Place:Minas Gerais, Brazil

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Minas Gerais is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte, is a major urban and finance center in Latin America, and the sixth largest municipality in Brazil, after the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília and Fortaleza, but its metropolitan area is the third largest in Brazil with just over 5,800,000 inhabitants, after those of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Nine Brazilian presidents were born in Minas Gerais, the most of any state. The state has 10.1% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 8.7% of the Brazilian GDP.

With an area of —larger than Metropolitan France—it is the fourth most extensive state in Brazil. The main producer of coffee and milk in the country, Minas Gerais is known for its heritage of architecture and colonial art in historical cities such as São João del-Rei, Congonhas, Ouro Preto, Diamantina, Tiradentes, Mariana, Sabará and Serro. In the south, the tourist points are the hydro mineral spas, such as Caxambu, Lambari, São Lourenço, Poços de Caldas, São Thomé das Letras, Monte Verde (a district of the municipality of Camanducaia) and the national parks of Caparaó and Canastra. The landscape of the state is marked by mountains, valleys, and large areas of fertile lands. In the Serra do Cipó, Sete Lagoas, Cordisburgo and Lagoa Santa, the caves and waterfalls are the attractions. Some of Brazil's most famous caverns are located there.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Indigenous inhabitation

The region where Minas Gerais is today was inhabited by indigenous peoples as long ago as 11,400 to 12,000 years ago, based on the estimated age of Luzia, the name of the oldest human fossil found in the Americas. Luzia was found in excavations in Lapa Vermelha, a cave in the region of Lagoa Santa and Pedro Leopoldo, in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. In the region of the municipalities of Januária, Montalvânia, Itacarambi and Juvenília, in the north of the state of Minas Gerais, archaeological excavations have led to estimates that the initial settlement occurred between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago. Starting in this period, cultural characteristics emerged, such as the use of stone or bone, the creation of cemeteries and small grain silos, as well as cave paintings. Later, about four thousand years ago, it is speculated that vegetable cultivation occurred, in particular corn, and that two thousand years ago, ceramic products were already being manufactured.

The discovery of Luzia in the 1970s led to the hypothesis that the settlement of the Americas was begun with the migration of hunter gatherers from Asia, probably through the Bering Strait, by way of a land bridge called Beringia (which was left by the recession of the sea during the last ice age).^[1][2] The indigenous peoples of Minas Gerais, as well as throughout Brazil and South America, are descendants of the groups who migrated there through North America.

More than a hundred indigenous groups inhabited the state of Minas Gerais. The region was occupied until the 16th century by indigenous peoples of the Macro-Jê such as the Xakriabá, the Maxakali, the Crenaques, the Aranãs, the Mocurins, the Atu-auá-araxás and the Purí. A few decades after Portuguese colonization, however, they became targets of enslavement, and were, for centuries, captured by Bandeirantes to work on their farms or to be sold; those who revolted were subject to genocide. There are currently five groups: the Xakriabá, the Crenaques, the Maxakalis, the Pataxós and the Pankararus.^[3]

Colonial era

In the colonial era, the Brazilian interior was colonized by Portuguese and bandeirantes. The Brazilian gold rush ushered in an influx of new settlers in search of veins of gold (discovered 1693) and gems, and later diamonds which come from the naturally occurring itacolumite rock that can be found in great numbers in the region. These helped to boost occupation of the inner lands and led to the foundation of several new villages. In 1697, the Portuguese used enslaved African labor to start building the Estrada Real, the "royal road," that would connect the ports of cities of Rio de Janeiro and Paraty to the mineral-rich regions of Ouro Preto, Serro, and, at the northernmost point, Diamantina. In 1753 Rosa Egipcíaca was enslaved and forced to work as a prostitute in a mine in the region, until she became ill and began to have religious visions. These visions led to her arrest and imprisonment and ultimately interrogation by the Inquisition. She recorded them in the first book to be written by a black woman in Brazil - Sagrada Teologia do Amor Divino das Almas Peregrinas.

