Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte (a Portuguese name meaning "beautiful horizon", pronounced 'bɛ.ləʊ - əʊ.ɹiː.'zɒn.teɪ) is the third largest metropolitan area and fifth largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Fortaleza). It is the capital of Minas Gerais state, located in the southeastern region of the country. With a population of almost 2.4 million and over 5 million in the official metropolitan area, Belo Horizonte — or "Beagá" as it is more familiarly known from the sound of its initials BH in Portuguese — is a place of intense economical and cultural activity. It has a good infrastructure for national and international events.

The first settlements in the region occurred in the early 1700s, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, in order to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais. It is nowadays notorious for the contrast between contemporary and classical buildings, being in fact the location of many modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the Pampulha Church.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Transportation
4 Weather
5 Notable landmarks
6 Culture
7 Sports
8 People
9 Sister Cities
10 See also
11 Picture Gallery
12 References
13 External links

[edit] History

The metropolis was once a small village, founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz, a prospector from São Paulo. Having found a location with a pleasant weather, a nice landscape and a good soil for farming, the explorer settled in the region in 1701, quiting an expedition to find gold. He then established a farm called "Curral d'el Rey" - archaic Portuguese for the "King's Corral". The farm's wealth and success encouraged people from surrounding places to move into the region, and Curral del Rey became a village surrounded by farms. Most of these were built mainly by the Faria and Gutierrez families, being the terrains owned by the Gutierrez estabilished in a region that became a neighbouhood named after them. This particular family still is one of the richest families in Belo Horizonte, actually owning Telemar, one of the country's most successful telecommunication companies.

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Another important growth factor of the village were the immigrants from the São Francisco river region, who had to pass through Curral del Rey in order to reach southern parts of Brazil. Travelers usually visited a small wooden chapel, where they prayed for a safe trip. Due to that, the chapel was named Capela da Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, which means "Chapel of Our Lady of the Good Trip". Years later it was upgraded to a bigger church.

The previous capital of Minas Gerais, Ouro Preto, was a symbol of both the monarchic Brazilian Empire and the period when most of Brazilian income was due to mining, and that never pleased the members of the Inconfidência Mineira, republican intellectuals that conspired against the Portuguese dominion of Brazil. In 1889 Brazil became a republic, and it was agreed that a new state capital, in tune with a modern and prosperous Minas Gerais, had to be set.

In 1893, due to good climatic and topografic conditions, Curral Del Rey was elected by Minas Gerais governor Afonso Pena from other cities as the spot for the new economical and cultural center of the state, under the new name of "Cidade de Minas", or Minas City.

The town planner from Pará Aarão Reis was then set to design the first planned city of Brazil, and then Cidade de Minas was inaugurated finally in 1897, with many unfinished constructions as the Brazilian Government set a deadline for its completion. Inhabitation of the city was subsided by the local government, by the concession of free empty lots and funding for building houses. An interesting feature of Belo Horizonte he designed was the downtown street plan, featuring a regular array of perpendicular and diagonal streets, named after Brazilian states and Brazilian indigenous tribes.

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In 1906 the name was then changed to Belo Horizonte, and so far the city was experiencing a considerable industrial expansion that increased the city's commerce and service sectors.

The city's planners did not count on its population growth afterwards, which was specially intense in the last twenty years of the 20th century. The city now deals with a number of infrastructure problems - about 20% of the population has no access to the sewage network, and floods that usually happen during the rainy season (November to March) are a big problem in the local Favelas, as houses are destroyed and people are killed.

[edit] Economy

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Belo Horizonte had never been a popular destination among tourists, as it lacks one of the main touristic features of Brazil - beaches. However, it annually receives great amounts of visitors, as it is in the Brazilian main economic axis with regional influence even on regions of other states. Both multinational and Brazilian companies, like Google and Oi, maintain their headquarters in the city.

The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 85% of the city's GDP, with the industry making up for most of the remaining 15%.

Belo Horizonte has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a pole of the Brazilian siderurgical and metallurgical industries, as the state of Minas Gerais has always been very rich in minerals, specially iron ore. The main industrial district of the city was set during the 1940s in Contagem, a part of greater Belo Horizonte. Multinational companies like FIAT, Arcelor, Toshiba have subsidiaries in the region, along with other textile, cosmetic, food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, furnishing and refractory companies.

Between the companies headquartered in the city we can list siderurgicals Açominas (held by Gerdau, one of the largest multinationals originated in Brazil), Usiminas, Belgo-Mineira (held by Arcelor), Acesita (partially held by Arcelor), mobile communication Telemig Celular and Tim Maxitel and NYSE listed electrical company CEMIG, which is said to have the best transmission quality of Brazil.

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There are also a huge number of small enterprises in the technological sector with region to nationwide success, as biotechnology Biomm, information technology RM Sistemas and Paiva Piovesan, and industrial automation IHM, among others.

Due to both governmental and private funding in the diversification of its economy, the city has become an international reference in Information Technology and Biotechnology, siting advanced researches in Biodiesel fuel. Projects in these fields are most likely to expand due to integration between universities, oil company Petrobras and the Brazilian Government. Over 16% of the Brazilian biotechnological industries are located in Belo Horizonte, with annual revenues of more than US$550 million.

