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Belo Horizonte
Municipality
The Municipality of Belo Horizonte
Official seal of Belo Horizonte
Seal
Nickname(s): 
BH, The Garden City
Location of Belo Horizonte
Country Brazil
RegionSoutheast
State Minas Gerais
Founded1701
Incorporated (as city)December 12, 1897
Government
 • MayorMarcio Lacerda (PSB)
Area
 • Municipality330.9 km2 (127.7 sq mi)
 • Urban
282.3 km2 (109 sq mi)
 • Metro
9,459.1 km2 (3,652 sq mi)
Elevation
852.19 m (2,796 ft)
Population
 (2009)
 • Municipality2,452,617 (6th)
 • Density7,290.8/km2 (17,521/sq mi)
 • Metro
5,397,438
 • Demonym
Belorizontino
Time zoneUTC-3 (BST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC- (BDT)
Postal Code
30000-000
Area code+55 31
HDI (2000)0.839 – high
WebsiteBelo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Belo Horizonte (lit. "Beautiful Horizon", Portuguese pronunciation: [bɛloɾiˈzõtʃi][1]) is the capital and largest-city of the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Belo Horizonte (or "Beagá", as it is also familiarly known from the sound of its initials "BH" in Portuguese) has a population of over 2.4 million, or almost 5.4 million in the official Metropolitan Area.

The region was first settled in the early 18th century, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, in order to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and hosts several modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the Pampulha Complex. In planning the city, Aarão Reis and Francisco Bicalho sought inspiration in the urban planning of Washington D.C.[2] The city has employed notable programs in urban revitalization and food security, for which it has been awarded international accolades.

The city is built on several hills and is completely surrounded by mountains.[3] There are several large parks in the immediate surroundings of Belo Horizonte. The "Parque das Mangabeiras", located six kilometres south-east from the city centre in the hills of the Serra do Curral, affords a view over the city. It has an area of 2.35 km2 (580 acres), of which 0.9 km2 (220 acres) is native forest. The "Mata do Jambeiro" nature reserve extends over 912 hectares (2,250 acres), with vegetation typical of the Atlantic forest. More than one hundred species of bird inhabit the reserve, as well as ten different species of mammal.

Geography

Surrounding cities and metropolitan area

Municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte.

The term "Grande BH" ("Greater Belo Horizonte") denotes any of various definitions for the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. The legally defined Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte consists of 34 municipalities in total, and a population of around five million inhabitants (as of 2007, according to IBGE)[4][5].

The intense process of urbanisation that is currently taking place in the metropolitan region has rendered defunct some of the political boundaries between municipalities in the region. The city is now composed of a relatively contiguous urban area centered on Belo Horizonte and reaching out into municipalities such as Contagem, Betim, Nova Lima, Ribeirão das Neves, Santa Luzia and Sabará, amongst others.

The city is relatively young by Brazilian standards, hence the municipality of Belo Horizonte is much smaller than most major Brazilian centers, which tends to diminish the proportion of peripheral lower-income population situated inside the city's formal limits.[citation needed] This has a clear effect on the city's economic indicators, especially those relating to income distribution or the proportion of people living below the poverty line in the population.[citation needed]

The municipality bounded to the north by Vespasiano, to the north east by Santa Luzia, by Sabará to the east, by Nova Lima to the southeast, Brumadinho to the south and Ribeirão das Neves, Contagem and Ibirité to the west.

Geology and geomorphology

Belo Horizonte lies on a region of contact between different geological series of the Proterozoic. The geology largely comprises various crystalline rocks, which give rise to the varied morphology of the landscape. It's located in a large geological unit known as craton of San Francisco, referring to extensive crustal nucleus of central-eastern Brazil, tectonicly stable at the end of the Paleoproterozoic and bordering areas that suffered the regeneration at the Neoproterozoic.

Elevation map of Belo Horizonte.

