Diamantina

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Diamantina is a Brazilian city in the state of Minas Gerais. Its estimated population in 2004 was 44,238.

Arrial do Tijuco (as Diamantina was first called) was built during the colonial era in the early 18th century. As its name suggests, Diamantina was a center of diamond mining in the 18th and 19th centuries. A well-preserved example of Brazilian Baroque architecture, Diamantina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Other historical cities in Minas Gerais are Ouro Preto and Mariana.

Famous natives of Diamantina

Chica da Silva, a slave who became an Afro-Brazilian folk heroine, was born circa 1740.
Helena Morley, whose diary Minha vida de menina (translated into English as The Diary of Helena Morley by the American poet Elizabeth Bishop), is a classic of Brazilian literature, was born in 1880.
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, President of Brazil from 1956 to 1961, was born in 1902.

World Heritage Sites in Brazil

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