Das Velhas River
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The das Velhas River (), is the longest
tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the basin of the
São Francisco river The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...
. Its water flows into that river at a place called Barra do Guaicuí, in the municipality of Várzea da Palma,
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 ...
. The source was found to be the Andorinhas waterfall located in the municipality of
Ouro Preto Ouro Preto (, ), formerly Vila Rica (, ), is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The city, a former Brazilian Gold Rush, colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains, was designated a ...
.


Origin of the name

According to writer Aníbal Machado, this river is known to the amerindians as ''Uaimií'' and by the
bandeirantes ''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...
as ''Guaicuí'', from which the name Barra do Guaicuí for the place where the Das Velhas empties into the São Francisco River. In Tupi "gwaimi" means "old" whereas in Uaimii the final "i" means "river". "Rio das Velhas" means "River of the old women".


Historic importance

The das Velhas river has been of great importance in the development of the central region of Minas Gerais, because it is one of the main roads by which the gold cycle evolved. From its source, the das Velhas River passes through other historical cities in the region, among which
Sabará Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region and to the associated microregion. It is a well preserved historic city and retains the characteristics of a ...
, Santa Luzia,
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 ...
etc. Recent academic research indicates that the das Velhas river could have been the original path to the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais. By this theory, the explorers from the
northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
walked along the banks of the São Francisco river and went on along the Das Velhas River. It is a more natural passage but much longer than the road from
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 ...
or
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 ...
. Passing through the central region of Minas Gerais, the explorers discovered gold and precious stones. Once found, knowing the approximate places, they swiftly went through the rough terrain of the mountains by a much shorter but much more difficult and dangerous route. The dispute over the existing mines led to the
War of the Emboabas The War of the ''Emboabas'' () was a conflict in colonial Brazil waged in 1706-1707 and 1708-1709 over newly discovered gold fields, which had set off a rush to the region between two generations of Portuguese settlers in the viceroyalty of B ...
, at the end of which the Minas Gerais region became a captaincy administered directly by the Portuguese crown.


Present situation

In the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, the Das Velhas river suffered a series of setbacks. A sizable part of the water volume is captured by the Water Treatment Station Agua de Bela Fama. Behind the station the river receives a great quantity of sewage from the Arrudas and Onça streams, both crossing the city of Belo Horizonte. The result is that the das Velhas River in its best known stretch is a river with yellow water (mostly caused by the iron present in the region's soil), extremely polluted and acid. There is practically no life in the water of the river along that stretch. Because of the historic and environmental importance the Manuelzão project was initiated in 1997 by the Medical Faculty of the University of Minas Gerais, with the goal of finding a way to bring back life in the basin of the Das Velhas. The project initialised a series of goals to sensibilise the public opinion, which will result through the embellishment of public, municipal and state policies. In particular rigorous controls of pollution emitters are important. The project has the ambitious goal of having the Das Velhas river revitalised by the year 2010. The Serra do Gandarela National Park was created in 2014 in an effort to protect the water supplying the river, and thus the Belo Horizonte water supply.


References

*Portuguese Wikipedia:
Rio das Velhas The das Velhas River (), is the longest tributary of the basin of the São Francisco river. Its water flows into that river at a place called Barra do Guaicuí, in the municipality of Várzea da Palma, Minas Gerais. The source was found to be the ...
, translation *
''Detailed Basin map (in Portuguese)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velhas Rivers of Minas Gerais