Welcome home!
Click on the image to go to the map.
Welcome to Rio de Janeiro... This site is designed with dual purpose. First of all, this site should function well for an actual, physical walking tour of the city for those who find themselves in Rio de Janeiro. Secondly, this site is designed for those who will never set foot in this city, but wish to know more about the histories of Africans around the world.
Click on the image at the right to go to the Google Map of the tour, where you will find each spot marked and labelled. Then click through the tabs on this website to learn a bit about why each site is significant to African and Afro-Brazilian history. I designed this website to be a resource and a works-in-progress, so as I add more locations and more information, don't be surprised if the site and the map don't match up exactly.
The site was built in English, but each page has two buttons at the top, one for French and one for Portuguese. I'd like to thank Gabriel Modesto Machado and Apatou Minger for providing the translations to the texts. All of the texts were written by me and all of the photos were either downloaded from the internet or snapped by me, except where otherwise noted. If you have any issues with photos usage or credits, please just let me know. My native language is English, but I live in Brazil and speak Portuguese, so feel free to contact me in either language. However, please note that I don't speak, read or write French. Apatou's offer to translate the site was a personal gift to make the information more accessible to more people.
Click on the image at the right to go to the Google Map of the tour, where you will find each spot marked and labelled. Then click through the tabs on this website to learn a bit about why each site is significant to African and Afro-Brazilian history. I designed this website to be a resource and a works-in-progress, so as I add more locations and more information, don't be surprised if the site and the map don't match up exactly.
The site was built in English, but each page has two buttons at the top, one for French and one for Portuguese. I'd like to thank Gabriel Modesto Machado and Apatou Minger for providing the translations to the texts. All of the texts were written by me and all of the photos were either downloaded from the internet or snapped by me, except where otherwise noted. If you have any issues with photos usage or credits, please just let me know. My native language is English, but I live in Brazil and speak Portuguese, so feel free to contact me in either language. However, please note that I don't speak, read or write French. Apatou's offer to translate the site was a personal gift to make the information more accessible to more people.
Click to enlarge.
Before embarking on this tour through this site, it's important to talk about some words and to understand the difference between designations of "color", of "race", and of "ethnicity". You'll notice that I use both African and Afro-Brazilian, and at other times, I use the word Black. Racial systems refer to large groups and the definitions of the edges of those groups is different in different places. Most people understand or have heard of the One Drop Rule, as it applies in the United States, for example. Brazil, on the other hand, does not designate "race" in the same way. Color refers to one's skin, and color systems are those which privilege lighter skinned people over darker skinned people, so a person who is "lighter skinned" might be considered "Black" in the US, but not so in the Brazlilian "color" system. Ethnicity, then, refers to the local culture of a group of people, for example, native language, religion, foods, clothing styles, etc. All three of these categories are also temporal, local and in flux. Yes, it gets a bit confusing! For the purposes of this site, "African" refers to a Black person born in Africa, of any ethnicity (Bantu, Yoruba, Haussa, Nago...) brought to Brazil in captivity, against his/her will. "Afro-Brazilian" refers to any one of their descendents, born in Brazil.
What you will not find here are investigations into Carnaval, samba, capoeira, or Chica da Silva. These Afro-Brazilian icons are already both well documented and well mythologized. You can find that information (and sort fact from fiction) easily elsewhere.
What you will not find here are investigations into Carnaval, samba, capoeira, or Chica da Silva. These Afro-Brazilian icons are already both well documented and well mythologized. You can find that information (and sort fact from fiction) easily elsewhere.
Map of Rio de Janeiro, 1555.
Finally, while this site emphasizes the period of history of the Atlantic Slave Trade, it's also of the utmost importance to remember that before that moment, there were already Africans in Brazil (and throughout the Americas) and that during this period, there were also both Africans and Afro-Brazilians who were not enslaved. The Atlantic Slave Trade was a moment in Colonial New World American history, not the beginning of African history in the Americas! In fact, there were rather high percentages of Black people in Brazil centuries before the codification of Racial Systems and White Supremacy... in other words, there were "Black" people here long before there were "Black" people, as people carried ethnic identities long before the invention of racial categories and color systems.
So... good luck, have fun, be outraged, cry, dance, celebrate, ...all the while listening carefully to the songs of The Ancestors emanating from the fissures of your heart as it breaks into another million pieces.... and, then, with their Blessings and by their Grace, carry on the work...
So... good luck, have fun, be outraged, cry, dance, celebrate, ...all the while listening carefully to the songs of The Ancestors emanating from the fissures of your heart as it breaks into another million pieces.... and, then, with their Blessings and by their Grace, carry on the work...