Araxá

Araxá is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, about 370 kilometres northwest of the state capital Belo Horizonte. It covers 1,283 square kilometres, of which 3.45 square kilometres form the urban perimeter, and the 2022 census counted 111,691 people. It is the main city of the Immediate Geographic Region of Araxá, which groups eight municipalities. The name comes from the Araxás, an Amerindian people who lived in the region before European colonisation, and is explained either as the place where the sun is seen first or, from Tupi, as an elevated place or plateau. Settlers arrived in the mid-17th century drawn by forests and mineral waters, the first farms appeared around 1770, the area became a parish in 1791 as São Domingos de Araxá, and it was granted city status on 19 December 1865. The city centre lies at 973 metres above sea level.