Prior to 1720, Minas Gerais was part of the captaincy of São Vicente (later renamed São Paulo e Minas de Ouro). The first capital of Minas Gerais, and seat of the local see, was the city of Mariana; it was later moved to Vila Rica. In the late 18th century, Vila Rica was the largest city in Brazil and one of the most populous in the Americas. As the gold mines were exhausted over the 19th century, the city lost its importance; it was later renamed Ouro Preto and remained the state capital until the construction of the all-new, planned city of Belo Horizonte at the turn of the 20th century. The gold cycle left its mark in cities such as Mariana, Ouro Preto, Diamantina, Sabará, Tiradentes and São João del Rei. The relative isolation from European influence, added to the huge influx of gold and other valuable minerals, helped the local people to develop their own style of art, which became known as Barroco Mineiro. Prime examples of this period are the richly decorated churches in the colonial cities. The most important artist of this period was Antônio Francisco Lisboa, who became known as Aleijadinho. His sculptural and architectural work, as exhibited in the Twelve Prophets and The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Ouro Preto, are highly valued by experts as one of the most refined artistic expressions outside Europe at that time.

In addition to art and architecture, there was an explosion of musical activity in Minas Gerais in the 18th century. Printed copies of European music, as well as accomplished musicians, made the journey to the area, and soon a local school of composition and performance was born and achieved considerable sophistication. Several composers worked in Minas Gerais in the 18th century, mainly in Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), Sabará, Mariana, and other cities. Some of the names which have survived include José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita, Marcos Coelho Neto, Francisco Gomes da Rocha and Ignácio Parreiras Neves; they cultivated a style related to the classical European style but marked by more a more chordal, homophonic sound, and they usually wrote for mixed groups of voices and instruments.

Guimarães Rosa's literature is mostly situated in Minas Gerais, with locations widely located across the State (hence the term General, although more concentrated in its north) rather than delimited and identifiable. This northern area began to be colonized (with brutal conflicts with the large Amerindian population who lived in some parts, especially in Vale do Jequitinhonha) and became accessible to colonists departing from Bahia up north, which made the Portuguese crown insert the region within the state of Minas Gerais's borders in order to prevent gold and diamond smuggling from people trying to avoid colonial taxation and oversight; thus the captaincy of Minas Gerais was closely watched by the crown because of its tax revenue.

During the 18th century, 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). Several rebellions were attempted by the colonists, always facing strong reaction by the imperial crown. One of the most important was the that ended with his execution but also with the separation of Minas Gerais from the captaincy São Paulo e Minas de Ouro. The most notable one, however, was the Minas Gerais conspiracy, started in 1789 by a group of middle-class colonists, mostly intellectuals and young officers. They were inspired by the American and French Enlightenment ideals. The conspiracy failed and the rebels were arrested and exiled. The most famous of them, Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (known as Tiradentes), was hanged by order of Queen Maria I of Portugal, becoming a local hero and a national martyr of Brazil. The Minas Gerais flag—a red triangle on a white background, along with the Latin motto "Libertas quæ sera tamen", "freedom albeit late"—is based on the design for the national flag proposed by the "Inconfidentes", as the rebels became known.

In the economic history of Brazil, Minas Gerais plays a pivotal role in shifting the economic axis from the Brazilian northeast (based on sugarcane, that starts declining in the 18th century) to the southeast of the country, which still remains the major economic center. The large amounts of gold found in the region attracted the attention of Portugal back to Brazil, progressively turning Rio de Janeiro into an important port city, from where these would be shipped to Portugal and where the Portuguese crown would eventually move its administration in 1808 after Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Portugal (see Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil).

Due to the economic importance of the state and the particular traits of the local population—famed for its reserved and balanced character—Minas Gerais has also played an important role on national politics. During the 19th century, politicians such as José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva were instrumental in the establishment of the Brazilian Empire under the rule of Dom Pedro I and later his son, Dom Pedro II. After the installation of the First Brazilian Republic, during the early 20th century, Minas Gerais shared the control of the national political scene with São Paulo in what became known as the "Coffee with Milk politics" (coffee being the major product of São Paulo, and milk representing Minas Gerais' dairy industry, despite the latter also being an important coffee producer).

Minas Gerais was also home to two of the most influential Brazilian politicians of the second half of the 20th century. Juscelino Kubitschek was president from 1956 to 1961, and he was responsible for the construction of Brasília as the new capital of Brazil. Tancredo Neves had an extensive political career that culminated with his election in 1984 to be the first civil president after the 1964 military coup. However, he died after a series of health complications just as he was about to assume the position. Also, Itamar Franco, former president of Brazil, lived there, though he was not born in Minas Gerais.

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