Little Africa tour in Rio de Janeiro
Lots of people go to Rio de Janeiro to see beaches, Sugarloaf and the Christ statue. If you love History and want to have other kinds of experience in this city you should try the Little Africa tour.
In April 2019 I went to this tour with the Sou mais Carioca Company. Our guide was Gabriela Palma.
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The tour begins in front of the Rio Art Museum and then the tourists walk by Mauá square, Gamboa and Saúde neighborhoods. During the tour the guides spoke about the african influence in the brazilian culture.
Why is that area called Little Africa? In the past when Brazil was part of Portugal it was common to see lots of black people in that region. Some portugueses people used to say that they felt like they were in Africa.
The guides told sad facts about the slavery but they let the tourists know black people used to resist in different ways during the centuries.
I am not going to say everything I heard because you need to have your own experience. One of the first stops was in Conceição hill. Centuries ago it was a city frontier and rich people used to live there.
In the Saúde neighborhood the guides talked about some strategies of resistance of black people. Zungu was a kind of house that black people used to help themselves. It was a place that they used to celebrate according their cultural origins and share food for example.
The Stone of Salt was a place where people used to go to trade different products for salt. Today it is a place where samba parties happen every week.
One of the most important stops of the tour is the Archaeological Cais do Valongo site. It was a place of landing and trading of black slaves. The site’s remains was discovered during the renovations for the 2016 Olympics. In 2017, the site was awarded the title of World Heritage by UNESCO for being the only material vestige of the arrival of African peoples in the Americas.
It is a unique memorial, containing the last remaining vestiges of the slaves’ arrival (Milton Guran, anthropologist).
Archaeological Cais do Valongo siteThe tour finishes at the Etnias mural. The artist Eduardo Kobra used the image of a people to represent each continent.
Do you want to try it? This tour costs about 20 reais and it takes about 2h30min. The agenda is available on the Sou mais Carioca website. This tour is also available in English!
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The activities carried out were offered by Sou mais carioca. It is worth mentioning that all content expresses our real opinions.
Find free tours in Rio de Janeiro:
- Historic Center and Lapa free tour
- Santa Teresa free tour
- Copacabana and Ipanema free tour
- Free tour of African heritage + samba in Pedra do Sal
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