Carmo do Rio Claro is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

located in the south-west of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

state,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The distance to the state capital, Belo Horizonte is 374 km. The characteristic vegetation of the municipality is

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

but there is still some gallery forest along the rivers. The climate of the municipality is classified as subtropical mesothermic, characterized by dry winters and wet summers. The average temperature in winter is approximately 16°C and the average of the hottest month is about 27°C. The period between December and February is the rainiest. The driest months are from April to September. Carmo do Rio Claro is watered by the

Furnas Dam The Furnas Dam ( pt, Usina Hidrelétrica de Furnas) is a hydroelectric dam in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil. A small settlement was built near the dam with the same name to house the workers during the dam construction. The main purpose of the ...

. Local economy is driven by

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

and

handcraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

. Largely known by its handcraft in hand loom and its production of handcrafted candy. Carmo do Rio Claro is part of the

Guaxupé Guaxupé is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its estimated population in 2020 was 52,078 inhabitants living in a total area of 286 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudoeste de ...

diocese.

History and economy

It is believed that the initial core of the town occurred during the

Bandeiras The ''Bandeirantes'' (), literally "flag-carriers", were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 149 ...

with José Barbosa de Arruda and Domingos Ferreira de Avelar, reminiscents of the Lourenço Castanho bandeira's, known for having expulsed the natives

Cataguases Cataguases is a municipality located in the southeastern part of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The estimated population in 2020 was 75,540. It is mainly an industrial centre (textile, metallurgy, clothes) with a strong influence of coffe ...

from the region of Tamanduá (

Itapecerica Itapecerica (, ) is a municipality located in the center of the states of Brazil, Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The population is 21,761 (2020 est.) in an area of 1041 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Oeste de Minas and to the ...

). Initially with the help of locals, José Joaquim Santana, built in his lands a small chapel in the place where today is the main church Igreja Matriz de Carmo do Rio Claro. The freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo do Monte do Rio Claro was created in 1810, in the lands inside the Princess Campaign area, to be later, 1814, included to the

Jacuí Jacuí is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil. See also * List of municipalities in Minas Gerais This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais (MG), located in the Southeast Regio ...

municipality. The fertility of its lands propitiated the development of great farms, economic basis of the town, which in 1848 started to be part of Passos. The emancipation happened in 1875.

References

{{Reflist Municipalities in Minas Gerais