Pará de Minas

History

Before the arrival of the first European explorers, most of the territory of present-day Minas Gerais was inhabited by indigenous peoples speaking languages of the Macro-Jê linguistic family. The area of present-day Pará de Minas was likely visited around 1555 by expeditions from Bahia, but significant exploration only began in the late 17th century by Paulista bandeirantes searching for gold and indigenous people to enslave. Notable expeditions included those led by Fernão Dias Pais and Borba Gato, who opened paths along the Pará River. The discovery of gold in Pitangui led to the opening of a road connecting the mines to São Paulo. Along the Paciência Stream, a rest stop was established for travelers, but the fertile lands prompted some to settle, forming a small community. Initially, the local economy revolved around supplying provisions to expeditions heading to the Pitangui mines, and the settlement's growth was tied to the consumer market for agricultural products from the neighboring city. The church around which the settlement emerged was demolished in 1953. A second Mother Church was inaugurated on 1 January 1901 but was demolished on 21 April 1971 to make way for the expansion of Padre José Pereira Coelho Square, popularly known as Matriz Square. On 9 April 1972, a new church, the Our Lady of Mercy Mother Church, was inaugurated. Between the 1910s and 1920s, the Torquato de Almeida School—the only school in the area until 1945—the House of Culture, and a new building for the Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Pará Hospital were established, alongside other urban infrastructure developments, including the first electricity distribution network in 1917 and garbage collection services in 1924. The agribusiness sector gained momentum in 1927 with the opening of…

Geography

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the municipality's area is , with in the urban area and the remaining in the rural area. It is located at 19°51'37" south latitude and 44°36'30" west longitude Its neighboring municipalities are São José da Varginha to the north; Onça de Pitangui to the northeast; Conceição do Pará to the east; Igaratinga to the southwest; Mateus Leme and Itaúna to the south; Florestal to the east; and Esmeraldas to the northeast. According to the regional division in effect since 2017, established by the IBGE, the municipality belongs to the Intermediate Geographic Region of Divinópolis and the Immediate Geographic Region of Pará de Minas. Previously, under the division into microregions and mesoregions, it was part of the Pará de Minas microregion, which was included in the Metropolitan mesoregion of Belo Horizonte. The terrain of Pará de Minas is predominantly undulating. Approximately 60% of the municipal territory is covered by rolling hills, about 20% consists of mountainous terrain, and the remaining 20% is flat. The drainage network displays a distinct rectangular pattern, with deeply incised watercourses, visible in aerial photographs. Alluvial deposits are significantly repositioned and elevated relative to the watercourses. The mountainous terrain is primarily composed of quartzites and hydrothermalites, which are resistant to weathering, corresponding to the Andaime and Piteira ridges. On the flattened ridge tops, consolidated laterite crusts of Miocene-Pliocene age are observed. Some sections of the stream suffer from litter, debris, siltation, and water pollution from domestic sewage, although much of its urban course is channelized. However, the city is located in a region with limited water…

Most-observed species

• Toco Toucan

  Ramphastos toco P.L.S.Müller, 1776 · Aves
  54
• Saffron Finch

  Sicalis flaveola (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  47
• Black Vulture

  Coragyps atratus (Bechstein, 1793) · Aves
  35
• Southern Caracara

  Caracara plancus (J.F.Miller, 1777) · Aves
  34
• Picazuro Pigeon

  Patagioenas picazuro (Temminck, 1813) · Aves
  34
• Pale-breasted Thrush

  Turdus leucomelas Vieillot, 1818 · Aves
  33
• Sayaca Tanager

  Thraupis sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  29
• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  28