Itaperuna

In the early 1830s, the future Itaperuna grew around the farm of Porto Alegre, established by José Lannes Dantas Brandão. A militia sergeant from Minas Gerais, he had entered the forest after deserting and later returned to settle. In 1834 he transferred rights at the Cubatão waterfall to Geraldo Rodrigues de Aguiar, then disposed of Porto Alegre and established himself farther along the Carangola valley at Fazenda São José.

His relatives also acquired land in the valley. Nearby, José Ferreira César, his wife Maria Angélica da Luz and Puri companions established a dwelling at Laje while seeking gold and gathering wild ipecacuanha, a medicinal root. These early farms and extraction ventures marked the beginnings of colonial settlement around Itaperuna, on land already inhabited and travelled by Indigenous people.