From 1808, with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, the slave trade nearly doubled, and Rio de Janeiro became an important commercial slave trading post, with Valongo as the main gateway for enslaved people from Angola, East and Central West Africa.
Reader's Guide
The Valongo Wharf is a site of profound historical significance, representing the largest single entry point for enslaved Africans in the Americas during the early 19th century. Its rediscovery in 2011 during excavations for the 2016 Olympic Games unearthed not only the two wharfs—Valongo and Imperatriz, one on top of the other—but also a large number of amulets and worship objects from Congo, Angola, and Mozambique, providing tangible evidence of the cultural heritage of enslaved peoples. The wharf was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List by IPHAN and the city of Rio de Janeiro, and officially designated a World Heritage Site in July 2017. However, as of 2022, the Brazilian Government had yet to erect a memorial at the site and had taken few steps to raise awareness of its importance. In November 2023, Rio de Janeiro commemorated the site with new explanatory signage and a memorial sculpture depicting human figures that collectively form the silhouette of the African continent. The wharf stands as a reminder of the scale of the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil and the enduring legacy of the African diaspora.
Did You Know?
- Between 500,000 and one million enslaved Africans landed at Valongo Wharf between 1811 and 1831.
- In 1843, the wharf was renovated and renamed Cais da Imperatriz for the landing of Princess Teresa Cristina.
- The wharf was rediscovered in 2011 during excavations for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
- A memorial sculpture depicting human figures forming the silhouette of Africa was added in November 2023.
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