Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Sete Lagoas is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Geography: Location Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 km from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. The BR 040 motorway connects Sete Lagoas with Belo Horizonte and the national capital Brasília. The altitude is 761 metres above sea level. It is surrounded by the following municipalities: Araçaí, Funilândia, Prudente de Morais, Capim Branco, Esmeraldas, Inhaúma, Paraopeba, and Caetanópolis.

Geography: Distances • Montes Claros: 355 km. • Uberaba: 521 km. • Uberlândia: 582 km. • Três Marias: 202 km. • Governador Valadares: 383 km. • Juiz de Fora: 331 km. • Funilândia: 28 km.

Geography: District Sete Lagoas is also a statistical micro-region with 20 municipalities: Araçaí, Baldim, Cachoeira da Prata, Caetanópolis, Capim Branco, Cordisburgo, Fortuna de Minas, Funilândia, Inhaúma, Jaboticatubas, Jequitibá, Maravilhas, Matozinhos, Papagaios, Paraopeba, Pequi, Prudente de Morais, Santana de Pirapama, Santana do Riacho, and Sete Lagoas. The total area of the district is 8,560 km².

Economy The economy is based on services, industry and some agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$2 billion 800 million, with 1 billion 120 million from services, 1 billion 250 thousand from industry, and 17 million from agriculture. There were 824 transformation industries in 2005 with 15,000 workers. Heavy industry was important with 23 factories producing mainly pig iron. There is an Iveco-Fiat plant, which opened in 2001, that produces trucks and vans.

Health and education In 2005 there were 51 public and 53 private health clinics. There were 5 hospitals with 315 beds. Educational needs were met by 86 primary schools (29 private), 30 middle schools (9 private), and 56 pre-primary schools (36 private). In higher education there was the private Centro Universitario de Sete Lagoas, the private Faculdade Cenecista de Sete Lagoas, a campus of the private Faculdade Promove de Sete Lagoas, the private Faculdade Ciências da Vida - FCV, the private Faculdade Sete Lagoas de Minas Gerais - FSLMG, and the private Faculdade Setelagoana de Ciências Gerenciais - FASCIG. See Mundo Vestibular. The city also has a campus of the Universidade Federal de Sao João Del Rei where approximately 300 students are attending Food and Agronomic Engineering in a partnership with the Embrapa Maize and Sorghum.

History Evidence of pre-Columbian presence has been found in the Gruta Rei do Mato (Cave of the Forest King).

From around 1700, colonists entered Minas Gerais in search of gold, gems and diamonds. Nowadays, the Santa Luzia quarter is unofficially still called "o garimpo" (meaning "the goldmine").

Between 1780 and 1867, the name 'Sete Lagoas' was used for several regional types of administrations. The municipality of Sete Lagoas was founded in 1867.

Although "Sete Lagoas" means "Seven Lakes", there are currently more than seven lakes in Sete Lagoas (10 within the urban perimeter, 17 in the municipality). Some were dug out while others became part of the town when the town expanded. There are, however, 7 'official' lakes according to a municipal law from 1989. These are: Lagoa da Boa Vista, Lagoa da Catarina, Lagoa da Chácara, Lagoa do Cercadinho, Lagoa José Felix, Lagoa do Matadouro and Lagoa Paulino.

Food Food is an important element of the culture of Minas Gerais. In Sete Lagoas, two dishes can be found that are hardly found elsewhere: Galopé and Muchacho. Galopé is a dish of chicken (galo) and pork feet (pé de porco). Muchacho is also composed of chicken and pork but it also contains cheese.

Sport Bela Vista Futebol Clube is one of 4 relevant football team in the city. Also is known for being the only football team from Sete Lagoas to tour over Europe in the 1959. Despite severe issues throughout the tour, the club reached some highlights scores in matches such as against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabéu.

Democrata Futebol Clube is a football club based in Sete Lagoas. The club plays its home matches at the Arena do Jacaré ("Alligator Arena", so named because of Democrata's mascot; the official name is Joaquim Henrique Nogueira stadium).

Both teams used to play the traditional "sete-lagoano" derby being a very famous and known as the "Clássico dos sertões" (Countryside's Derby). An interesting fact about both was its old home arenas: it was only one block distance from each, which was an extra spice for the rivality. The old Democrata's Arena was demolished, but the original and glorious BV arena is still there.

In 2010 and 2011, Arena do Jacaré served as a home stadium for Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro and América-MG, as both Belo Horizonte stadia - Mineirão and Independência - were going through reforms.

Other smaller, but very competitive clubs are Ideal Sport Club, América Futebol Clube.