Officially, the pioneer was Morro da Providência, which appeared in 1897 in the center of Rio de Janeiro. But recently, new studies suggest that there were people living in shacks in the city before that. Let’s get to the facts: the occupation of Morro da Providência began when around 10,000 soldiers who had participated in the War of Canudos, in the interior of Bahia, landed in the former capital of the country. In their baggage, a claim: they wanted the government to provide homes for conflict veterans. With no money to create such accommodation, the government would have allowed the construction of several wooden shacks on Morro da Providência, which was behind a barracks. This is the best known version. But some research indicates that the first favela was another cluster of precarious houses, which appeared in 1897, just a few months before Providência. The location of the pioneer favela would be the Santo Antônio hill, also in the center. Studies with documentation from the time reveal that, at the beginning of 1897, there would already be 41 shacks in the place. It is difficult to prove this story because the Santo Antônio hill was destroyed for the construction of the Flamengo embankment, in the 1950s and 1960s. The favela of Providência, on the other hand, still exists today. If the pioneering spirit is debatable, there are few doubts about the origin of the name “favela”. Everything indicates that the first residents of Providência called the place “Morro da Favela” – it was a reference to a hill of the same name that existed in Canudos, covered by a low bush also called “favela”. Over the years, the word has become synonymous with a sad housing reality. According to the IBGE, more than 10 million people live in favelas, spread across one third of Brazilian municipalities.
Cradle of favelas, the city of Rio now has 1.1 million people in precarious housing
1897
Soldiers who had participated in the War of Canudos, in the interior of Bahia, arrived in Rio de Janeiro in search of housing. Having no houses, they began to build shacks — first on Santo Antônio Hill and, soon after, on Providência Hill.
1903
The government of Rio issues a decree that prohibits the construction and repair of tenements, but tolerates the construction of sheds on the hills that do not yet have houses. The law facilitates the growth of favelas on the hills, occupied by the homeless poor population
1947
In the census survey, the government officially recognizes the existence of favelas for the first time. According to the survey, Rio had 119 favelas, home to around 283,000 inhabitants — 14% of the city’s population.
1964
The military dictatorship started tearing down shacks and removing residents from high-value land, especially in the South Zone. Between 1964 and 1974, 80 favelas were destroyed. The 140,000 homeless move to housing projects on the outskirts or create new slums
1980s
With the end of the military dictatorship, the state government encourages policies to legalize the favelas — and they swell again. By the end of the 1980s, an estimated one million people lived in the 545 favelas across the city.
2005
With 1.1 million people living in slums, the government of Rio de Janeiro is betting on the Favela-Bairro program, which carries out urbanization works in more than 100 poor communities. But most of them still have serious infrastructure and violence problems.