Alpinópolis
Encyclopedia
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
. As of 2007, its population was 17,821 people and its area was of 458 km². The city is located in the Southwestern (Sudoeste Mineiro) region of Minas Gerais and the micro-region of Passos
Passos
-People:* Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos* John Dos Passos* Márcio Emerson Passos de Albuquerque, a Brazilian footballer* Rosa Passos* Vítor Hugo Gomes Passos, a Portuguese footballer-Brazil:* Passos, Minas Gerais, a municipality in the State of Minas Gerais...
. It became a municipality in 1938.
Name and History
Founded as the village of São Sebastião da Ventania, it had its name later shortened to Ventania. In 1914, the name was officially changed to the current one: Alpinopolis.Curiously, after so many years, Ventania still is the name used by its inhabitants.
Location
The city center of Alpinópolis is located at an elevation of 700 meters southeast of PassosPassos
-People:* Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos* John Dos Passos* Márcio Emerson Passos de Albuquerque, a Brazilian footballer* Rosa Passos* Vítor Hugo Gomes Passos, a Portuguese footballer-Brazil:* Passos, Minas Gerais, a municipality in the State of Minas Gerais...
and west of the Furnas reservoir. Neighboring municipalities are: São José da Barra
São José da Barra
São José da Barra is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 6,701 people living in a total area of 312 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the micro-region of Passos. It became a...
(N), Carmo do Rio Claro
Carmo do Rio Claro
Carmo do Rio Claro is a city and municipality located in the south-west of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The distance to the state capital, Belo Horizonte is 374 km....
(E), Nova Resende
Nova Resende
Nova Resende is a town and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil.-References:...
and Bom Jesus da Penha
Bom Jesus da Penha
Bom Jesus da Penha is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 3,787 people living in a total area of 209 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the micro-region of Passos...
(S), and Passos
Passos
-People:* Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos* John Dos Passos* Márcio Emerson Passos de Albuquerque, a Brazilian footballer* Rosa Passos* Vítor Hugo Gomes Passos, a Portuguese footballer-Brazil:* Passos, Minas Gerais, a municipality in the State of Minas Gerais...
(W).
Distances
- Belo HorizonteBelo HorizonteBelo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
: 332 km - PassosPassos-People:* Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos* John Dos Passos* Márcio Emerson Passos de Albuquerque, a Brazilian footballer* Rosa Passos* Vítor Hugo Gomes Passos, a Portuguese footballer-Brazil:* Passos, Minas Gerais, a municipality in the State of Minas Gerais...
: 43 km (north on MG-446 for 17 km, then west on MG-050 for 26 km)
Economic activities
The economy is diversified with corn, high-quality coffee, beans, soybeans, semi-precious stones, dairy products, a feed factory, and manufacture of sweets being some of the main products. While coffee and milk were the main products for many years nowadays one of the main products of the local economy is the extraction and commercialization of quartz. Small and medium sized properties predominate in the municipality, which contribute for a better distribution of income.In 2005 there were 48 extractive industries employing 361 workers, 77 transformation industries employing 251 workers, and 360 retail units employing 768 workers. The GDP in 2005 was approximately R$129 million, with 62 million reais from services, 18 million reais from industry, and 41 million reais from agriculture. There were 861 rural producers on 29,000 hectares of land. 212 farms had tractors (2006). Approximately 6000 persons were occupied in agriculture. The main crops are rice, beans, and corn. There were 20,000 head of cattle, of which 10,000 were milk cows (2006).
There were 3 banks (2010). In the vehicle fleet there were 3,641 automobiles, 358 trucks, 298 pickup trucks, 23 buses, and 882 motorcycles (2007).
