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

. 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.

Location

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

Triângulo Mineiro The Triângulo Mineiro (, ''Mineiro (disambiguation), 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 bord ...

, on the Transbrasiliana highway—Br-153. The

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, a tributary of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, 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 Frutal is a municipality in the west of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The population, estimated in 2020 by the IBGE, is of 60,012 inhabitants. The city has an area of 2,427km2. Frutal is located in the region known as the "Triângulo Mineir ...

. Neighboring municipalities are: *North:

*East:

Guaraci Guaraci or Quaraci (from Tupi ''kûarasý'', "sun") in the Guaraní mythology is the god of the Sun, creator of all living creatures. See also * List of solar deities A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually ...

state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

*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 The Mesoregion of São José do Rio Preto is one of th ...

state of

*South:

Icém Icém is a municipality in the northern part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 8,304 (2020 est.) in an area of 362.59 km². It is part of the Microregion of São José do Rio Preto. It is also known as ''Princesa do Vale'', or ...

, São Paulo Distances *

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

: 645 km. *

: 44 km. *

Uberaba Uberaba () is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Highlands at above sea level on the Uberaba River, and away from the state capital, Belo Horizonte. The city status was granted in 1856, and i ...

: 189 km. *

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

: 218 km * São José do Rio Preto: 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 statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, whi ...

: 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 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. History Poços was founded in 1 ...

with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568. Nationally the highest was

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (or São Caetano) ('' Saint Cajetan of the South''. ) 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 the ci ...

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 state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

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

Prefeitura Municipal de Fronteira
{{Authority control Municipalities in Minas Gerais