Favela is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had lived under the favela trees in Bahia and had nowhere to live following the Canudos War. Some of the last settlements were called bairros africanos. Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs.
Rocinha is the largest hill favela in Rio de Janeiro (as well as in Brazil and the second largest slum and shanty town in Latin America). Although favelas are found in urban areas throughout Brazil, many of the more famous ones exist in Rio.
Rio's Santa Teresa neighborhood features favelas (right) contrasted with more affluent houses (left). The Christ the Redeemer, shrouded in clouds, is in the left background.
Then U.S. president Barack Obama visiting Rio's Cidade de Deus (City of God) favela. This favela started out as public housing built on marshy flatlands in the city's western suburbs.
The lights of Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro as seen from Ipanema and Leblon beaches. The cone spire to the far right is part of the Morro Dois Irmãos.
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people. Although slums are usually located in urban areas, in some countries they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated.
Image: Kibera Slum panoramio
Image: Jakarta slumlife 9
Image: Khayelitsha, Baden Powell Drive (South Africa)
Image: Favelas 4