favela

thumb|upright=1.5|Rocinha is the largest hill favela in [[Rio de Janeiro (as well as in Brazil and the second largest slum and shanty town in Latin America). Although favelas are found in urban areas throughout Brazil, many of the more famous ones exist in Rio.]] thumb|upright=1.5|Rio's Santa Teresa (Rio de Janeiro)|Santa Teresa neighborhood features favelas (right) contrasted with more affluent houses (left). The statue Christ the Redeemer, shrouded in clouds, is in the left background.

Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had lived under the favela trees in Bahia and had nowhere to live following the Canudos War. Some of the last settlements were called bairros africanos (African neighborhoods). Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs.