Fronteira is a municipality in the west of the Brazilian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. The population is 18,492 (2020 est.) in an area of 199.99 km².Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
/ref> It became a municipality in 1943.

Geography

Fronteira is located at an elevation of 458 meters in the west of the area known as the

Triângulo Mineiro The Triângulo Mineiro (, '' Mineiro Triangle'') is the region that comprises the west part of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It occupies an area of 93,500 km2 (slightly larger than Portugal or Hungary) and is bordered to the east b ...

, on the Transbrasiliana highway—Br-153. The

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

, a tributary of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...

, forms its southern boundary. The Marimbondo Dam and hydroelectric station is on the southern boundary of the municipal area. It belongs to the statistical microregion of Frutal. Neighboring municipalities are: *North: Frutal *East: Guaraci state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

*West:

Orindiúva Orindiúva is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 7,194 (2020 est.) in an area of 248.1 km². Orindiúva belongs to the Mesoregion of São José do Rio Preto. Media In telecommunications, the city was served by ...

state of

*South: Icém, São Paulo Distances *

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

: 645 km. * Frutal: 44 km. *

Uberaba Uberaba () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Highlands at an elevation of 823 metres (2,700 ft) above sea level on the Uberaba River, and is situated 418 kilometres (260 mi) from the state c ...

: 189 km. *

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a city and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the si ...

: 218 km *

São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located in the northwestern region of the state, approximately from the city of São Paulo and from Brasília ...

: 65 km. *

: 477 km

Economic activities

The most important economic activities are cattle raising, royalties from the hydroelectric station on the Rio Grande, commerce, and agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$1,035,952, with R$716,164 from industry; R$102,776 from services; and R$18,221 from agriculture. Fronteira is in the top tier of municipalities in the state with regard to economic and social development. As of 2007 there was one banking agency in the town. There was a well-developed retail infrastructure serving the surrounding area of cattle and agricultural lands. In the rural area there were 141 establishments occupying about 1,000 persons. 48 of the farms had tractors, a ratio of one in three. There were 1,889 automobiles in all of the municipality, about one for every 6 inhabitants—a high ratio for Brazil. Fronteira is an important agricultural producer. There were 7,000 head of cattle in 2006, of which 4,000 head were dairy cows. In permanent crops there are 633 ha. planted, while in perennial crops 12,500 ha. were planted. The crops with a planted area of more than 100 hectares were pineapple, sugarcane, corn, and soybeans.IBGE

Health and education

In the health sector there were 07 health clinics and no hospitals. In the educational sector there were 02 primary schools and 01 middle school. *Municipal

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: 0.794 (2000) *State ranking: 61 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000 *National ranking: 705 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000 *Literacy rate: 89% *Life expectancy: 74 (average of males and females) The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was

Poços de Caldas Poços de Caldas is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2020 was 168,641 inhabitants. The city is known for its hot springs. Histor ...

with 0.841, while the lowest was

Setubinha Setubinha is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2020 the population was 12,378 in a total area of 536 km². The elevation is 729 metres. It is part of the Immediate Geographic Region of Teófilo O ...

with 0.568. Nationally the highest was

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (; " Saint Cajetan of the South"), or simply São Caetano, is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 161,957 (2020 est.) in an area of 15.33 km2. It is ...

in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics (considering 5,507 municipalities) Manari in the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

has the lowest rating in the country—0,467—putting it in last place.

History

Fronteira was born of a dream, literally. In the 1940s Maurício Goulart, a businessman from São Paulo, envisioned a project: create a model city in the middle of central Brazil. Today Fronteira is one of a few planned communities in the region, with wide, tree-lined avenues and with a projected urban infrastructure. In 1943 Fronteira already had a post office and a public telephone. It had a small airport for those who came to play in the casinos that were legal at that time. The calling card of the town is a 12-meter statue of a nude man popularly known as "Bernardão".

References

External links