São Francisco de Sales 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 ...

. As of 2020 the population was 6,274 in a total area of 1,129 km². It became a municipality in 1962.

Location

São Francisco de Sales belongs to the statistical micro-region 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 ...

. It is located at an elevation of 423 meters on the northern bank of the Rio Grande and is crossed by the Verde River. Neighboring municipalities are: *North:

Campina Verde Campina Verde is a municipality in the north of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. the population was 19,752 in a total area of 3,663 km². It became a municipality in 1938. Location Campina Verde is located at an elevation of 530 meter ...

*West: Iturama *East:

Itapagipe Itapagipe is a municipality in the west of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. the population was 15,379 in a total area of 1,795 km². It became a municipality in 1885. Location Itapagipe is located at an elevation of 516 meters in the ...

*South: the 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 Ga ...

Distances

: * Iturama: 50 km *

: 43 km *

: 92 * Belo Horizonte: 692 The highways of access are: BR-262, BR-050, MG-427,

BR-364 BR-364 is an inter-state highway in Brazil connecting the southeast state of São Paulo to the western state of Acre. The highway was opened in the 1960s and paved in the 1980s. It has brought economic development and population growth in the Amaz ...

, and MG-255.

History

The town had its origins in an Indian village, located on the banks of the Rio Verde. Around 1835 a priest, Jerônimo Gonçalves Macedo, arrived and put up a cross. In 1850 a district was formed with the name "Missões", later changed to São Francisco de Sales in homage to the founder of the Salesian order. In 1962 the district was dismembered from

to become a municipality.

Economic activities

The most important economic activities are cattle raising, commerce, and agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$ R$54 million of which half came from agriculture. São Francisco de Sales is in the top tier of municipalities in the state with regard to economic and social development. As of 2007 there were no banking agencies in the town. There was a small retail infrastructure serving the surrounding area of cattle and agricultural lands. There were 628 automobiles in all of the municipality, about one for every 8 inhabitants.IBGE
/ref> In the rural area there were 298 establishments occupying 58,000 hectares. About 600 persons were employed in agriculture. 125 of the farms had tractors, a ratio of one in four farms. There were 101,000 head of cattle in 2006, of which 22,000 head were dairy cows. In permanent crops there were 1,500 ha. planted, while in perennial crops 2,200 ha. were planted (2006). The crops with a planted area of more than 1,000 hectares were sugarcane, corn, and soybeans.

Health and education

In the health sector there was 01 health clinic and 01 hospital with 11 beds. In the educational sector there was 01 primary school 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, wh ...

: 0.786 (2000) *State ranking: 95 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000 *National ranking: 917 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000 *Literacy rate: 88% *Life expectancy: 73 (average of males and females) The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas 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 IBGE statistical microregion of Teófilo ...

with 0.568. Nationally the highest was São Caetano do Sul 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 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it List of Brazilian states by population, sev ...

has the lowest rating in the country—0,467—putting it in last place.Frigoletto
/ref>

References