Valongo Wharf was constructed in 1811 by the General Police Steward to attend to the decision of the Viceroy, the Marquês de Lavradio, made in 1779. The objective was to remove from Direita Street, today known as Primeiro de Março, the unloading and sale of African slaves, something that did not sit well so near the middle of the city and so close to the government buildings.
The Wharf, the largest slave trading port in the Americas, was deactivated as a slave offloading area in 1831, when the transatlantic slave trade was prohibited due to pressure from England – known as the “law to show the English,” as the slave ships continued to offload in other Rio de Janeiro beaches. In the meantime, it received 700-thousand slaves.
In 1843, the Wharf was remodeled to receive the Princess of the Two Sicilies, Teresa Cristina Maria de Bourbon, fiancée of Emperor Dom Pedro II, and was henceforth called the Empress Wharf.
The Porto Maravilha re-urbanization project, in 2011, allowed for the retrieval of the archeological site, which became an open monument due to the demands of the Black Movement.