Rio's Zona Portuária once received more enslaved Africans than any harbor in the Americas — nearly one million souls passed through Cais do Valongo between 1811 and 1831. The wharf lay buried under landfill for a century until construction crews for the 2016 Olympics unearthed its stone jetty, restoring the site to UNESCO World Heritage status in 2017. Today the district known as Little Africa spans a compact triangle between Praça Mauá and Pedra do Sal, where descendants of those who disembarked have built a living archive of Afro-Brazilian culture. The neighborhood earned its moniker in the early twentieth century when recently freed communities established mutual-aid societies, samba circles, and Candomblé terreiros in the tenements surrounding the docks. Pedra do Sal — a weathered granite outcrop above the port — became the birthplace of samba as we recognize it: informal rodas de samba gathered here each Monday evening, blending Angolan semba rhythms with Brazilian percussion. Donga and Pixinguinha, architects of modern samba, honed their craft on these cobblestones. The rock itself served a utilitarian purpose in colonial centuries — enslaved laborers loaded salt onto ships from this natural loading bay, giving the site its name. Instituto Pretos Novos, a small memorial museum on Rua Pedro Ernesto, occupies the former grounds of a cemetery where an estimated six thousand Africans who perished shortly after arrival were interred between 1769 and 1830. The institute's founders discovered skeletal remains during home renovations in 1996, prompting archaeological excavation and the creation of a research center. Visitors encounter forensic displays documenting mortality rates, cargo manifests, and the physical toll of the Middle Passage. Little Africa tour routes typically depart from Praça XV de Novembro and proceed north through the Saúde neighborhood, pausing at Igreja de Santa Rita — a rococo chapel whose brotherhood included freed Africans — before concluding at Cais do Valongo. The district's revival accelerated after the Porto Maravilha urban renewal project cleared elevated highways and restored colonial streetscapes. Murals by local artists now adorn warehouse façades, and the Museu de Arte do Rio anchors the waterfront cultural corridor. The twice-weekly Little Africa free walking tour schedule allows independent travelers to explore the port zone with guides who interpret the layered archaeology and living traditions of Rio's African diaspora.