ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the social and economic transition driven by the end of the slave traffic (1850) and the abolition of slavery (1888). The port first became the gate of entrance for the machines, which drove Brazilian industrialisation based on import substitution of consumer goods. The port district, in its turn, converted into a reservoir of devalued urban lands to which former slaves and the poor moved, transforming this region into a stronghold of Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions and a hotbed for movements of resistance against social and racial oppression. There, in the port surroundings, known at that time as Little Africa, the first favela appeared in 1897, as well as the first samba song in 1916. Popular rebellions such as the Vaccine Revolt of 1904 and the Lash Naval Mutiny of 1910 were also articulated there. The lack of State assistance and the physical isolation, after new highways literally separated the port district from the ‘legal city’, marked the existence of this area during the 20th century. In the run-up to the World Cup of 2014 and the Olympics of 2016, politicians and investors rediscovered the port, establishing a public–private-partnership to coordinate massive investments in the area.
