Uruguay - Caserío de los Negros (Hamlet of Blacks)

In 1787 the Town Council of Montevideo ordered the building of a quarantine place for the slaves arriving from Africa. Until 1811 it operated as a place to deposit, brand, fatten, sell and bury around 70.000 victims of the slave trade. At that time, Montevideo was the main port of entry of slaves to the Southern Cone. “... [The] establishment, in which the blacks imported by the company of Philippines were deposited in quarantine, occupied one block of walled terrain, having at the centre five buildings, two large warehouses, kitchens, etc., with thatched roofs. For a long time and until the beginning of this century, it served as deposit for the poor blacks condemned to slavery.”, narrated historian Isidoro De María in the 19th century.

The Caserío de los Negros was built as a site for quarantine of the blacks brought by the Royal Company of Philippines in 1788-1789 and continued functioning for this and other uses up until the revolutionary process and war in Río de la Plata (around 1810) resulted in the end of the large scale slave trade of the colonial regime.

On December 2, 2002 Plaza Senzala was inaugurated in the intersection of Solis Grande and Pasaje Rossi Streets, between Coraceros and Pasaje Denis Streets. The name derives from the Portuguese name of the rooms for slaves in Brazilian plantations, and it became popular during the 20th century through the book Casa Grande e Senzala by Gilberto Freire. The Plaza, in the area of the former premises of the hamlet, is today a memory site of slavery and the subsequent liberation of the slave population.

There are no material remains visible at first sight, therefore, there is no certainty as to the exact location. Based on the archaeological findings from the prospecting made by Elizabeth Onega and Carmen Curbelo, the Commission of Cultural Heritage of the Nation declared National Historic Monument the plots with municipal registration papers N° 56.466, 56.467 and 110.225 of the premises of the alcohol factory of ANCAP. Later on, based on cartographic analysis and the evidences of vestiges another location was proposed, in the present premises of School Nº 47, of the Capurro neighbourhood, demarcated by Capurro Avenue, Juan María Gutierrez St. and Baltasar Brum boulevard. As a result the declaration of National Historic Monument of the “Caserío de los Negros” was extended to registered plot N° 56.536, in the understanding that it was a territorial space that comprised “several buildings to quarantine the enslaved people, as well as the surrounding space on the La Plata River and the Miguelete stream, which were used to lodge, cure, bury and sell the slaves”[1].

[1] Extract from Resolution N° 579/013

Plot N°56536 belongs today to a public school. A public contest will be announced for the establishment of a memorial with a double symbology: to recall the barbarity of slavery and to acknowledge the contribution of the black race to Uruguayan identity. Plots N° 56.466, 56.467 and 110.225 belong to an alcohol producing plant in ANCAP.
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Other data of interest

Uruguay

Historical name

Casa de los Filipinos, Caserío de Filipinas (House of the Philippine, hamlet of Philippines)

Founding Date

1788-1789

Address

Predio actual de la Escuela Nº 47, del barrio Capurro, delimitado por avenida Capurro, Juan María Gutiérrez y rambla Baltasar Brum (Present premises of School Nº 47, of the Capurro neighbourhood, demarcated by Capurro Avenue, Juan María Gutierrez St. and Baltasar Brum boulevard).

Classification

Site

Function-Testimony

Burial place Settlement Place of confinement Slave market

Access level

Restricted

Current Use

- The plot N° 56.536 belongs at present to School N° 47 and to the Kindergarten of Capurro N° 237, both public -The plots N° 56.466, 56.467 and 110225 belong to an alcohol refinery property of ANCAP[1] [1] ANCAP: National Administration of Fuels, Alcohol and Portland

Original use

The Caserío de los Negros was built as a site for quarantine of the blacks brought by the Royal Company of Philippines in 1788-1789.

Property kind

State

Declarations

Identified as Memory Site of Uruguay in the framework of the project “The Slave Route in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay”
Declaration of Historic Monument for the architectural remains and vestiges that form the so called "Caserío de los Negros", plots N° 56466, N° 56467 and N°110225, located in ANCAP’s alcohol plant, in the area of Capurro 22 March 2007 by Resolution 271/2007.
Extension of the declaration of National Historic Monument re: “Caserío de los Negros", incorporating plot N° 56536 (premises of School N° 47 Washington Betrán - Romildo Risso and the Kindergarten N° 237 of Capurro) 12 September 2013 by Resolution N° 579/013