The archean rocks members of Belo Horizonte complex and supracrustais sequences of the Paleoproterozoic is predominant. The area of Belo Horizonte complex includes the geomorphological unit called Depression of Belo Horizonte, which represents about 70% of the municipality area and has its greatest expression in the northern Ribeirão Arrudas (Rues Stream) pipeline. The metasedimentary rocks has its area of occurrence on the south of Ribeirão Arrudas pipeline, constituting about 30% of the area of Belo Horizonte. The characteristics of this area are lithological diversities and rugged topography, which has its maximum expression in the Serra do Curral (Corral Mountain), the southern boundary of the municipality.

Its soil comprises a succession of layers of rocks of varied composition, represented by itabirite, dolomite, quartzite, filities and schists different from the general direction northwest-southeast and dip to the southeast.

The hills of Belo Horizonte are part of the Espinhaço Mountains and belong to the larger Itacolomi mountain chain. The highest point in the municipality is in the Serra do Curral, reaching 1,538 meters (5,046 ft).

Hydrology

Primary watersheds of Belo Horizonte.

Belo Horizonte is located in the São Francisco Basin. There are no large rivers passing through the city, although it does feature several smaller rivers, now mostly canalized. The two largest rivers running through the capital are the Ribeirão Arrudas and Ribeirão da Onça, both tributaries of the Rio das Velhas (Velhas River). The catchments for both rivers are situated towards the source of the Rio das Velhas and cover the municipalities of Belo Horizonte and Contagem, an area of 525.58 km² located on the left bank of the river itself. This is the most urbanized region of the basin, with an estimated population of 2,776,543 million people, according to the IBGE, 2000.[6] The Ribeirão Arrudas crosses the city from west to east. Further north, part of the basin is in Ribeirão do Onça, dammed to form a lake of the same name. The Ribeirão Arrudas ends in the municipality of Sabará and the Ribeirão da Onça in Santa Luzia.

A channelized section of the Ribeirão Arrudas, with the Serra do Curral mountains in the background.

The Ribeirão Arrudas and Ribeirão da Onça receive the majority of wastewater from the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte.[citation needed] As hillsides are urbanized and areas of natural drainage reduced, the amount of wastewater entering the rivers is increasing.[citation needed] Where these rivers join with at their points of confluence with the Rio das Velhas, a marked deterioration in water quality is observed.[citation needed]

Few fish are present in either of these smaller rivers. In tributaries with better ecological conditions, such as in the streams of the Mangabeiras Park, some small catfish and other species are found.[citation needed] In the Pampulha dam, belonging to the sub-basin of the Riberão do Onça, there are about 20 species, some exotics such as tilapia, of African origin.[6]

With two sewage treatment stations running, Belo Horizonte and Contagem have the capacity to treat 100% of their sewage effluent.[6][7]

Climate

Main article: Climate of Brazil

Belo Horizonte's climate can be classified as Tropical of altitude, with yearly average temperature between 9 and 35 °C (48 and 95 °F). The Köppen climate classification of the region is tropical savanna climate, (Tropical on high altitudes, humid/warm summer and a dry/cool winter). As a city located in the southern Hemisphere, Belo Horizonte's spring starts in September, its summer in December, its autumn in March, and its winter in June. Belo Horizonte is located about 300 km (200 mi) distant from the sea.

Even though inter-seasonal differences are not as pronounced as they are in temperate places, and many people believe that, as in much of Brazil, there are just two seasons (a hot and humid one from October to March, and a colder and drier one from April to September), there is a contrast between spring and summer, and between fall and winter.

The coldest month is generally July, with a lowest recorded temperature of 2 °C (35 °F). The hottest month is usually January, with a highest recorded temperature of 35.4 °C (95.7 °F).

There can be problems related with low air humidity during August. The 852 m (2795 ft) elevation of Belo Horizonte helps a little in cooling the city, suppressing high maximum air temperatures experienced in nearby cities at lower altitudes.

