Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Valongo Wharf - Brazil

Most of the WHS around the world fill us with pride and admiration but with some it is impossible not to feel shame, embarrassment and guilt. Those places remind us some dark periods of History. However we can't delete History but we can do our best so that those dark events won't happen again.
Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janeiro is certainly one of those places. This was the main port of entry for enslaved Africans in Brazil and the Americas. The site was classified as a World Heritage Site in 2017 and this card was still missing in my collection. I got it thanks to Sílvia.

Foto: António Carlos Correa

The wharf started being built in 1811 to facilitate the debarkation of enslaved Africans arriving in Brazil. It is estimated that up to 900,000 African captives entered the Americas via Valongo.
In physical terms the property consists of several archaeological layers. The lowest of these with floor pavings in foot de tomboy style represents the remains of the Valongo Wharf. Later, more dominant layers report to the Empress' Wharf, constructed in 1843. The property's characteristic is that it is a beach that was covered with extensive paving made of hewn stones of different sizes, forms and functions, with a ramp and steps leading down to the sea. It was built in an apparently simple process, not on a landfill, as it was customary, but directly on the sand of the beach, following its natural contours.
Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site is the globally most significant remains of a landing point of enslaved Africans in the Americas and therefore carries enormous historical as well as spiritual importance to African Americans. Valongo Wharf can therefore be seen as unique and exceptional both from a material point of view and with regard to the spiritual associations to which it is tangibly related. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

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