As the third largest Brazilian metropolis, ‘Belo Horizonte’ in Portuguese means “beautiful horizon”. Located on the south-eastern part of the country, the city is famous for its energetic economic and cultural activities.
Belo Horizonte initially was a small village, founded by the Bandeirante explorer from Sao Paulo, Joao Leite da Silva Ortiz. Foreign explorers and ingenious tribes started inhabiting the land from 1701 onwards, owing to the pleasant weather, exquisite landscape and fertile soil supporting agricultural activities. Immigrants from the Sao Francisco River region passed through Curral d’el Rey to settle on this land, contributing further to the increase in its population. The country having a monarchical form of government in early times, is recognized as a Republic at present.
The climatic condition of Belo Horizonte is mainly tropical in nature with annual average temperature varying between 18-19ºC and 22-23ºC respectively. Situated at an altitude of 852 meters, the overall weather of the city is much cooler in nature, compared to the lowland areas.
The cultural achievements of Belo Horizonte are worth-mentioning. Origin of some famous Brazil artistic bands like Giramundo, Grupo Corpo and Uakti, known for their creative dances worldwide, happen to be in this particular region. Theatres and sports activities like soccer are other forms of amusements, offering considerable pleasure to both the inhabitants and the international tourists. In fact, a multi-national touch finds reflection in the diverse cultural activities of the land.
As the principal hub of Brazilian economy, Belo Horizonte attracts a large number of business travelers to the land. The urban service sector is accountable for 85 percent of the total GDP growth of the region, based on traditional industries like metallurgy and siderurgy. A handful of reputed multinational and Brazilian companies like Oi and Google having their headquarters in Belo Horizonte, enhance the economic importance of the region.
The excellent rail-road network of Belo Horizonte offers the tourists, easy and swift access to some places of popular attraction like the Mineirao Stadium, Sao Francisco de Assis Church, the neo-Gothic Boa Viagem Cathedral, Praca do Papa, etc. As the first modern Brazilian city to born out of the drawing table of an architect, Belo Horizonte has an important role to play as the capital of Minas Gerais state.
