|
Favela is a term commonly used in Brazil to describe squatter areas such as shanty towns and slums. The term 'favela' was coined after the Morro de Favela hillside in Rio de Janeiro where freed slaves first established a squatter community in the 1890s.
The favela is fundamentally different from inner-city slums and tenements, due to both how they are created and their locations. However, due to the disparate distribution of wealth in Brazil, the term favela is widely used to refer to both shanty towns and slums.
Shanty towns are units of irregular self-constructed housing built on terrain seized and occupied illegally, usually on lands belonging to third parties, most often located in the urban periphery. Residences are built without license, with little or no sanitation. Inside the favela there is often an almost total absence of numbered streets, sanitation networks, electricity, telephone service, or plumbing.
These areas of irregular and poor quality housing are often crowded onto hillsides. Accidents, mainly caused by heavy rainfall, are frequent in such areas. Favelas are often troubled by drug-related crime and gang warfare. Rumor has it that common social codes in favelas forbid residents from engaging in criminal activity while inside their own favela. Favelas are often considered a disgrace to the country they exist in.
The first favelas were founded in the late 1890s by freed slaves who were forced to serve in the army and then denied places to live when they returned to the (then) capital Rio. During Brazil's rural exodus period in the 1960s, where many people from the rural areas came to Rio (then the Capital of Brazil) looking for work. When these immigrants found that they could not sustain a decent quality of life in the developed cities, even if they had a permanent job, they were forced to live in the favelas, tripling the number of favelas and the the number of people living as squatters in Rio rose almost 500 percent.
Most people that live in favelas, also called "favelados", are very poor, with some living below the poverty line. Often they live on less than US$100 per month. Brazil's favelas can be seen as a consequence of the highly disparate distribution of wealth in the country.
The most famous favelas are those in and around Rio de Janeiro, where they provide a sharp juxtaposition of poverty and wealth when considered side-by-side with the luxurious apartment buildings and mansions of Rio's elite. Almost all the hills in Rio are plastered with favelas. In 2004, it has been estimated that 30% of Rio´s population lives inside a favela. São Paulo also has a great number of favelas.
The 2002 film City of God placed a spotlight on favelas, chronicling the cycle of poverty, violence, and despair in a Rio de Janeiro slum.
See also
External links - Pousada Favelinha (http://favelinha.com), A project which enables visitors to stay safely inside a favela in Rio.
- Squattercity (http://squattercity.blogspot.com), a blog manned by a writer who spent time in Rocinha, the largest and most urbanized favela in Rio de Janeiro, plus other squatter communities around the world.
| 
Feeds |
Contact