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The Southern Brazilian city of Montes Claros has received some very good news this week. The popular social housing programme known as Minha Casa Minha Vida ( My House My Life) has finally arrived in the area almost four years after the programme was launched. One of the most important cities in the southern interior of Brazil is Montes Claros ('Clear Mountains') in the state of Minas Gerais. It's also one of the oldest settlements in Brazil, tracing its origins back to the early 1700's when Portuguese explorers moved inland from the coast in search of precious metals. Soon a series of ranches and farms also developed in the fertile land in the vicinity. In 1810 the town also became the headquarters of a Roman Catholic diocese. Less than twenty years later the settlement had grown further and was named Vila de Montes Claros de Formigas. Within another couple of decades the population had grown again to exceed 2,000 (large for that time and place) and was finally renamed in 1857 as the city of Montes Claros. Nowadays the population of the city is more than two hundred times as much and exceeds 410,000 people. If you also include the surrounding suburban (and indeed rural zones) within the municipal boundary, the area totals 3,470 Km squared. This is roughly equal to a rectangle of land fifty miles by thirty, the vast majority of it not densely built-up. Montes Claros is about 400 Km from the state capital Belo Horizonte and is connected to it and many other parts of Brazil by a network of major roads including BR 135, BR 365, Br 251 and BR 122. There are also eight daily flights from the local Airport to Belo Horizonte. Regarding the business of the city and its surroundings, agriculture (both dairy and beef cattle and also crops such as corn, cotton andrice) is still important in the district. However, in more recent times manufacturing industry has taken over the top slot in the local economy. Major manufacturing concerns nowadays include Nestle which operates the world's largest site for condensed milk. Another large enterprise is Novo Nordisk Producao Farmaceutica do Brasil which is one of only three producers of Insulin in the whole of Latin America. There is also a massive textile factory, 'COTENOR' and 'LAFARGE BRASIL' which is a huge producer of cement for construction projects. There is also a large number of sites producing dried 'jerky-like' beef, very popular in Brazil. This is yet another example of the economic importance of cattle to the area. There are some particularly unusual features of the local geography. More than a hundred archaeological sites are in the immediate area of Montes Claros. Of special note is the large network of caves at Lapa Grande, about 10 km from the city centre. These are of great interest to explorers from all over the country and beyond. A central feature of these caverns is the spectacular underground river which runs for nearly 1 Km. The local climate is a tropical one with an average temperature of 24 degrees and the vegetation, where it has not been cut down is tropical too. Communications in some aspects got off to a late start. There was no rail links to the outside world until 1926 and no telephone links to there until 1956. Needless to say the city has a full range of communications now! With the introduction of Minha Casa Minha Vida Investments, all thanks to an award winning UK property developer, the city should now enjoy a flood of foreign investment, with keen property investors eager to cash in on the ethical and secure programme
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Montes Claro, Brazil News, Brazil Real Estate, Investing in Brazil, Secure Investments,
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