Health and education
In the health sector there were 15 health establishments: 9 public and 6 private. There were 4 general health clinics and 5 specialized. There was one hospital with 30 beds (2005). Patients with more serious health conditions are transported to neighboring cities, such as PassosPassos
-People:* Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos* John Dos Passos* Márcio Emerson Passos de Albuquerque, a Brazilian footballer* Rosa Passos* Vítor Hugo Gomes Passos, a Portuguese footballer-Brazil:* Passos, Minas Gerais, a municipality in the State of Minas Gerais...
or Ribeirao Preto
Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto is a municipality and city in the Northeastern region of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is nicknamed Brazilian California, because of a combination of an economy based on agrobusiness plus high technology, wealth and sunny weather all year long. With 605,114 inhabitants,...
. Educational needs of their approximately 4,000 students were met by 12 primary schools, 4 middle schools, and 11 pre-primary schools.
Culture
Congadas & Moçambique
Every year end in Alpinopolis is marked by the Congadas or Congo and Moçambique celebration. This cheerful celebration consists of dancers and drum players walking around the city streets, wearing colorful satin costumes. The groups (ternos) use two main colors in their costumes and is led by a capitain, who guides them through the streets of Alpinopolis, where they are joined by groups of curious people. Each day of the celebration ends up in one of the several churches of the city, where all groups join to attend a mass and resume the day activities.It is not clear how this century-old celebration began, but it seems to be a derivation of an African tradition, as the names Congo and Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
suggest. It originally started as a religious related celebration, and over time, it became more of a colorful parade. Originally, the celebration would start months earlier, when religious people -here called reis (kings) or rainhas(queens)- would promise walking around town and attending a mass as thankisgiving for some miracle or grace received that year. Offering a meal (usually dinner) was also part of the thanksgiving ritual. Each group would be entitled to pick up a few people every day and guide them through the streets to the church, where the daily mass would be celebrated. After that, the group would attend the "thanksgiving dinner" offered by those people they guided earlier.
Nowadays, religiosity seems to have become less of the core of the celebration, and it became more of a colorful parade, where men of all ages spend time drinking, dancing and having fun.
Monte das Oliveiras
Idealized by José Iglair Lopes, the Monte das Oliveiras is an ecumenical "biblical park", built for reflection about the bibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in different moments. From the main entrance, where a monument representing the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
tablets stand, the visitors are guided through a series of small monuments representing important moments in Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
's life or crucial parts of the old testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
.
It is currently considered one if the most beautiful and most important tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
in Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, especially during the Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, when it becomes an outdoor stage for reenactment of the passion of Christ.
City Facts
- Municipal Human Development IndexHuman Development IndexThe Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
: 0.779 (2000) - State ranking: 122 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000
- National ranking: 1094 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000
- Literacy rate: 89%
- Life expectancy: 73 (average of males and females)
In 2000 the per capita monthly income of R$239.00 was below the state average of R$276.00 and below the national average of R$297.00. Poços de Caldas
Poços de Caldas
Poços de Caldas is a city and municipality in south-western Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2009 was 151,449 inhabitants...
had the highest per capita monthly income in 2000 with R$435.00. The lowest was Setubinha
Setubinha
Setubinha is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 10,834 in a total area of 536 km². The elevation is 729 metres. It is part of the IBGE statistical microregion of Teófilo Otoni...
with R$73.00.
The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas
Poços de Caldas
Poços de Caldas is a city and municipality in south-western Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2009 was 151,449 inhabitants...
with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha
Setubinha
Setubinha is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 10,834 in a total area of 536 km². The elevation is 729 metres. It is part of the IBGE statistical microregion of Teófilo Otoni...
with 0.568. Nationally the highest was São Caetano do Sul
São Caetano do Sul
São Caetano do Sul is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil, located in the Greater São Paulo Metropolitan Area. It is the city with the highest per capita income in Brazil and it also has the highest Human Development Index .-Geography:São Caetano do Sul is located on a plateau that is part of the...
in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics (considering 5,507 municipalities) Manari in the state of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
has the lowest rating in the country--0,467--putting it in last place.