Itabira
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian municipal district
Municipal district
A municipal district is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly referring to a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them....
and one of the main cities of the state of 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...
. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Itabira.
The first settlements date to the early eighteenth century, when the village of Itabira do Mato Dentro was founded by explorers seeking gold. The city obtained its political emancipation on 9 October 1848, through the Provincial Law no. 374.
It is currently the twenty-fourth largest city of the state in population, with 107,721 inhabitants (IBGE
IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
, 2006). It is known as the "Capital of Poetry", birthplace of Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Carlos Drummond de Andrade was perhaps the most influential Brazilian poet of the 20th century. He has become something of a national poet; his poem "Canção Amiga" was printed on the 50 cruzados note...
, city of the Circuit of the Gold and of the Estrada Real
Estrada Real
The Estrada Real is a colonial-era road in Brazil. Portuguese colonists of Brazil and their African slaves began building the Estrada Real in 1697 shortly after gold, diamonds, and other precious minerals were discovered in the state of Minas Gerais. The purpose of the road was to facilitate the...
(King's Road or Royal Road).
The area which Itabira is located is one of the most important culturally and economically of Minas Gerais and of Brazil, possessing an important historical collection for the construction of the history of the Brazilian people.
It is located in the Southeast area, in the heart of Minas Gerais, at 104 kilometers of Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Belo 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...
, 697 kilometers of the city of São Paulo, 545 kilometers of the Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, 845 kilometers of the federal capital Brasília
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
and 510 kilometers of Vitória. The highest point of the city is to 1.672 meters above sea level (see Alto da Mutuca).
Itabira is the main city in its area and suffers with air pollution caused by the extraction of iron ore, main economical branch of it since the creation of the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
Vale S.A. Vale S.A. Vale S.A. (BM&F Bovespa: / , / , / , / , is an Brazilian diversified mining multinational corporation and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. In addition to being the second-largest mining company in the world, Vale is also the largest producer of iron ore,...
in 1942, by President Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
. Today, it is the second largest mining company in the world, and great part of its production comes from the mines of Itabira.
Itabira is also composed by the 2 districts of Ipoema and Senhora do Carmo, and the main access for smaller cities, such as: Jaboticatubas
Jaboticatubas
Jaboticatubas is a town and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil.-References:...
, Santa Maria de Itabira
Santa Maria de Itabira
Santa Maria de Itabira is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Itabira.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
, Itambé do Mato Dentro
Itambé do Mato Dentro
Itambé do Mato Dentro is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Conceição do Mato Dentro.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
and Nova Era
Nova Era
Nova Era is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Itabira.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
. The closest international airport is the Tancredo Neves International Airport
Tancredo Neves International Airport
Tancredo Neves International Airport , formerly called Confins International Airport, is the main airport serving Belo Horizonte, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of Confins...
(Confins), that also serves Belo Horizonte and great part of the state of Minas Gerais.