Cortiço

Cortiço, or gueto (Portuguese language for "beehive" and "ghetto" respectively), is a common Portuguese term used in Brazil and Portugal for an area of concentrated, high density urban housing where people live with poor sanitation and hygiene conditions. Cortiço houses are typically divided into small rooms that are rented. Cortiços exist in large cities such as São Paulo,Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Recife. They originated in São Paulo, Brazil, during the late 1700s, and continue to exist in contemporary times in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Less common today, most cortiços are old buildings in the central, older parts of the cities.

Cortiços are typically large houses with interiors that have been divided into very small rooms for rent, typically with very little or no privacy. Cortiço residents are typically families who share a single room, with access to a shared bathroom and shared kitchen. Some units have a bathroom and/or kitchen in the room. Cortiços are not the same as favelas, which are entire communities of housing that are typically built independently and occupied by their owners.

Cortiços originated in São Paulo, Brazil, during the late 18th century, developed by primarily Italian immigrants.

The term was made popular by Brazilian writer Aluísio de Azevedo in 1890 with the book O Cortiço, a 19th-century Realist/Naturalist novel. The book portrayed aspects of poverty in urban society during the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio de Janeiro during the 1890s, cortiços were poorly constructed tenements pieced together and stacked atop one-another, whereby they resembled beehives. During this time, cortiço tenants lived in cramped and crowded conditions, with poor quality water and sanitation facilities. Kitchen areas were shared, and cortiços typically lacked open spaces, an ability to obtain much privacy, ventilation and sunlight. Cortiços were present in downtown areas and near the docks in the central district of the city. It has been estimated that in 1888, cortiços housed around 31,272 of the city's 266,831 total residents, which is approximately 11.72% of the total population. During this time, it has been estimated that cortiços comprised 3.96% of the city's total buildings.

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