Liberdade

This guide to Praça da Liberdade in São Paulo opens on the twentieth of September, 1821, when ten thousand people packed the square, shouting a single word as they watched the execution of a Black soldier named Chaguinha, condemned for leading a mutiny over unpaid wages. From that colonial square it jumps nearly a century forward to 1912, when Japanese immigrants priced out of the coffee fields began moving into cheap basement rooms here. You'll hear how that community built the shops and eateries that made these streets known as the Japanese quarter. Best listened to walking slowly along Rua Galvão Bueno, where the two eras sit side by side.