Manhuaçu 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 ...

in Eastern

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, in

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 ...

. Its population was 91,169 (2020) and its area is 628 km².

Location

Located 260 km from the state capital of Belo Horizonte, it is near the important road junction of BR 262 (Belo Horizonte-Vitória) and BR 116 (Rio-Bahia). The total area of the municipality is 629 km² and it lies at an elevation of 635 m in the foothills of the Serra da Chabata or Caparaó, which form the boundary between the states of Minas Gerais and

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

. The main rivers are the Ribeirão do Manhuaçuzinho and the

Manhuaçu River The Manhuaçu River is a river of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. The river is in the Doce River basin. It runs past the Feliciano Miguel Abdala Private Natural Heritage Reserve, located on its left bank, home to one of the last wild po ...

, which are tributaries of the Doce River. Altitudes range from at Foz do Rio São Mateu to at Serra Pedra Dourada. Temperatures range from to , with an average of . Annual rainfall averages . The municipality holds part of the Sossego Forest Biological Station.

Economy

The economy of the city is based on the production and processing of mountain

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

. It is the center of commercialization of coffee of the Zona da Mata, and there are offices and warehouses of the main exporting and processing companies of the country. There are storage facilities for about one million sacks of coffee. The region harvests about 1.5 million sacks of coffee a year There are three schools of higher education, Faculdade do Futur

Doctu

and Facig - Faculdade de Ciências Gerenciais de Manhuaç

Parque Nacional do Caparaó

The

Caparaó National Park Caparaó National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Caparaó) is a national park created in 1961 to protect the Caparaó Mountains, located on the border between Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo states in Brazil. Pico da Bandeira, one of the highest ...

is a national park administered by the

Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis, IBAMA) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm. IBAMA supports anti- ...

(IBAMA) and is located approximately 60 km southeast of Manhuaçu on the boundary dividing the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. The entrance to the park is at Alto Caparaó. The area of the park is 318 square kilometers. It was created in 1961 by President

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; January 25, 1917 – February 16, 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and Politics of Brazil, politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from January 31 to August 25, 1961, when he resigned from office. He als ...

. It contains the third highest peak in the country, the

Pico da Bandeira Pico da Bandeira, or Bandeira Peak ( Portuguese for ''Flag Peak'', ) is the third highest mountain in Brazil, situated on the border of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais states. It is the highest point in both states. It was historically conside ...

(2,891 m). In 1859 Emperor

Dom Pedro II Don (honorific), Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimity, Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the List of monarchs of Brazil, second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. ...

had ordered that a flag of the Empire be placed on the highest peak of the Serra do Caparaó. It is believed that the name Pico da Bandeira is due to this fact. The mountains of the Caparaó chain have landscapes of great beauty with numerous waterfalls and caverns.Parque Nacional do Caparaó
There are also other important peaks like Pico do Cristal (2769.7 m) and Pico do Calçado (2.766 m).

References

External links

Portal Manhuaçu (in Portuguese)A site about Manhuaçu (in Portuguese)
Municipalities in Minas Gerais {{MinasGerais-geo-stub