Bocaiuva

Bocaiúva occupies the northern flank of the Serra do Espinhaço in northwestern Minas Gerais. The land rises toward the high ridge and falls toward the Jequitinhonha River, and this position between mountain slopes and river lowland shaped the routes and settlements of the district. The early settlement grew up around a chapel of Our Lord of Bonfim. Local tradition says that a carried image became too heavy to move farther, so a chapel was built where it rested. Cattle and food crops such as corn and rice formed the base of the rural economy.