In 1893 the very first favela-like community was demolished - Cabeça de Porco (Pig's Head), displacing 2,000 people - to this day the term  'Cabeça de Porco' is a derogatory term used to describe a particularly unhealthy collective housing situation.

Following this, the government began to re-organize the urban aristocratic centre of the city - In 1897, the favelas of providência(Providence) and Santo Antônio (Saint Anthony) emerged in the region.

Morro de Providência is generally referred to as the first ever 'favela' - It was  originally used as a temporary settlement by many veterans of the Canudos War who had been promised housing and employment by the government following the war.