The city of Belo Horizonte originated from a small town called Curral del Rey.
It was founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz who found the region's climate pleasant.
The district of Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje del Curral del-Rey was created in 1750 by order of the Portuguese Crown. The district was then the seat of the parish of the same name, established in fact in the year 1718 around the chapel built there by Francisco Homem del-Rei.
The parish was officially established in 1748.
At the end of the 19th century, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais was Ouro Preto, which presented difficulties in accommodating urban expansion.
This generated the need to transfer the capital to another site and the region of present-day Belo Horizonte was chosen.
The state capital was officially transferred on December 12, 1897, already with the name of Belo Horizonte.
In the 1940s, a park was created in the Pampulha neighborhood, next to an artificial lake, which received the construction of the chapel of Saint Francis of Assisi, one of the first projects of the well-known Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Parque da Pampulha is today one of the best-known postcards of Belo Horizonte.
See more about the history of Belo Horizonte
See also information on Ouro Preto.
