Araçuaí () is a Brazilian

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

located in the northeast of the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

in the

Jequitinhonha River The Jequitinhonha River () flows mainly through the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its source lies near Diamantina in the Espinhaço Mountains at an elevation of , after which it flows northward and then east-northeastward across the uplands. ...

valley. The

Araçuaí River The Araçuaí River () is a river of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. The Araçuaí River flows through the Jequitinhonha Valley in the northeast of Minas Gerais, through the town of Araçuaí, which the river takes its name from. It is a ...

, a tributary of the Jequitinhonha, flows through it. Its population was estimated to be 36,712 people living in a total area of 2,235 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and the microregion of Araçuaí. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Araçuaí. The elevation of the municipal seat is 307 meters. It became a municipality in 1870. Between the municipalities of Araçuaí and

Itinga Itinga is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais in the Jequitinhonha River valley. the population was 15,022 in a total area of 1,641 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to ...

is located the largest

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

mine in Brazil, explored and extracted by Sigma Lithium Resources.

Etymology

The origin of the name "Araçuaí" has two versions: according to Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, the name was given by the ''

paulistas Paulistas are the inhabitants of the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil, and of its antecessor the Capitaincy of São Vicente, whose capital early shifted from the village of São Vicente, Brazil, São Vicente to the one of São Pa ...

'' to the river because they had found a large quantity of gold in it. They exclaimed: "''ouro só ali''" ("only gold there"), and from this phrase Araçuaí was created. According to philologist

Eduardo de Almeida Navarro Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (born 20 February 1962) is a Brazilian philologist and lexicographer, specialist in Old Tupi and Nheengatu. He is a full professor at the University of São Paulo, where he has been teaching Old Tupi since 1993, a ...

, Araçuaí comes from the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

, through the composition of the words ''araso'iá'' ( araçoia) and '''y'' (river), therefore meaning "river of the araçoias". Until 1857, the place was called Calhau, due to the large quantity of pebbles (''calhais'') in the region.

History

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the current municipality of Araçuaí was inhabited by the Tocoió and Botocudo indigenous. The

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Carlos Pereira de Moura had founded the Aldeia do Pontal, currently Itira. The village was located next to the confluence of two large rivers: the Jequitinhonha and the

Araçuaí Araçuaí () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais in the Jequitinhonha River valley. The Araçuaí River, a tributary of the Jequitinhonha, flows through it. Its population wa ...

. The village had a set of qualities to evolve into a city, such as easy access to

canoes A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

, used at the time for navigating rivers, but the priest was excessively demanding and authoritarian, prohibiting alcoholic beverages and prostitutes there. So, the prostitutes emigrated up the Araçuaí River, and the canoeists changed ports, attracted by them. The prostitutes were sheltered by Luciana Teixeira, owner of the Fazenda da Boa Vista da Barra do Calhau, on her lands on the right bank of the Calhau and Araçuaí streams. This became the landing point for the canoes that went up the Jequitinhonha. Luciana started a village on her land in 1817. Over time, the place gained importance. It was established under the name Vila de Arassuahy on July 1, 1871, and on September 21 of the same year it was elevated to the category of city, with the name Araçuaí. Until 1911, the city was the capital of the entire northeast of Minas Gerais. In 1882, the Bahia and Minas Railway was built, connecting the Bahian city of

Caravelas Caravelas is a city of about 20,000 inhabitants in southern Bahia, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-lar ...

to Araçuaí, but it was deactivated and closed in 1966. Today, Araçuaí is considered one of the commercial and educational centers of the Jequitinhonha valley.

Geography

According to the regional division in force since 2017, established by the IBGE, the municipality belongs to the

Intermediate Geographic Region of Teófilo Otoni The Intermediate Geographic Region of Teófilo Otoni (code 3103) is one of the 13 intermediate geographic regions in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and one of the 134 of Brazil, created by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics ...

and

Immediate Geographic Region of Araçuaí The Immediate Geographic Region of Araçuaí is one of the 7 immediate Intermediate and Immediate Geographic Regions, geographic regions in the Intermediate Geographic Region of Teófilo Otoni, one of the 70 immediate geographic regions in the Bra ...

. Until then, with the divisions into microregions and mesoregions in force, it was part of the microregion of Araçuaí, which in turn was included in the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha.

Climate

The maximum temperature of 44.8 °C (112.6 °F) recorded on November 19, 2023, in Araçuaí, is considered the highest ever maximum temperature recorded in Brazil.

Economy

The city's

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

is around R$520 million

reais The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994. ...

, with 50.3% of the added value coming from services, followed by public administration (33.6%), industry (11%) and agriculture (5.1%). With this structure, the

GDP per capita This is a list of countries by nominal GDP per capita. GDP per capita is the total value of a country's finished goods and services (gross domestic product) divided by its total population (per capita). Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is ...

of Araçuaí is R$ 14.2 thousand, a value lower than the state average (R$ 40.1 thousand) and the region of Teófilo Otoni (R$ 14.9 thousand), but higher than the average of the municipalities in the region of Araçuaí (R$ 11.4 thousand).

Culture

In the city, the Araçuaí Museum was created to house the collection of objects and documents that record the religiosity, customs and activities that make up the history of Araçuaí and the region. The museum was created by the artist Lira Marques and Frei Chico, a Dutch

Franciscan friar The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

who worked as a researcher of Brazilian popular culture and religiosity. Every year, in September, the city holds the Micareta de Araçuaí, an off-season carnival that attracts many people from the region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aracuai Municipalities in Minas Gerais