Rio De Janeiro Favela Map

Map and Tour of Rio De Janeiro Favelas

The second-largest city in Brazil and one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, is also home to hundreds of Rio de Janeiro favelas. These communities, often referred to as slums, have for long been part of the city’s history and culture.

During the late 1800s, people who were previously slaves and those migrating from rural areas started to come to the city to find employment. Some of them were forced out of the central parts of the city. During that time, soldiers were also looking for a place to live. Due to the scarcity of affordable housing, many had to settle in the hills around the outskirts of Rio, which led to the formation of the initial favelas.

The Rio de Janeiro favelas, previously referred to as “cortiços”, have grown in size and complexity over the years, primarily due to factors such as rural exodus, industrialization, and urbanization, as the favelas eventually became too large to ignore by the mid-20th century. Despite the military dictatorship’s attempt to eradicate favelas in the 1970s, they still exist today due to the lack of affordable housing within city limits.

Over time, the favelas in Rio de Janeiro have developed into a hub of the city’s culture, encompassing a range of activities from based around the city’s pop culture, art, and urban music genres like Brazilian funk and hip-hop, to the criminal underworld of gangs, drug dealing, and violence. Despite this, they can also be the most vibrant, lively, and culturally rich areas within the city.

The hundreds of Rio De Janeiro favelas have become a significant in the city’s cultural landscape. Some of the well-known favelas, highlighted in the Rio de Janeiro favela map, include areas like Rocinha, Cidade de Deus, Complexo do Alemão, Vila Aliança, and Vigário Geral. There many others located across the city’s four zones, including the communities in the neighboring cities, like Niterói, of the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan.