Editing Belo Horizonte (section)

=== Brazilian empire and republic ===
[[File:Inauguracaobh.jpg|thumb|left|Founding of the city in 1897]]
The previous capital of Minas Gerais, [[Ouro Preto]] (meaning "black gold," due to dark rocks with gold inside found on the region), originally called "Vila Rica" ("wealthy village"), was a symbol of both the monarchic [[Brazilian Empire]] and the period when most of Brazilian income was from the mining industry. That never pleased the members of the [[Inconfidência Mineira]], republican intellectuals who conspired against the Portuguese dominion of Brazil.

In 1889 Brazil became a republic, and it was agreed that a new state capital, in tune with a modern and prosperous Minas Gerais, had to be established.<ref>[http://www.pampulhanews.com.br/2011/10/belo-horizonte-1949-brazil.html BH – History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904085205/http://www.pampulhanews.com.br/2011/10/belo-horizonte-1949-brazil.html |date=September 4, 2015 }} {{in lang|en}}</ref>

In 1893 due to the climatic and topographic conditions, Curral Del Rey was selected by Minas Gerais governor [[Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena|Afonso Pena]] among other cities as the location for the new economic and cultural center of the state, under the new name of ''Cidade de Minas'', or City of Minas.<ref>{{cite web|title=The City of Minas: The Founding of Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Modernity in the First Republic, 1889–1897 |url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=masters_theses_2|website=Scholarworks.umass.edu}}</ref>

{{illm|Aarão Reis|pt}}, an [[urbanist]] from [[Pará]], was then chosen to design the second [[planned city]] of Brazil after [[Teresina]]. Cidade de Minas was inaugurated in 1897, with many unfinished buildings as the [[Politics of Brazil|Brazilian government]] set a deadline for its completion. The local government encouraged growth through subsidies. It offered free lots and funding for building houses. An interesting feature of Reis' downtown street plan for Belo Horizonte was the inclusion of a symmetrical array of perpendicular and diagonal streets named after [[States of Brazil|Brazilian states]] and indigenous Brazilian [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] tribes.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

[[File:Belo Horizonte (MG).tif|thumb|left|Belo Horizonte, 1970s, [[Brazilian National Archives|National Archives of Brazil]]]]

In 1906 the name was changed to Belo Horizonte, which translates to "Beautiful Horizon" in English. The city's name is derived from the surrounding Curral del Rey Mountains, which create a visually striking, hilly ridge that appears as a "beautiful horizon" when viewed from the city. 

At that time, the city was experiencing a considerable [[Industrialization|industrial expansion]] that increased its commercial and [[tertiary sector of the economy|service]] sectors. From its very beginning, the city's original plan prohibited workers from living inside the urban area, which was defined by Avenida do Contorno (a long avenue that goes around the city's central areas).

Reserved for government workers (hence the name of the trendy neighbourhood "Funcionários"), and bringing about an accelerated occupation outside the city's area well provided with infrastructure since its very beginning. Obviously, the city's original planners did not count on its ongoing population growth, which proved especially intense in the last 20 years of the 20th century.

In the 1940s a young [[Oscar Niemeyer]] designed the Pampulha Neighbourhood to great acclaim, a commission he got thanks to then-mayor and soon-to-be-president [[Juscelino Kubitschek]]. These two men are largely responsible for the wide [[Avenue (landscape)|avenue]]s, large lakes, parks, and jutting skylines that characterize the city today.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discoverbraziltours.com/cgi-local/city.pl?CityID=BHZ|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904085205/http://www.discoverbraziltours.com/cgi-local/city.pl?CityID=BHZ|url-status=dead|title=Belo Horizonte, Brazil|archivedate=September 4, 2015}}</ref> A 1949 American government film favorably reviewed the planning and building of the city.<ref>{{Citation|last=U.S. Office of Inter-Amer Affairs|title=Belo Horizonte|date=1949|url=https://archive.org/details/BeloHori1949|access-date=2017-09-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716095116/https://archive.org/details/BeloHori1949|archive-date=July 16, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Belo Horizonte is fast becoming a regional center of commerce. The Latin American research and development center of Google, situated in Belo Horizonte, was responsible for the management and operation of the former [[social networking]] website [[Orkut]]. It continues to be a trendsetter in the arts, particularly where music, literature, architecture, and the ''avant garde'' are concerned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.belotur.com.br/ing/a_cidade_historia.php |title=History of Belo Horizonte |website=Belotur.com.br |access-date=2011-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110125428/http://www.belotur.com.br/ing/a_cidade_historia.php |archive-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>