Rocinha facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rocinha
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Neighborhood
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 Rocinha
Location in Rio de Janeiro
Rocinha
Location in Brazil
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| Country |  Brazil |
| State | Rio de Janeiro (RJ) |
| Municipality/City | Rio de Janeiro |
| Zone | South Zone |
| Administrative Region | Rocinha |
| Area | |
| • Total | 143.72 ha (355.14 acre) |
| Population
(2017)
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| • Total | 69,356 (2,010 census) |
Rocinha ( little farm) is the largest favela in Brazil, located in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone between the districts of São Conrado and Gávea. Rocinha is built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio de Janeiro, and is located about one kilometre from a nearby beach. Most of the favela is on a very steep hill, with many trees surrounding it. Around 180,000 people live in Rocinha, making it the most populous favela in Brazil.
Although Rocinha is officially classified as a neighbourhood, many still refer to it as a favela. It developed from a shanty town into an urbanized slum. Today, almost all the houses in Rocinha are made from concrete and brick. Some buildings are three and four storeys tall and almost all houses have basic sanitation, plumbing and electricity. Compared to simple shanty towns or slums, Rocinha has a better developed infrastructure and hundreds of businesses such as banks, medicine stores, bus routes, cable television, including locally based channel TV ROC (TV Rocinha), and, at one time, a McDonald's franchise. These factors help classify Rocinha as a favela bairro, or favela neighborhood.
Community
There are a number of community organizations at work in Rocinha, including neighbourhood associations and numerous NGOs and non-profit educational and cultural institutions. Rocinha is home to most of the service workers in Zona Sul (the South Zone of Rio).
In recent years, due to its relative safety in comparison to other favelas, Rocinha has developed tourism-oriented activities such as hostels, nightclubs and guided tours. In September 2017, between 150 and 600 tourists were estimated to visit the slum per day, despite foreign governments' and the Rio police's safety warnings recommending against it. In October 2017, a Spanish tourist died after being shot by the police while visiting Rocinha during a turf war.
In mass media and popular culture
Many celebrities have visited Rocinha, including Mikhail Gorbachev (during the Earth Summit of 1992) and actor Christopher Lambert. Some episodes of the Brazilian television series Cidade dos Homens (City of Men) were filmed there.
See also
In Spanish: Rocinha para niños
