History of Manhuaçu Emancipated on November 5, 1877, Manhuaçu only became a city a few years later. During this period, it lost a territorial area that originated more than 70 municipalities in the eastern portion of the state of Minas Gerais. The first district to become independent was Caratinga, in 1890, and the last, Reduto and Luisburgo, in 1995. Today the municipality has 622 km² and continues to be the largest in the micro-region, in addition to being an economic hub, providing services and offering the best hotel infrastructure for tourism in the Vertente do Caparaó region. Currently, in addition to the headquarters, the districts are: Dom Corrêa, São Sebastião do Sacramento, Vila Nova, Realeza, Ponte do Silva, São Pedro do Avaí, Palmeiras do Manhuaçu and Santo Amaro de Minas, with the villages of Palmeirinhas and Bom Jesus de Realeza. The name of the municipality comes from the indigenous word mayguaçu, which means big river, a name given by the Indians, the first inhabitants, to the local river. The occupation and settlement of the Zona da Mata, where Manhuaçu is located, is closely related to the indigenous peoples, but the development of coffee, its main source of wealth, was particularly important during the Gold Cycle in colonial Brazil. While the regions of Ouro Preto, São João Del Rei, Mariana and Congonhas were based on mineral extraction, the Zona da Mata was dedicated to agricultural products, precisely to meet the demand of the miners. The first groups of explorers who arrived in the areas of the Pomba, Muriaé and Manhuaçu rivers aimed to capture the Indians to work as slaves on the farms of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, in addition to searching for mineral and medicinal riches (such as the plant called poaia or ipecacuanha) and, later, with the intention of creating fertile farms in the region. At the beginning of the 19th century, the poaia trade was established in Manhuaçu by Domingos Fernandes Lana, who, together with the Indians, opened paths to different parts of the area and received the title of pioneer of Manhuaçu. A few years later, Guarda-Mór Luís Nunes de Carvalho and Ensign José Rodrigues da Siqueira Bueno, coming from Ponte Nova and Abre Campo (Manhuaçu belonged to Ponte Nova until 1877), established the first agricultural units, using indigenous labor. The decline of the gold cycle intensified the process of occupation of the Zona da Mata. In 1830, livestock farming began to spread to the interior of the state and coffee began to expand. Manhuaçu was influenced and, at that time, adopted the product as its main crop. The population left the gold-mining region and went to the coffee plantations. Between 1822 and 1880, the region saw its population increase from 20,000 to 430,000 people. By 1830, coffee had become the main export product of Minas Gerais, with the Zona da Mata region being the largest producer. It began on the border with Rio de Janeiro and then moved inland in Minas Gerais: In the area that today corresponds to Manhuaçu, and as a way of pacifying the indigenous people who were fighting bravely against the white invaders, a village was founded in 1843 by the curator Nicácio Brum da Silveira, in the place that is today the Ponte da Aldeia neighborhood.