Capitólio

History

Farms began to spread through the area then called Mata do Rio Piumhi during the early nineteenth century. Around 1830, the brothers João Francisco, Manoel Francisco, and Antônio Francisco settled near the site of the present town. Houses gathered around their properties, and the settlement became known as Arraial dos Franciscos. State Law No. 336 separated Capitólio from Piumhi and created the municipality on 27 December 1948. The new administrative division took effect on 1 January 1949. The reservoir and the Capitólio Dike changed the waterways near the town. A canal was built to carry water from the Piumhi valley past the dike, while reservoir water entered valleys cut through the surrounding quartzite.

Geography

Capitólio covers in southwestern Minas Gerais. It borders Vargem Bonita, Piumhi, Pimenta, Guapé, São José da Barra, and São João Batista do Glória. Furnas Reservoir occupies part of the municipality. Near the boundary with São José da Barra, streams eroded narrow valleys along intersecting fractures in quartzite of the Araxá Group. Reservoir water later entered these valleys, forming the Furnas Canyons. Their walls rise between about above the water. The Capitólio Dike separates the reservoir from lower ground in the Piumhi valley. A reflux canal carries water away from the dike through Capitólio and Piumhi.

Most-observed species

• Saffron Finch

  Sicalis flaveola (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  100
• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  93
• Picazuro Pigeon

  Patagioenas picazuro (Temminck, 1813) · Aves
  93
• blue-and-white swallow

  Notiochelidon cyanoleuca (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  77
• white-eyed conure

  Aratinga leucophthalma (Statius Muller, 1776) · Aves
  75
• Sayaca Tanager

  Thraupis sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  74
• Masked Water-Tyrant

  Fluvicola nengeta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  72
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  67