Montalvânia

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Location of Montalvânia in the state of Minas Gerais

Montalvânia is a municipality in the north of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. As of 2007 the population was 15,961 in an area of 1,484 km².

Elevation of the municipal seat: 510 meters.
Became a municipality: 1962
Postal code (CEP): 39495-000.
Statistical microregion: Januária

Neighboring municipalities are:

North: Cocos in Bahia
South: Manga, Miravânia and Cônego Marinho
West: Bonito de Minas,
East: Juvenília and Feira da Mata in Bahia.

Distances:

Montes Claros: 364 km.
Belo Horizonte: 775 km.

The main highways of access are BR-135 and BR-030. The national park of Caverna do Peruaçu lies to the south near Itacarambi. The boundary with the state of Bahia lies to the north. The municipal seat is 64 km. south of the São Francisco River.

The streets are named after great philosophers and thinkers like Buddha, Confucious, Homer, Plato, and Mohamed. The founder of the town was Antônio Montalvão (1917-1992), a local rancher who donated the land to build lots. He believed that extraterrestrials had used the region as a base to capture energy for their space travels. According to him inscriptions on rocks refer to space ships and rituals practiced between extraterrestrials and humans. See Montalvânia for more information.

The economy is based on agriculture with emphasis on cattle raising. There were 41,000 head in 2006. The main agricultural crops were corn, manioc, sugarcane, and rice. The GDP was R$47,000,000 in 2005.

Municipal Human Development Index:.644 (2000)
State ranking: 760 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000
National ranking: 3,854 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000

(For the complete list see Frigoletto)

Illiteracy rate: 29.51% (older than 16)--the rate for the state was 11.96% (2000)
Infant mortality rate: 34.48--the rate for the state was 17.40
Urbanization rate: 52%--the rate for the state was 80% (2000)