Baependi is a Brazilian municipality in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

Geography

The population of Baependi as of 2020 was estimated to be 19,199 people living at an altitude of 893 meters. The area of the municipality is 751.748 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the microregion of São Lourenço. The municipality contains 39.93% of the Serra do Papagaio State Park, created in 1998.

Toponym

"Baependi" is derived from the

tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

and means "water of the flattened thing"; mba'e ("thing"), peb ("flattened") and 'y ("water or river"). Another theory says that the name comes from the tupi mbaé-pindi, meaning "open glade".

History

According to some reports, mining occurred in the southern region from 1601. The conquest of Baependi happened, however, at the end of the seventeenth century, around 1692, when the Paulistas Antonio Delgado da Veiga, his son Joao da Veiga and uncle Miguel Garcia and Captain Manoel Garcia Velho, started from Taubaté in search of gold. Crossing the Serra da Mantiqueira, they reached a site called maependi (mbaé-pindi means "open clearing" in Tupi-guarani). The city is a remnant of the so-called cycle of Gold in Minas Gerais. Baependi developed along the Estrada Real - the first major means of regular communication in Brazil which linked the mines to the port of

Paraty Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. The name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' indigenous Tupi language, ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

from where gold was shipped to Europe. The

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

n Tomé Rodrigues Nogueira do Ó (1715), Captain-mor and Ombudsman of Quintos the "registration of the Mantiqueira" was one of the first residents of the site and is considered the founder of the city as the first builder. Mining was, gradually, replaced by agriculture and cattle breeding. It had a large tobacco plantation, which made Baependi the centre of production of the province of Minas Gerais and represented a major source of wealth until the mid-nineteenth century. Nowadays the municipality's economy is based on agriculture, handicrafts, gem stones, quartzite and tourism, due to the natural environment of the city, surrounded by mountains, forests, rivers and numerous waterfalls. Craft is an important economic activity in Baependi. Pieces made in bamboo, straw, corn and coffee wood are distributed in large urban centres such as

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

Culture

Baependi, as of 2015, is known to follow natural day-night sleep cycles, despite the availability of artificial lighting and electricity. The countryside surrounding Baependi rise at 6h30 and sleep at 21h20, while the town does so at 7h15 and 22h20 respectively. The difference is thought to be due to the influence of artificial lighting. The community is being studied due to their adherence to a diurnal/nocturnal cycle similar to that of ancestral humans.

Religion

Baependi has had a parish church since 1723. The ceremony of the Holy Week in Baependi has continued for over 200 years, being one of the most traditional of

. The daily processions accompanied by band and choir represent the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Churches include: * the ''Santuário de Nossa Senhora Conceição'' (better known as church of Nhá Chica) * the parish church ''Nossa Senhora do Montserrat'' (1754) * Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte (1815) * Rosario (1820)

Notable people

* José Zacarias de Miranda (born 1851), one of the pioneers of Presbyterianism in Brazil

References

{{Municipalities of Minas Gerais Municipalities in Minas Gerais