Belo Horizonte's climate is mild throughout the year. Temperatures vary between 11 and 31 °C (52 and 88 °F), the average being 20 °C (68 °F). Winter is dry, and summer is rainy.

Climate data for Belo Horizonte
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 28.2
(82.8) 		28.8
(83.8) 		28.6
(83.5) 		27.5
(81.5) 		26
(79) 		25
(77) 		24.6
(76.3) 		26.5
(79.7) 		27.2
(81.0) 		27.7
(81.9) 		27.5
(81.5) 		27.3
(81.1) 		27.1
(80.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 18.8
(65.8) 		19
(66) 		18.8
(65.8) 		17.3
(63.1) 		15
(59) 		13.4
(56.1) 		13.1
(55.6) 		14.4
(57.9) 		16.2
(61.2) 		17.5
(63.5) 		18.2
(64.8) 		18.4
(65.1) 		16.7
(62.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 296.3
(11.67) 		188.4
(7.42) 		163.5
(6.44) 		61.2
(2.41) 		27.8
(1.09) 		14.1
(0.56) 		15.7
(0.62) 		13.7
(0.54) 		40.5
(1.59) 		123.1
(4.85) 		227.6
(8.96) 		319.4
(12.57) 		1,491.3
(58.71)
Source: Tempo Agora[8]

History

The metropolis was once a small village, founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz, a bandeirante explorer from São Paulo. Having found a location with pleasant weather, a nice landscape and good soil for farming, the explorer settled in the region in 1701, leaving a gold hunting expedition. He then established a farm called "Curral d'el Rey", archaic Portuguese for the "King's Corral, which in modern Portuguese would be spelled Curral do Rei." The farm's wealth and success encouraged people from surrounding places to move into the region, and Curral del Rey became a village surrounded by farms.

Another important growth factor of the village were the migrants from the São Francisco river region, who had to pass through Curral d'el Rey in order to reach southern parts of Brazil. Travelers usually visited a small wooden chapel, where they prayed for a safe trip. Because of that, the chapel was named Capela da Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, which means "Chapel of Our Lady of the Good Journey." After the construction of Belo Horizonte, the old baroque chapel was replaced by a neo-gothic church which became the city's cathedral.

The previous capital of Minas Gerais, Ouro Preto, was a symbol of both the monarchic Brazilian Empire and the period when most of Brazilian income was due to mining, and that never pleased the members of the Inconfidência Mineira, republican intellectuals who conspired against the Portuguese dominion of Brazil. In 1889, Brazil became a republic, and it was agreed that a new state capital, in tune with a modern and prosperous Minas Gerais, had to be set.

In 1893, because of good climatic and topographic conditions, Curral Del Rey was elected by Minas Gerais governor Afonso Pena from other cities as the spot for the new economical and cultural center of the state, under the new name of "Cidade de Minas," or Minas City.

Aarão Reis, an urbanist from the State of Pará, was then set to design the first planned city of Brazil, and then Cidade de Minas was inaugurated finally in 1897, with many unfinished constructions as the Brazilian Government set a deadline for its completion. Inhabitation of the city was subsidized by the local government, through the concession of free empty lots and funding for building houses. An interesting feature of Belo Horizonte Reis designed was the downtown street plan, featuring a regular array of perpendicular and diagonal streets, named after Brazilian states and Brazilian indigenous tribes.

In 1906, the name was then changed to Belo Horizonte, and at that time the city was experiencing a considerable industrial expansion that increased its commercial and service sectors. From its very beginning, the city's original plan prohibited workers to live inside the urban area which was defined by Avenida do Contorno (a long avenue which goes around the city's central areas), reserved for the public sector functionaries (hence the name of the still trendy neighborhood "Funcionários"), and causing an accelerated occupation outside the city's area well provided with infrastructure since its very beginning. Obviously, the city's original planners didn't count on its population growth afterwards, which proved especially intense in the last twenty years of the 20th century.

