Belo Horizonte - the Brazilian City that is Becoming
There's been a settlement on the site of Belo Horizonte ('Belo' or 'BH' for short) for over three hundred years. However it was only in the 1890's that the beginnings of the modern Brazilian city were laid down. At that time the area was purposely designed and developed to provide a new capital for the south-eastern state of Mina Gerais. Interestingly, some of the inspiration for the layout and buildings came from another deliberately-planned city, Washington DC.
Belo Horizonte, like Rome, is built on several hills but unlike that older centre, it is almost completely surrounded by mountains. The location was carefully chosen and imaginative and it was important, even vital, that local food security featured in the planning from the earliest days. Nowadays, 'Belo' has a population of about 2.5 million in the city itself and over double that in the wider metropolitan area. It's regarded as Brazil's third largest conurbation and is an important regional, indeed national centre.
Both international and domestic companies maintain bases in the city (examples include Google and the Brazilian Oi (formerly Telemar), the largest telecommunications/ telephonic company in the country and the second in Latin America. Other Brazilian or multinational concerns located here include Acominas (siderurgical), Usiminas, Acesita and Telecom Italia. In addition, Sumitimo Metals (Japan) and the French Vallourec organisation have large-scale plans to build an integrated new iron and steel works at the edge of the City.
One can see that although most of the metropolis earns its living, directly or indirectly via the service sector. hard industry ( mainly metallurgical / siderurgical) in one way or another is still very important too. After all, the State itself (as the name suggests) has historically been an important mining region, with iron ore a prominent item but a number of other minerals also significant.
To understand better the 'bottom line' of the local economy it's interesting to note two important pieces of data.In 2008, Greater Belo Horizonte's regional GDP was R$ 100 billion (about US$60 billion) in 2008 and the city's per capita income was R$17,300 ( US$10,800). Both of these are very favourable when compared to elsewhere in the country, the continent or indeed the planet.
There is important financial input into the economy. Both short term investment and long term investment are very significant and the main reason why individuals and companies are continuing to invest in Brazil and why Investment News websites continue to list Belo Horizonte and other Brazilian cities as investment hotspots. Regarding the general environment of 'BH' its location at nearly 20 degrees south of the equator puts the city in the Tropics. However, local geography, mainly the mountains, does have a certain moderating effect so nowadays people speak of the district as being more 'sub tropical. This means the summers are not quite so fierce as one might expect. Overall the temperature ranges throughout the year between 10 and 30 degrees C with the average slightly over the half-way point of that scale.
There is a 'colder' time of the year and as one would expect, that's during the southern hemisphere's winter period. This is at the 'opposite' time to the part of the year usually thought of In that way in northern hemisphere countries like the UK or USA. In Belo, the coolest time of the year is centred on July, and the months either side of it.