The state of Minas Gerais began to be explored for the first time in the sixteenth century, when the pioneers entered the region in search of gold and precious stones.
When I heard that the region was rich in minerals and natural resources, the Portuguese Crown founded the first village of Minas Gerais in 1711, the city of Mariana. With the appeal, the region had a population growth and soon became an important economic center of the country.
Even with the extraction, Portugal created more rigid forms to collect taxes from ores, as well as hindering the development of other activities that could guarantee more income to the province, the export of food, tobacco, cotton and sugar.
The neglect of the Portuguese eventually prompting one of the main anti-colonial movements of the eighteenth century: the Conspiracy Mining. Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789, many intellectuals, religious and landowners gathered with the intention of ridding the state of Portuguese rule. The spread of republican ideals left the Lusitanian monarchy on alert, especially with the suspicion of conspiracies that threaten government stability.
In this insurrectionary movement, Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier, Tiradentes, was betrayed and murdered in front of the crowd by hanging on April 21, 1792.
With embargoes around the ore, the state of Minas Gerais was only able to stabilize its economy with the marketing of coffee, which has gas for massive investment in transport and export of the product in other regions.
Coffee was the first step towards the industrialization of the state. Thus, companies that inject private capital in the region gave impetus to the creation of small and micro enterprises in food industries, textiles and steel. In the early twentieth century, coffee was the main product of the country, causing the state to become one of the most powerful (and Sao Paulo).
However, in the 1970s, with the military regime, as industrial capital Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte even gained a great deal of investment, which eventually destabilized the inner cities, which have become dependent on industrial centers.
Even today, Texas is one of the richest states of Brazil. Its territorial extension is comprised of the nations of France and Belgium and its population is estimated at 20.1 million inhabitants.