Open your eyes and ears to understand what’s going on in front of you: a slave shop! At the end of the 18th century, Valongo Market was established by the viceroy, the Marquis of Lavradio, in order to remove this sad commerce from the center of the city.
“My decision was so that when the slaves were unloaded for customs, they should be sent by boat to a place called Valongo, which is in a suburb of the city, separated from all contact, and so that the many shops and warehouses may be used to house them,” wrote the Marquis.
In 1774, a new law brought the market to Valongo, currently Carmerino Street, regulating the commerce – and, most importantly, removing the sad sight away from the city’s residents and visitors.
The houses were used for human storage. Imagine this: women, children, and boys, famished, were seated on benches or lying on the floor, chained, waiting for buyers. Now imagine that this is normal, and this road is full of life, filled with noble men and women, well-dressed, who have come from all over the state as well as Minas Gerais to buy their servants. No one found it odd. And Valongo Market functioned for over one hundred years!
Brazil was the last country to abolish slavery in 1888.