Poços de Caldas is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in the south of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2020 was 168,641 inhabitants. The city is known for its

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

History

Poços was founded in 1872. The region had been inhabited by the Cataguases Indians, who were expelled from their lands by the '' Bandeiras Unidas Paulistas'' during their quest for gold. The place was first called ''Freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Saúde das Águas de Caldas'' ("Parish of Our Lady of Health of Caldas Waters"). In 1874 it became a district, then, in 1875, it was elevated to the category of city. It became famous after the discovery of the

s, and many important people began to visit the spa in search of cures provided by the water. The name comes from Caldas da Rainha, a spa town in central

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Geography

It lies on the boundary of the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

at 1186 meters elevation and is the main socio-economic nucleus of its region, having an area of 547 km² (85 km² urban and 459 km² rural) in the municipality. The physical area is made up for the most part of a high plateau formed by mountains, fields and valleys with an area of approximately 750 km². The average elevation is 1200 m (3937 ft), with Cristo Redentor, the highest point, at 1686 m (5531 ft). The topography is highly suggestive of a volcanic crater and, given that the region's rocks are indeed

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

and there are

s, this gave rise to a common misconception that Poços de Caldas would be located inside the crater of a large extinct volcano. In reality, Poços de Caldas is inside a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

that was formed by the collapse of a central portion of terrain amid elevated areas, and while the latter have volcanic origin, the process that formed the supposed "crater" had nothing to do with volcanic activity. Poços de Caldas occupies a highly strategic geographical location, due to its proximity to São Paulo (243 km), Belo Horizonte (460 km) and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

(470 km), whose connections are made with good highways, and due to its integration into the routes of the hydro-mineral spas of Serra Negra,

Águas de Lindóia Águas may refer to: Places * Dos Aguas, a municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain * Aguas, municipality in Aragon, Spain * Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas, a Rococo palace in Valencia, Spain People People with this surname include: * J ...

, Socorro, Monte Alegre do Sul, Águas da Prata, Caldas (Pocinhos do Rio Verde), Cambuquira, Lambari,

Caxambu Caxambu is a Brazilian municipality in Minas Gerais. Its population in 2021 was estimated at 21,566. Caxambu is renowned for its spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal bath ...

and São Lourenço. Poços de Caldas is also close to the most developed regions of the interior of the state of São Paulo, such as Ribeirão Preto (240 km),

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

(160 km) and

São José dos Campos São José dos Campos (, meaning Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of the Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and res ...

(315 km).

Climate

The climate is characterized by dry winters and mild summers. The winter is from April to September and has an average temperature of 15 °C and rainfall of 315 mm. The summer is from October to March and has an average temperature of 21 °C with rainfall of 1,430 mm. The annual rainfall is 1,745 mm. The average annual temperature is 17 °C with record low of -6 °C and record high of 31.7 °C.

Economy

Known principally for its thermal baths, there are several

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

s in the city. Due to its wealth in hydro-mineral resources, Poços de Caldas is also known for the quality of the

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...

that it produces. There are four factories in the city: Raízes, Antares, Sarandi and Terra Brasil. Poços is famous for its glass, which is known internationally. The founders of the factories were descendants of the artistic glassmakers who lived on the Island of Murano, near Venice, in Italy. In the city there are four glass factories: Ca'D'oro, São Marcos, Veneza and Bonora. The local soils are rich in minerals that yield

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

and zirconium. One rare zirconium ore, caldasite, was named for the area. The city has Brazil's first uranium-ore concentration plant, for use in the

Angra Nuclear Power Plant Angra Nuclear Power Plant is Brazil's only nuclear power plant. It is located at the Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto (CNAAA) on the Itaorna Beach in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It consists of two Pressurized water reactors, ...

Angra dos Reis Angra dos Reis (; Portuguese for ''cove'' or ''bay of the Kings'') is a Brazilian municipality located in the southern part of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The city is located by the sea and includes in its territory many offshore islands, the l ...

. Poços is also the home of one of the largest

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

mines in the world, owned by

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primar ...

. Bauxite is an ore that contains at least 45% alumina, which is extracted to make

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

. The smelting operations at Poços de Caldas have an annual capacity of 90,000 tons/year of primary aluminum. The facility is the largest aluminum-powder production facility in Latin America, and the second largest in the world. The plant has a capacity of 14,000 tonnes/year of aluminum powder and meets the market demand for ferroalloys, refractories, pigments, metallurgy, chemicals, explosives and solid fuel for rockets. The facility began production of hydrated aluminas and hard-burned calcined aluminas in 1985. The city gets most of its electricity from

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

power plants, built and administrated with local resources (

dimethyl ether Dimethyl ether (DME; also known as methoxymethane) is the organic compound with the formula CH3OCH3, (sometimes ambiguously simplified to C2H6O as it is an isomer of ethanol). The simplest ether, it is a colorless gas that is a useful precursor ...

), leading to independence from the state's power system.

Tourism

The city has parks, squares, gardens, and São Domingos mountain, which has trails for walking. The sulphurous water is the main attraction and can be consumed in several fountains and at Thermas Antônio Carlos. There is an aerial tram to get to the Statue of Christ the Redeemer (1,686 m). At the top of the mountain there is a great view of the nearby mountains. The city also offers options such as a Japanese tea garden, a theme park, museums, theaters, and other cultural events, including the yearly Music in the Mountains Festival (''Festival Musica nas Montanhas''). The city is served by Emb. Walther Moreira Salles Airport. File:Thermas Antonio Carlos - panoramio.jpg, Antônio Carlos Spa File:Teleférico em Poços de Caldas - panoramio.jpg, Cable car and Palace Casino File:-vaisuldeminas Ensaio da cidade (8222402025).jpg, Luminous fountain File:2002 Poços de Caldas - MG - panoramio.jpg, The region of the volcanic caldera inactive 90 million years ago

Notable natives

* Mauro Ramos de Oliveira,

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and 1962

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

champion with Brazilian National Football Team * Fabiana Passoni (born c. 1977), Brazilian singer

Sister cities

Poços de Caldas is twinned with: * Takasaki, Japan (1968) *

Jundiaí Jundiaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, in the Southeast Region of Brazil, located north of São Paulo. The population of the city is 423,006 (2020 est.), with an area of 431.21 km². The elevation is 761 m. The GDP of the ...

, Brazil (1991) * Caldas da Rainha, Portugal (2001) * General Pueyrredón, Argentina (2009) * São Luís, Brazil (2011) * São João del-Rei, Brazil (2012) *

Bagé Bagé () is a city located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In 2020, its population was 121,335 in a total area of 4,096 km2. It was the seventeenth largest city in the state according to the 2011 census. The city was founded in 1 ...

, Brazil (2014) * Mount Vernon, United States (2014)

References

External links

Official city government siteMusic in the Mountains Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocos de Caldas Municipalities in Minas Gerais