Bele Horizonte (Brazil)

Belo Horizonte is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of the country. As of 2013, the municipality's population is 2,479,175, making it the most populous city in Minas Gerais state and the sixth most populous city in the country. However the city's metropolitan area, the Greater Belo Horizonte, is home of more than 5.15 million inhabitants (excluding the "Metropolitan Attach", or the "Expanded Metro area" which adds more than 650,000 people), making it the third most populous urban agglomeration in Brazil, after only the Greater São Paulo City and the Greater Rio de Janeiro.

Foundation of the city in 1897

The metropolis was once a small village, founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz, abandeirante explorer from São Paulo.
The explorer settled in the region in 1701, leaving a gold rush 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.

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