In the 1940s, a young Oscar Niemeyer designed the Pampulha Neighborhood to great acclaim, a commission he got thanks to then-mayor, soon-to-be-president Juscelino Kubitschek. These two men are largely responsible for the wide avenues, large lakes, parks and jutting skylines that characterize the city today.

Belo Horizonte is fast becoming a regional center of commerce. The Latin American headquarters of Google, situated in Belo Horizonte, is responsible for the management and operation of the social networking website Orkut. It continues to be a trendsetter in the arts, particularly where music, literature, architecture and the avant-garde are concerned. There are plans underway to move a complex of government ministries north of the center, onto the road to Confins International Airport, liberating space around beautiful palm-fringed Praça da Liberdade to house the city's symphony orchestra and other arts organizations.

Demographics

According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 5,054,000 people residing in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. The population density was 7,290.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (18,883/sq mi) (in the urban area). The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 2,344,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (46.38%), 2,098,000 White people (41.51%), 581,000 Black people (11.50%), 14,000 Asian people (0.27%), 14,000 Amerindian people (0.27%).[9]

The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte is the 3rd most populous of Brazil, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The city is the 6th most populous of the country.

During the 18th century, Minas Gerais received many Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Northern Portugal as well as a huge number of slaves from Africa.[10]

Belo Horizonte has a notable Italian influence, around 30% of the city's population have some Italian origin.[11] The Italian culture is present in the cuisine, dance, and language.[12] People of German, Spanish, and Syrian-Lebanese ancestries also make up sizeable groups.[13][14]

Religion

Main article: Religion in Brazil
Religion Percentage Number
Catholic 68.84% 1,541,185
Protestant 18.10% 405,265
No religion 8.04% 179,995

Source: IBGE 2000.[15]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Brazil

Belo Horizonte receives large numbers of visitors, as it is in the Brazilian main economic axis, exerting influence even on other states. Both multinational and Brazilian companies, like Google and Oi, maintain offices in the city. The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 85% of the city's GDP, with the industry making up for most of the remaining 15%. Belo Horizonte has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a pole of the Brazilian siderurgical and metallurgical industries, as the state of Minas Gerais has always been very rich in minerals, specifically iron ore.

Belo Horizonte is the distribution and processing center of a rich agricultural and mining region and the nucleus of a burgeoning industrial complex. Production is centred on steel, steel products, automobiles, and textiles. Gold, manganese, and gem stones mined in the surrounding region are processed in the city.[16] Belo Horizonte is home to the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

The main industrial district of the city was set during the 1940s in Contagem, a part of greater Belo Horizonte. Multinational companies like FIAT (which opened its plant in Betim in 1974), Arcelor, and Toshiba have subsidiaries in the region, along with other textile, cosmetic, food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, furnishing and refractory companies. Between the companies headquartered in the city we can list siderurgicals Açominas (held by Gerdau, one of the largest multinationals originated in Brazil); Usiminas; Belgo-Mineira (held by Arcelor); Acesita (partially held by Arcelor); mobile communication Vivo; and Telecom Italia Mobile, as well as the NYSE-listed electrical company CEMIG. Leading steel product makers Sumitomo Metals of Japan and Vallourec of France have also recently announced plans to construct an integrated steel works on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte.

Belvedere

There are also a large number of small enterprises in the technological sector with regional to nationwide success, particularly in the fields of computing and biotechonology. Because of both governmental and private funding in the diversification of its economy, the city has become an international reference in Information Technology and Biotechnology, and is also cited because of the advanced corporate and university research in Biodiesel fuel.

Projects in these fields are likely to expand because of integration between universities, the oil company Petrobras and the Brazilian Government. Over 16% of the Brazilian biotechnological industries are located in Belo Horizonte, with annual revenues of more than US$ 550 million. During the past few years, the city has made investments in "Business-Tourism", by promoting more than 3,000 national or international events yearly. One of the largest events that ever took place in the city, the IDB meeting, occurred in 2005 and attracted people from everywhere in the world.

