Imagine the cries. They echo through the ages at this very site of the mina de escravos. This place bears witness to a dark chapter in Rio de Janeiro’s history.
The mina de escravos stands as a somber reminder of Brazil’s deep involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Between 1500 and 1856 one of every five enslaved people in the world was brought to Rio de Janeiro. The port region around Venezuela and Barão de Teffé avenues was the main point of arrival. It received the horrific shipments of slave ships from Africa.
For many years it was thought that just over a million slaves disembarked in the city. Studies now confirm that the number is much higher. Close to two million slaves arrived in Rio. This conclusion comes from a database by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta. The archive compiles port records going back three and a half centuries.
Before this research the estimate was based on records from the Cais do Valongo wharf between 1758 and 1831. However slaves were unloaded off ships in other sites too. Researchers examined documents referring to slave transportation in eight languages. They looked at dates before and after those 73 years. Now we have a more precise number.
Rio de Janeiro was the main entrance port for the country’s slave ships. 90% of the data for the Southeast region of Brazil applies to Rio. Researchers catalogued 35000 voyages. They documented a flow of 10.7 million slaves worldwide.
Many times there were no records of a slave ship’s arrival in Rio. But its departure from a city was documented in Portugal. Besides Cais do Valongo Copacabana and Botafogo served as disembarkment locations. These were on a smaller scale. According to the research close to 4.8 million slaves arrived in coastal Brazil.
Another grim number is the total lives lost in the trips between continents. Close to 300000 slaves died on their way to Rio. The climax of gold production in Minas Gerias turned Rio into a strategic place. It was used to receive slaves from Africa and send them to the mines. Rio surpassed Bahia in the number of slaves received. No place in Brazil functioned as much as an entrance for slaves as Rio.
The countries that sent the most slaves to Rio were Congo and Angola. In the eighteenth century about 720000 slaves arrived from these origins. After 1780 a large number of slaves were taken to Vale do Paraiba. There the expansion of coffee agriculture began much later. Between 1831 and 1840 some 239000 slaves were brought to Rio. In comparison 186000 went to Cuba.
A law prohibited slave traffic in Brazil. In 1831 900 slaves arrived in the city. A year prior the number was 31000. However after 1832 human trafficking returned to high volume. Between 1835 and 1850 approximately 564000 slaves arrived in Rio illegally.
As you stand here let the weight of history sink in. The mina de escravos serves as a stark reminder of the atrocities of slavery. It also stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.