The
complexo
do alemão, translatable a 'complex of the german,' is a
very expansive favela grouping, spanning the
neighborhoods of
bonsucesso,
inhaúma,
ramos,
olaria and
penha, in the
zona norte of the city. a
large community covering almost 300 hectares and seventy
thousand inhabitants, it boasts an
iconic cable car and is
currently undergoing severalinitiatives in order to
allow its economic potential to flourish.
Until
the late 1940s the area was a large plot of
farmland, owned by a Polish immigrant who was
mistaken for a German due to his appearance, an error which led to the
current name of the region. In the
1960s there was a big influx of immigrants from the
Northeast of the country, who settled on the land.