The two most important industrial clusters of the State of Minas Gerais are around the cities of Juiz de Fora and Belo Horizonte. In southern Minas Gerais, near Juiz de Fora, there is a concentration of textile industries, which started to be established in the 19th century. Belo Horizonte and vicinities (Contagem, Betim, Nova Lima, Pedro Leopoldo, Raposo, Rio Acima, Sabará, Santa Luzia e Vespasiano) have a diversified industrial complex; even though minerals processing still have a large importance, there are important industries of vehicles, food products, textile, chemicals and others. Several steel producers are established all around the State: Mannesmann, Belgo-Mineira, Acesita, Usiminas; there is an oil refinery in Betim, directly connected by pipes to the producing areas off shore the Rio de Janeiro coast; vehicle makers, like Fiat (in Betim) and Mercedes-Benz (in Juiz de Fora) have plants in Minas Gerais.

For a long time it was marked by the predominance of its industrial sector, but from the 1990s there has been a constant expansion of the service sector economy, particularly in computer science, biotechnology, business tourism, fashion and the making of jewelry. The city is considered to be a strategic leader in the Brazilian economy.

The GDP for the city was R$ 32,725,361,000 (2006).[17]

The GDP for the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte was R$ 62,329,388,000 (2005).[18]

The per capita income for the city was R$ 13,636 (2006).[19] In 2007, it was R$ 15,830.[20]

Education

Main article: Education in Brazil
File:UFMGICBICEX.jpg
Federal University of Minas Gerais

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. English and Spanish are both taught as second languages.

Educational institutions

Several higher education institutions are located in Belo Horizonte, including:

Culture

Music

The band Uakti - known for performing on their own musical instruments - originate in Belo Horizonte. Several rock groups have been founded in Belo Horizonte, including Jota Quest, Pato Fu, Skank, 14 Bis, Sepultura, and Tianastácia.Clube da Esquina is a musical movement that originated in the mid 1960s, and since that time their members have been considered influential in Minas Gerais culture. These musicians include Tavinho Moura, Wagner Tiso, Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Beto Guedes, Flávio Venturini, Toninho Horta, Márcio Borges and Fernando Brant, among others.

Museums

Belo Horizonte features a number of museums including the Mineiro Museum, the Abílio Barreto Historic Museum, Arts and Workmanship Museum, a Natural History Museum and the UFMG Botanic Gardens, a telephone museum, the Pampulha Art Museum, the Professor Taylor Gramke Mineralogy Museum, and the UFMG Conservatory. The puppet theatre group Giramundo was established here in 1970, and continues to maintain a puppetry museum hosting a collection of their creations.

Modern Art in the city

Theatre

Every two years, FIT BH, The International Theater Festival of Belo Horizonte, takes place in the city. This attracts artists from all over Brazil and worldwide. With the merger of two projects that would happen separately in 1994, one stage based, organized by the Francisco Nunes Theater, and the other street based, idealized by Grupo Galpão, came FIT-BH Palco & Rua. Produced every two years, under responsibility from the Belo Horizonte City Hall, through the Municipal Culture Office and the Association Movimento Teatro de Grupo of Minas Gerais, in the program there are street and stage shows, and also seminars, workshops, courses, talks, etc.

Dance

Several notable artistic groups originated in Belo Horizonte. Grupo Corpo, which is perhaps the most famous contemporary dance group in the country, was formed in the city in 1975. In March and April is the performance program from FID promoting contemporary dance in Belo Horizonte. The program presents groups from Belo Horizonte. For this project the priority invitations go to the shows created by groups and choreographers living in the city. The purpose is to take shows and other activities such as workshops, talks and video screenings to the less privileged regions of the city regarding access to cultural assets.

Food and drink

The regional food and the "Cachaça", international drink from the State of Minas Gerais are the most popular and top rated of this city.[21] Belo Horizonte hosts the "Comida di Buteco" festival, in which a panel selects 31 bars to see and elect which one makes the best appetizers.

