Rade de Rio-de-Janeiro

Steel engraving showing the entrance to Guanabara Bay in Brazil.

This lovely view of Rio de Janiero’s famous harbor shows the bustling imperial Brazilian city in the second half of the 1830’s, about a decade after attaining formal indepdence from Portugal. Numerous buildings are depicted, dominated by church steeples. The distinctive peak of Sugarloaf Mountain can be seen on the left, and the foreground contains a variety of sailing ships, fishing boats, and pleasure craft.

Of note is a boat rowed by black oarsmen in which a white passenger can be seen sitting comfortably under a canopy. The slave trade was booming in Rio de Janiero at the time of publication and wouldn’t be abolished in Brazil until 1888 – the last country in the western world to do so. Published in Paris in 1836 for inclusion in “Voyage pittoresque dans le deux Ameriques…” by Alcide Dessalines D’Orbigny.