Quay at the Rio de Janeiro Port
An important center for export and import, the Port of Rio de Janeiro is one of the stages on which Rio's history has played out: it has been the scene of profound transformations taking place in the city.
HarborGeneral Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Persons visiting the Port of Rio de Janeiro
Unedited moving images of the Port of Rio de Janeiro.
In the initial years, the central region of Rio de Janeiro, which was bordered by the Castelo (demolished in the 20th century) and São Bento hills, served as a space for the embarking and disembarking of passengers, in addition to receiving vessels with merchandise from Portugal (the metropole) and other European countries.
In the middle of the 19th century, the area next to the current 15th of November Square (Praça XV) was given priority as a port area.
Cais do PortoGeneral Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Port and Gamboa Quays
The construction of the so-called Port Quay completely erased the last vestiges of the Camboa or Gamboa cove, where the peninsula or tip of Chichorra was located.
Mauá Square today and yesterday: on the left, in the background is the A Noite Building, the first skyscraper in Brazil, inaugurated on September 7, 1929, and where the Rio de Janeiro National Radio station was located. On the right is the square with buildings characteristic of the 19th Century. In common between the past and the present is the monument to industrialist Inrineu Evangelista de Souza, the Baron of Mauá, after whom the square is named.
Largo da Imperatriz (1904) by Augusto MaltaGeneral Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Valongo Quay
The Valongo Quay was the main disembarkation and trade center for enslaved Africans in the Americas. It was operational between 1811 and 1831, the year in which the transatlantic trade in Africans was prohibited.
The exceptional navigability conditions of Guanabara Bay were key to Rio de Janeiro's becoming the capital of the viceroyalty (18th century) and then the kingdom itself with the arrival of the royal family in 1808. Until that point, the region had relied on scattered facilities, such as the piers of the Central Railroad of Brazil, São Cristóvão, Ferreiros Island, and Mauá Square, and the Dom Pedro II Quay.
Monument to the Opening of the Ports
Inaugurated in 1908, on the staircase that links Russel Street to Beira-Mar Avenue, it was designed by French sculptor Eugène Benet during the tenure of Mayor Souza Aguiar. One hundred years earlier, the Opening of the Ports to Friendly Nations (1808) gave rise to the end of the Portuguese trade monopoly in Brazil.
Cais do PortoGeneral Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Works at the Port Quay
In 1890, two decrees authorized the construction of docks, warehouses, and sheltered areas between the Cobras Islands and the Caju Point. In 1903, the Federal Government commissioned improvement and expansion works for the construction of 3,500 meters of quays.
Works at the Port Quay
In the photograph, we see visitors in 1906. Among them is the president of Minas Gerais, João Pinheiro and the then president of Brazil, Afonso Penna, who are witnessing the works at the Rio de Janeiro Port. The first section of the Port was inaugurated on July 20, 1910.
Cais do PortoGeneral Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Administration of the Port Quay
Between 1911 and 1922, the Quay was managed by the Compagnie du Port do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Port Company), and later by the Companhia Brasileira de Exploração de Portos (Brazilian Company for Port Exploration) from 1923 to 1933. On January 16, 1936, the independent federal organ, known as Administração do Porto do Rio (Administration of the Port of Rio) was created.
GAMBOA/ SANTO CRISTO/ SAÚDE (1935)General Archive of Rio de Janeiro City
Map of the Gamboa, Santo Cristo, and Saúde area, 1935
Expanded and consolidated segments of the Port Quay.
General Urbanization Plan, 1938-1940 - Paving
Paving works during the urban intervention period of the Estado Novo (New State)
The Port of Rio de Janeiro seen from above the A Noite Building.
Mayor of Rio de Janeiro
Eduardo Paes
Secretary of State
Eduardo Cavaliere
General Archive of the City of Rio de Janeiro
Rosa Maria Araujo
Documentation Center
Maria Thereza Kahl Fonseca
Curatorship and historical research
Suzane Mayer and Conrado Werneck Pimentel
Editing
Suzane Mayer
Text revision
Pedro Paulo Malta
Interns
Luísa da Costa de Oliveira and Marcelle Araujo Lins
Film digitization
LUPA/UFF - University Laboratory for Audiovisual Preservation
ReferencesDos trapiches ao porto: um estudo sobre a área portuária do Rio de Janeiro.
Sérgio Lamarão
Portos Rio - História e Características
RioTur - Pequena África
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