MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP/Getty Images(RIO DE JANEIRO) — The Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janeiro has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
According to the United Nations’ cultural organization, the old stone wharf is in the former harbour area of the Brazilian city where nearly 1 million African slaves are estimated to have arrived, beginning in 1811.
“The physical site is composed of several archaeological layers, the lowest of which consists of floor pavings in pé de moleque style, attributed to the original Valongo Wharf,” according to a description on UNESCO’s website. “It is the most important physical trace of the arrival of African slaves on the American continent.”
Remains of the wharf were first discovered during excavation work in 2011.
Transatlantic slave trade was banned in 1831, but it continued until slavery was abolished in 1888, according to BBC. Thousands of slaves who did not survive the journey across the Atlantic were buried in a cemetery near the Valongo Wharf from 1770 to 1830, BBC reports.
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