During the past years, the city has made investments in "business-tourism", by promoting more than 3000 national or international events yearly. One of the largest events that ever took place in the city, the IDB meeting, took place in 2005 and attracted people from everywhere in the world.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Highways

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The city is connected to the rest of Minas Gerais state and the country by a number of roadways, among them

BR-040 - connects Belo Horizonte to Rio de Janeiro, southern from Belo Horizonte, and Brasília, northwestern. Passes through other cities in the state such as Juiz de Fora, Conselheiro Lafaiete, Santos Dumont, Sete Lagoas and Paracatu.

BR-262 - Begins in Mato Grosso do Sul and ends in Espírito Santo, crossing Minas Gerais from West to East. Links Belo Horizonte to Pará de Minas, Araxá, Manhuaçu, Uberaba, and Vitória, Espírito Santo's capital, among other cities.

BR-381 - An important federal highway, goes from Belo Horizonte to São Paulo, the largest and richest city in Brazil.

MG-010 - This state highway connects the capital to the Tancredo Neves International Airport, located in the municipalities of Confins and Lagoa Santa, which are part of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. Starting in 2005, several flights were transferred from the Pampulha Regional Airport to the international airport. To improve access to the international airport, MG-010 is suffering an expansion (effectively duplicating its lanes), expected to finish in December, 2006.<ref>Linha Verde (Portuguese). Governo do Estado de Minas Gerais. Retrieved on 2006-09-03. -- As of September 3, 2006 the contents of this website has been removed to respect a federal law regarding institutional communication during elections.</ref>

The city is also served by other minor roads such as state highways MG-020, MG-050, MG-030, and MG-433.

There is also an East-West Express Way, which goes from the city to the nearby industrial centers of Contagem and Betim (together having a population of ca. 900,000), and Anel Rodoviário, a kind of "beltway" - indeed it is not circumferential, but connects many highways, such as the federal (BR-ones) so it is not necessary for a large number of cars and trucks to pass through the city center.

Many of these roads are on a bad state, but in the last years many projects of revitalization have been started.

[edit] Bus system

The system has a large number of bus lines, going through all parts in the city, administrated by BHTRANS. Among the upcoming projects are the expansion of the integration between bus lines and the metro.

[edit] Metro

Belo Horizonte Metro originated at the end of 1970s, and is one of the oldest urban railways in the country. There is still just one line, with 19 stations, from Vilarinho to Eldorado Station, in Contagem, that is now insufficient to supply the needs of all the city. Two new lines, from Santa Tereza to Barreiro (a part of this line, from Carlos Prates to Barreiro, is being built), and from Pampulha to Savassi, are being planned. There is also a project for the expansion for the first line, from Vilarinho to Ribeirão das Neves and from Eldorado to Betim.

[edit] Weather

As a city located in the southern Hemisphere, In Belo Horizonte Spring starts in September, Summer in December, Fall in March and Winter in June. By the time of November, Belo Horizonte was passing by the spring. Even though those differences among to seasons are not so pronounced as in a temperate climate, and many people just believe in two seasons (a hot and humid one and another, cold and dry), there is a contrast between Spring and Summer, or Fall and Winter.

In the beginning, Belo Horizonte used to have one of the finest climates of all Brazilian capitals^{[citation needed]}, but as time passed and the city grew it came to suffer from typical urban phenomena as the heat island and thermal inversion. However, its climate is still neither as hot as Rio de Janeiro's, nor as cold as Curitiba's in the winter.

The coldest month is generally July, with a negative record of 4°C (four Celsius Degrees). The hottest months uses to be January, which registered a positive record of about 40 Celsius Degrees.

The climate from Belo Horizonte can be classified as altitude tropical, with yearly average temperature between 18, 19 to around 22, 23 Celsius degrees. At an elevation of 852 meters, the altitude helps a little in cooling the city. Nearby cities at lower altitudes tend to be hotter. Belo Horizonte weather, as almost all Brazilian climates, can be characterized by plenty of rain between October and March, but dry seasons from April to September. There can be problems related with low air humidity during August. Extreme low/high temperatures in Belo Horizonte: about 8°C in Winter and late 30's (°C) in Summer. The Köppen climate classification of the region is Aw.

[edit] Notable landmarks

Image:Praca da Liberdade BH.jpg

Belo Horizonte has plenty of significant landmarks, many of them situated in the Pampulha district, where there are very symbolic pieces of the Brazilian contemporary architecture. These include one of the largest football stadiums of the world, the Mineirão stadium, and the São Francisco de Assis Church, widely known as Igreja da Pampulha, designed by famous modern school architect Oscar Niemeyer. In Pampulha there is also the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais campus, where the buildings themselves are important contributions to the city's architecture. Other remarkable buildings include Mesbla and Niemeyer buildings, in addition to the headquarters of corporations such as Usiminas, Seculus and Telemig Celular.

