Miraí is a Brazilian municipality located in the 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 city belongs to the mesoregion of Zona da Mata and to the microregion of Muriaé. * Main Rivers: ''Fubá'' and ''Muriaé''

History

''Brejo'' was its first name. The agriculture sector is pointed as one of the most successful of the region

Zona da Mata The Zona da Mata (, directly translated to grass zone/grassy zone) is the narrow coastal plain between the Atlantic Ocean and the dry ''agreste'' and ''sertão'' regions in the northeastern Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, Rio Grande do No ...

. The city territory is located in a region of easy access due to the presence of ''Rio-Bahia'' highway, also called

BR-116 BR-116 is a federal route of highways of Brazil and the longest highway in the country, with of extension. The road connect Fortaleza, Ceará, one of the largest Northeast Brazil metropolises, to the southern city of Jaguarão, Rio Grande do ...

. The first village was set up on the margins of the ''Muriaé River''. Around 1840, attracted by land fertility, the first explorers came to ''Miraís region. Finding land and good water, they spread the news and eventually other farmers arrived. At 1852, a group of farmers acquired part of the land belonging to the farm named ''Três Barras'', in the place they built a chapel to ''Santo Antônio'' and around grew a village called Brejo. Later, the village became the District of Paz, with the name of S''anto Antônio do

Muriaé Muriaé is a municipality in southeast Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located in the Zona da Mata region and its population in 2020 (IBGE) was approximately 109,392 inhabitants. Important Facts *Municipal Limits Ervália, Santana de Catagu ...

'', belonging to ''Freguesia de Santa Rita de Meia Pataca''. At 1883, the district was turned into ''Freguesia de Santo Antônio do Camapuã''. The name was changed to ''Miraí'', which means "wet land" in

Tupi Tupi may refer to: * Tupi people of Brazil * Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America ** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people * Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil * Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...

, by 1895. The municipality was created in 1923, separating itself from

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 ...

Attractions

The town presents as natural attractions countless waterfalls. The Carnival Parade is very traditional, attracting tourist from all over the country. In September the city host the Festival Samba and Botequim, a cultural event offering good music and regional cuisine, by the bus station.

Ataulfo Alves

Ataulfo Alves was the most famous person to be born in Miraí, he is known as one of the best

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

compositor of the second half of the 20th century, there is a museum to his memory in the city.

Disasters

In January 2007, the city was victim of a

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

with catastrophic proportions after the collapse of a barrage belonging to the company ''Rio Pomba Cataguases'', more than 2 billion liters of water mixed with mud and chemical waste used on the extraction of

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

was dumped in the city causing its destruction and affecting the ''Muriaé River'', hence destroying many cities on its way to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. This was the second accident to happen in the region caused by this company. The damage to the environment was unmeasurable.

Sources

* Secretaria da Cultura, em 1 de outubro de 1999 * Assembléia Legislativa do Estado de Minas Gerais

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20080602082835/http://www.almg.gov.br/munmg/m42205.asp * https://web.archive.org/web/20070831004356/http://www.portalclick.com.br/cidades/mirai/fotos.html * http://www.interminas.com.br * http://www.estacoesferroviarias.com.br/efl_ramais_1/mirai.htm * http://www.jornalopiniao.net * http://www.interminas.com.br/portal/foto/cobertura/page/1 Festival Samba e Botequim pictures