Transportation

International Airport

Confins International Airport (CNF).

Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport is located in the municipalities of Lagoa Santa and Confins, 38 km (23 miles) from Belo Horizonte, and was opened in January 1984. Plans for gradual expansion to meet growing demand had been already drawn up from the airport's inception. The airport has one of the lowest rates of shutdown for bad weather in the country. It ran at limited capacity until 2005, when a large proportion of Pampulha Airport air traffic was transferred to Confins.

Highways

The city is connected to the rest of Minas Gerais state and the country by a number of roadways. Minas Gerais has the country's largest federal highway network.[22]

The city is also served by other minor roads such as state highways MG-020, MG-050, MG-030, and MG-433. There is also an East-West Express Way, which goes from the city to the nearby industrial centers of Contagem and Betim (together having a population of ca. 900,000), and Anel Rodoviário, a kind of "beltway" - indeed it is not circumferential, but connects many highways, such as the federal (BR-ones) so it is not necessary for a large number of cars and trucks to pass through the city center. Many of these roads are in poor condition, but in the last years many revitalization and rebuilding projects have been started.

Bus system

The bus system has a large number of bus lines going through all parts in the city, and is administrated by BHTRANS. Among the upcoming projects are the expansion of the integration between bus lines and the metro, with integrated stations, many already in use. And the construction of bus corridors, with lanes and bus stops exclusively for the bus lines. Keeping buses from traffic congestions, making the trips more viable for commuters.

Metro

Belo Horizonte Metro

Belo Horizonte Metro or MetroBH started operating at the end of 1970s. There is one line, with 19 stations, from Vilarinho to Eldorado Station, in Contagem, but it is now insufficient to address the commuting needs of the entire city,[citation needed] transporting a little over 160,000 people daily. There is a line in construction from Santa Tereza to Barreiro, and another one from Pampulha to Savassi in planning. There is also a project for the expansion for the line 1, from Vilarinho to Ribeirão das Neves and from Eldorado to Betim.

When completed, the MetroBH is expected to transport over 800,000 people daily.[citation needed]

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Brazil
The Municipal Park (Américo Reneé Giannetti) in downtown Belo Horizonte.
Built in 1897 with the city foundation.

Belo Horizonte has several significant cultural landmarks, many of them situated in the Pampulha district, where there are notable examples of Brazilian contemporary architecture. These include one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world, the Mineirão stadium, and the São Francisco de Assis Church, widely known as Igreja da Pampulha, designed by Brazilian Modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer. In Pampulha there is also the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais campus, whose buildings themselves are important contributions to the city's architecture. Other notable Pampulha buildings include the Mesbla and Niemeyer buildings, in addition to the headquarters of corporations such as Usiminas, Seculus, and Telemig Celular.

In downtown Belo Horizonte, are located the neo-Gothic Boa Viagem Cathedral, the church of São José, the Praça da Estação (Station Square), which is an old train station that now is also the Museum of Arts and Workmanship, the Municipal Park, the famous Sete de Setembro Square, where an Obelisk built in 1922 marks the one hundred years of Brazilian independence from Portugal.

Near downtown, in the Lourdes neighborhood, the Lourdes Basilica is located, which is an example of Gothic Revival style. The Nossa Senhora de Fátima Church, in Santo Agostinho neighborhood, is situated in Carlos Chagas Square. Both churches are referred to as the Assembléia Church and the Assembléia Square because of their proximity to the state's legislative assembly.

Next to downtown is the famous Savassi region, known for fine restaurants and as a center of cultural events as well as the best of the city's nightlife. Many landmarks are located there, such as the Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Plaza), and its surrounding buildings, including the Executive Offices of the governor called the Palace of Liberty (Palácio da Liberdade), the first building to be finished during the city's planned development in the late 1890s. Last but not least is the "Rua do Amendoim" (Peanut Street), an example of a gravity hill, where parked automobiles appear to roll uphill, defying gravity. Whether this is an illusion or a magnetic phenomenon is left to the visitor to decide. Though most of the effect seems to have disappeared because of housing development in the area, many people still believe that the street is magic.

