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 ...
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 (literall ...
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 km
2.
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 km
2 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, which are tributaries of the
Doce River
The Doce River (literally the "sweet river"; pt, Rio Doce ) is a river in southeast Brazil with a length of .
The river basin is economically important. In 2015 the collapse of a dam released highly contaminated water from mining into the 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 stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
Seeds of ...
. 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 is a national park administered by the
(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 (2,891 m). In 1859 Emperor
Dom Pedro II 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