In downtown Belo Horizonte, there are the neogothic Boa Viagem Cathedral, the Lourdes Basilica, the São José Cathedral, the Praça da Estação, which is an old train station that now is also the Museum of Arts and Workmanship, the Municipal Park, and the Nossa Senhora de Fátima church situated in Carlos Chagas square, both referred to as Assembléia Church and Assembléia Square due to their proximity to the state's legislative assembly.

Next to downtown is the famous Savassi region, where most of gastronomic and cultural activities occur, as well as the best of the city's nightlife. Many landmarks take place there, like the Praça da Liberdade or Liberty Square, and its surrounding buildings, including the old Governor's house (Liberty Palace), the first building to be finished during the city's planned development in the 1890's.

A very recent contribution to the urban landscape of Belo Horizonte is a giant temple from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Such building, however, is considered by many as a disaster in urban planning for it is a massive construction with no definite architectonic style and a possible cause for depreciation of surrounding land value. ^{[citation needed]}

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Last but not least is the "Rua do Amendoim" (Peanut Street), where parked automobiles appear to roll upwards, defying gravity. Whether this is an illusion or a magnetic phenomenon is left to the visitor to decide. However, most of the effect seems to have disappeared due to housing development in the area, but many people still believe that the street is magic.

Another important landmark is Praça do Papa (Plaza of the Pope), located at a high point just outside the municipal area, where one can seize a spectacular view of the entire city. It has this name because while visiting Belo Horizonte, Pope John Paul II himself went to this specific plaza and said: "Que Belo Horizonte!" or "What a beautiful horizon!". Nearby Parque das Mangabeiras (Mangabeiras Park) boasts extensive wildlife, with an area so huge it has its own internal bus service. It is not uncommon for tourists to see monkeys and other animals, and a few people have even managed to get lost inside its woods.

[edit] Culture

There are many notable Brazilian artistic groups which have its origins in Belo Horizonte. Grupo Corpo, which is perharps the famoust contemporary dance group in the country, was created in the city in 1975, travel internationally and is acclaimed throughout the world. Giramundo is an important group, specialized in performing puppet shows. They maintain the museum of the puppets they created since their foundation in 1970. first launched a complete album in 1981, and has released 11 works since that year.

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Another innovative artistic group is Uakti. They create their own musical instruments using materials like PVC, wood, metals and glass. The origin of their name is based in a myth by the Tukano Indians,

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and reflects the indigenous feeling present in their works. Uakti

Many important rock groups were founded in Belo Horizonte, being among them Jota Quest, Pato Fu, Skank, 14 Bis and Tianastácia. But the band that achieved most international success is certainly the Thrash Metal group Sepultura.

Clube da Esquina is a musical movement that originated in the mid 1960s, and since that time their members have been considered influent in Minas Gerais culture and have important artists such as Tavinho Moura, Wagner Tiso, Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Beto Guedes, Flávio Venturini, Toninho Horta, Márcio Borges, Fernando Brant and 14 Bis, among others.

Annually, the city realizes the FIT BH, The International Theater Festival of Belo Horizonte, which attracts artists from all over Brazil and many parts of the world.

In 2006 there was an extreme sports event in Belo Horizonte with a slogan that became very popular in Belo Horizonte: "Eu amo BH radicalmente", or "I love Belo Horizonte radically".

[edit] Sports

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As well as in all over Brazil, football is the most popular sport among locals. In Belo Horizonte, there are two of the most successful teams in the country. The city has one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, the Mineirão .

Atlético Mineiro is traditionally knwon as the popular club of the city. Atlético Mineiro was the first Brazilian champion, in 1971,and has also won two CONMEBOL Cups (the UEFA Cup of South America,nowadays named Copa Sudamericana ), and 38 State Championships (Atlético is the biggest winner of State Championship). Despite of so much tradition, the team had been through very difficult times recently and was eventually relegated to the Brazilian Série B . However, the club became the champion of it and will be back to Série A in 2007 proving it's most famous nickname "The Avenger".

The city is also home to América Mineiro, which unlike Atlético and Cruzeiro, has its own ground, the Independência Stadium. It was a major team in Brazil decades ago, but it is now striving to leave the Brazilian Série C.

Together with football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the whole country. Crowds usually go to Mineirinho in order to watch either the Brazil national volleyball team or Minas Tênis Clube matches.

Minas Tênis Clube is a sport association with various modalities, and its volleyball team counts with some of the most advanced training facilities in the country. Besides Mineirinho, they also play in their own ground, the modern Telemig Celular Arena. Both its male and female volleyball teams have already won the Brazilian Superleague of Volleyball titles.

[edit] People

The Belo Horizonte people are considered the most educated of every américa and practically 50% speak Portuguese and English

[edit] Sister Cities

[edit] See also

Tancredo Neves International Airport

[edit] Picture Gallery

[edit] References

Belotur/Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte. 2004. Economy - The economic and financial scene is a beauty too
Belotur/Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte. 2004. Belo Horizonte - A capital do século XX

[edit] External links

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Belo Horizonte

Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: -19.9191° -43.9387°
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- Aerial image from TerraServer
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