Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the
states of
Brazil, the second most populous in the federation. The capital is the city of
Belo Horizonte, in the center of the state.
Location
\nThis Brazilian state is in the west of the southeastern subdivision of Brazil, which also contains the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro andEspírito Santo. It has as its limits: Bahia and Goiás (N), the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (W), the state of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (S) and the state of Espírito Santo (E).
History
Minas Gerais was formed mainly by colonists who searched for veins of gold and gems, and later diamonds (the name literally means general mines, a shortening from Minas dos Matos Gerais, or mines of the general woods, this being originally the hinterland to the incipient colonies of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga and São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro). These helped to boost occupation of the inner lands, and led to the foundation of several new villages. The first capital and seat of the local see was the city of Mariana; it was later moved to Vila Rica. Mining exploration was strongly controlled by the Portuguese Crown, which imposed heavy taxes on everything extracted (one fifth of all gold would go to the Crown).
A group of middle-class colonists, mostly intellectuals and young officers, tried to start an insurrection against the colonial authorities in 1789, inspired by the independence of the United States and Illuminist ideals. But the conspiracy failed and the rebels were arrested and exiled. The most famous of them, Tiradentes (nickname for Joaquim José da Silva Xavier) was hanged by order of Queen Maria I of Portugal, becoming a local hero and a national martyr of Brazil.
Culture
Minas Gerais is the Profound Brazil by analogy with the France profonde. It has a distinctly more native flavour than cosmopolitan São Paulo, a more traditional slant than flashy Rio de Janeiro, and is more Portuguese than the South and São Paulo with their great influx of Italians and other Central Europeans, the North with their native Indians or Northeast with Africans and Indians.
The people is considered reserved, prudent, relatively silent to the point of melancholy, but welcoming and family focused. Legend has them divided between misers and benemerits, mostly misers. It is one of the most religious states, with a big proportion of staunch Romanists and a burgeoning Evangelical and neo-Pentecostal population, with pockets of African magic religions.
Geography
The South and East of Minas Gerais is hilly and green, with coffee and milk production; the East is savannas with great free-wheeling cattle farms for meat; North is a region of frequent droughts, with a impoverished population remaining from workers at now exhausted diamond mines; the Center is hilly but not green for the hills are rocky, some of them being integrally iron ore and some having rich veins of gold and other minerals.
The city of Vila Rica was lately renamed to Ouro Preto and remained as capital until the construction of the all-new, planned city of Belo Horizonte.
Economy
Minas Gerais (or simply Minas, as it is commonly called) is a major producer of milk, coffee and other rural commodities, as well as minerals. Electronics are also produced in Minas, and a Fiat factory is located there.
Cities
See List of cities in Minas Gerais.
External Link
\n* Descubra Minas
\nCategory:Brazil\n