Another important landmark is Praça do Papa (Plaza of the Pope), located at a high point just south of the downtown area, with its spectacular view of the entire city. It is named for the July 1, 1980 visit by John Paul II, who held a youth mass there. The nearby Parque das Mangabeiras (Mangabeiras Park) features extensive wildlife, and-owing to its considerable size-has its own bus service, which operates solely within the confines of the park.

Sports

See also: 2014 FIFA World Cup and Sports in Brazil
File:Arena mineirão.jpg
The Mineirão Stadium, 2014 FIFA World Cup.

As in the rest of Brazil, football is the most popular sport among locals. Belo Horizonte has two of the most successful teams in the country - Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro - and the city also has one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, the Mineirão, opened in 1965. The older Independência Stadium hosted a legendary victory of the United States World Cup Team 1950 in a 1-0 triumph over England. See England v United States (1950) and[24] Belo Horizonte is one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the host nation.

Besides football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the whole country, which are played either at Mineirinho, the home of the Brazil national volleyball team, or at the Minas Tênis Clube.

Human development

The human development of Belo Horizonte varies greatly by locality, reflecting the city's spatial social inequality and vast socioeconomic inequalities. There are neighborhoods that had very high human development indexes in 2000 (equal to or greater than the indexes of some Scandinavian countries), but also those in the lower range (in line with, for example, North Africa).[25]

Highest-scoring neighborhoods and localities:

  • Carmo/Sion (0.973) - (Greater than Iceland - 0.968)
  • Cruzeiro/Anchieta (0.970) - (Greater than Iceland - 0.968)
  • Grajau/Gutierrez (0.965) - (Greater than Australia - 0.962)
  • Belvedere/Mangabeiras/Comiteco (0.964) - (Greater than Australia - 0.962)
  • Serra/São Lucas (0.953) - (Equal to Japan, Netherlands - 0.953)

Food as a right

In 1993, under mayor Patrus Ananias de Souza, the city started a series of innovations based on its citizens having the "right to food". These include, for example, creating farmers' markets in the town to enable direct sales, and regularly surveying current market prices and posting the results across the city.[26] The city's process of participatory budgeting was linked with these innovations, as a result of which the infant mortality rate was reduced by 50% in a decade.[27][28] There is also some evidence that these programs have helped support a higher quality of life for the local farmers partnering with the city, and that this may also be having positive effects on biodiversity in the Atlantic Rainforest around the city.[28][29] The city's development of these policies recently garnered the first "Future Policy Award" from the World Future Council, a group of 50 activists (including Frances Moore Lappé, Vandana Shiva, Wes Jackson, and Youssou N'Dour[30]) concerned with the development and recognition of policies to promote a just and sustainable future.

The city has also undertaken an internationally heralded project called Vila Viva ("Living Village" in Portuguese) that promises to "urbanize" the poorest areas (favelas), relocating families from areas with high risk of floods and landslides, but keeping them in the same neighborhood, paving main avenues to allow public transportation, police and postal service to have access to those areas. And all the work is done with 80% of locals, reducing unemployment and increasing family income.[31][32] Former mayor Fernando da Mata Pimentel was nominated for World Mayor in 2005 on the strength of these and other programs.[31]

Sister cities

Belo Horizonte's sister cities are:[33]

