“Little Africa” is the name given to the area stretching from the port district — Saúde, Gamboa and Santo Cristo — to the old Praça Onze. There, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, grew the Black community that gave Rio samba, carnival ranchos and much of its popular culture.
Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans arrived through the Valongo Wharf. After abolition in 1888 many Black families came from Bahia and settled in the tenements and townhouses of the port and the Cidade Nova district.
Among the key figures were the Bahian “aunties” (tias) — women who cooked, led religious houses and opened their homes to parties. The most famous was Tia Ciata — Hilária Batista de Almeida, born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, in 1854, who died in Rio in 1924.
Pixinguinha, Donga, João da Baiana and other musicians gathered at Tia Ciata’s house on Rua Visconde de Itaúna, near Praça Onze. In that backyard, between late 1916 and early 1917, “Pelo Telefone” was born — registered by Donga and considered the first recorded samba.
Today a heritage trail links the landmarks of Little Africa: the Valongo Wharf, Pedra do Sal, Largo do Depósito, the Pretos Novos Cemetery and the Valongo Hanging Garden. Local guides and cultural institutions organize tours.
Tips: do the walk by day, ideally with a specialist guide who can explain each site. End it at a samba circle at Pedra do Sal, if it is a samba night.
Official websites: Circuito da Herança Africana ↗Instituto Pretos Novos ↗