Pedras de Maria da Cruz
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...
in Brazil
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...
. As of 2007 the population was 10,976 in an area of 1,520 km². The elevation of the municipal seat is 476 meters. It became a municipality in 1993. The postal code (CEP) is 39492-000 and it belonged to the statistical microregion of Januária
Januária
Januária, known as "The Queen of the Beautiful Waters" is a city and municipality in northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located on the left bank of the São Francisco River...
Pedras de Maria da Cruz is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River
São Francisco River
The São Francisco is a river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil...
. It is connected Januária
Januária
Januária, known as "The Queen of the Beautiful Waters" is a city and municipality in northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located on the left bank of the São Francisco River...
by paved BR-135. The distance is 20 km.
The economy is based on agriculture with emphasis on cattle raising. There were 51,000 head in 2006. The main agricultural crops were pineapple, sugarcane, bananas, mangoes, coconuts, and corn. The GDP was R$27,897,000 in 2005. Irrigation from the São Francisco River allows for production of tropical fruits.
This municipality is extremely isolated from major population centers and suffers from drought and poor soils. It is one of the poorest in the state and in the country. Like many impoverished districts it fought for municipal autonomy to apply for government assistance programs.
- 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...
: .644 (2000) - State ranking: 782 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000
- National ranking: 4,044 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000
- Health clinics: 3
See also
- List of municipalities in Minas Gerais