See also

References

  1. ^ This is the local pronunciation. Elsewhere in Brazil it is pronounced [bɛlu oɾiˈzõtʃi], ([bɛlu oɾiˈzõti], or [bɛlu oɾiˈzõte]
  2. ^ Belo Horizonte in Brazil Travel
  3. ^ About Belo Horizonte
  4. ^ "Estimativas / Contagem da População 2007". 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-05-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)
  5. ^ "Tabela 793 - População residente, em 1º de abril de 2007: Publicação Completa". 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-05-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b c Projeto Manuelzão-(UFMG). Arrudas e Onça agravam situação do Rio das Velhas: Condições ambientais das sub-bacias refletem impacto da região metropolitana. Boletim das subbacias do Rio das Velhas, Belo Horizonte, n.5, p. 1-3, September 17th, 2003.
  7. ^ Projeto Manuelzão-(UFMG). "BH inaugura nova estação de tratamento de esgotos". Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  8. ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Belo Horizonte".
  9. ^ Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2008 (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: IBGE. 2008. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
  10. ^ Portuguese immigration
  11. ^ Italian origin in BH
  12. ^ Italian Culture in BH
  13. ^ German immigration
  14. ^ Arab immigration
  15. ^ Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática - SIDRA
  16. ^ BH city
  17. ^ GDP (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: IBGE. 2006. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  18. ^ "Produto Interno Bruto dos Municípios 2002-2005" (PDF). Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Retrieved 30-maio-2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ per capita income (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: IBGE. 2007. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  20. ^ (in Portuguese). 2006. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |http://www.pnbonline.com.br/display.asp?id= ignored (help)
  21. ^ Regional food and drink BH
  22. ^ Tempo bom e trânsito lento marcam volta de feriado (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Terra. 2007. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  23. ^ Linha Verde (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Governo do Estado de Minas Gerais. 2007. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  24. ^ Soccerhall (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Soccerhall. 2005. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  25. ^ HDI (PDF) (in Portuguese). Belo Horizonte, Brazil: PNUD. 2000. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  26. ^ Wayne Roberts and Cecilia Rocha (2008). Belo Horizonte: The Beautiful Horizon of Community Food Sovereignty. Quebec, Canada: Alternatives International Journal. Retrieved 2009-11-10. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ FRANCIS MOORE LAPPÉ, CounterPunch, 18 March 2009, The City That Ended Hunger
  28. ^ a b M. Jahi Chappell, PhD Thesis, 2009, From Food Security to Farm to Formicidae: Belo Horizonte, Brazil's Secretaria Municipal de Abastecimento and Biodiversity in the Fragmented Atlantic Rainforest
  29. ^ Cecilia Rocha and Adriana Aranha (2003). Urban Food Policies and Rural Sustainability: How the Municipal Government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil is Promoting Rural Sustainability (PDF). Toronto, Canada: Centre for Studies in Food Security, and Department of Nutrition, Ryerson University. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  30. ^ The World Future Council: Councillors
  31. ^ a b Belo Horizonte Mayor Fernando Damata Pimentel: A program of financial efficiency and social boldness
  32. ^ Template:Pt icon Favela é isso ai
  33. ^ "Mayor's International Council Sister Cities Program". Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  34. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 1.485 de 7 de maio de 1968". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  35. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 2.380, de 11 de dezembro de 1974". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  36. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 2.492, de 22 de julho de 1975". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  37. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 4.574, de 15 de outubro de 1986". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  38. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 4.926, de 18 de dezembro de 1987". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  39. ^ a b Prefeitura Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Relações Internacionais - Cidades Irmãs". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  40. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 8.150, de 04 de janeiro de 2001 (que altera a Lei nº 7.737, de 27 de maio de 1999)". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  41. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 8.272, de 26 de dezembro de 2001". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  42. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 8.443, de 25 de novembro de 2002". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  43. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 8.559, de 17 de junho de 2003". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  44. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei n° 8.591, de 18 de junho de 2003". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  45. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 8.729, de 06 de janeiro de 2004". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  46. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 8.867, de 17 de junho de 2004". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  47. ^ Câmara Municipal de Belo Horizonte. "Lei nº 9.156, de 12 de janeiro de 2006". Retrieved 29 de dezembro de 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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