Agriculture and grazing have become the main dependence of the population—the former in the lower, forested region of the south-east, where coffee and sugar-cane are the principal products, and the latter on the higher campos and river valleys, and on the mountain slopes. The shipping of fresh milk to Rio de Janeiro and butter-making are comparatively new industries. The river valleys of the campo region are also cultivated to some extent. Among the general products are Indian corn, tobacco, mandioca, beans and cotton. There is a large variety of fruits, and the culti vation of grapes for wine. Railway communication with Minas Geraes includes the following lines : the Central do Brazil, the Leopoldina, the Minas and Rio, the Mogyana, Campinas, Sao Paulo and the Bahia & Minas. River transport has some local value on the upper Sao Francisco and its larger tributaries.
The population of Minas Geraes is chiefly of Portuguese origin, which has been constantly strengthened by immigrants from the mother country. A considerable admixture from other nationali ties has resulted from the influx of mining adventurers, and some German colonies have been established in the State. The negro population is large, and there is a still larger contingent of mixed races. The capital is Bello Horizonte (q.v.), or Cidade de Minas; other important cities (pop. 1920) are : the former capital, Ouro Preto, Barbacena, Diamantina, Baependy (pop. 20,680), on the head-waters of the Rio Verde, the centre of a rich tobacco-pro ducing district; Curvello (12,803), north of Sabath in the Rio das Velhas Valley, the centre of a cotton-growing district and cotton manufactures; Entre Rios (9,121) in the coffee district of south east Minas; Januaria (14,308), a river port of the Sao Fran cisco in northern Minas; Juiz de Fora; Marianna (5,851), an episcopal town east of Ouro Preto; Mar de Hespanha (io,I8I), the centre of a productive and populous agricultural municipality of south-east Minas; Paracatu (14,983), an important commer cial centre of western Minas near the Goyaz frontier; Queluz on the Central do Brazil railway; Congonhas do Campo (10,902), in the municipality of Queluz, celebrated for its miracle working image, its great church and chapels and the pilgrimages to its shrine; Sabath (4,900), a railway junction on the Central do Brazil, and port on the Rio das Velhas ; Congonhas de Sabath (16,766), in the municipality of Sabara, where the celebrated Morro Velho gold-mine is situated ; Sao Joao d'El-Rei (17,738) an important commercial mining and pastoral centre; and Uber aba (40,539), a commercial town of the western campos of Minas.
Minas Geraes was first explored by Fernando Dias Paes Leme between 1664 and 1677, though he was not the first European to penetrate it. The discovery of gold in 1692-95 by bands of adven turers from the Salo Paulo settlements, led to every occupation and profession being abandoned in the mad rush for the new mines. Minas Geraes at first formed part of the capitania of Sao Paulo, but in 1720 it became a separate Government and was brought more directly under the Portuguese crown. The arbitrary restrictions imposed upon the colonists aroused dissatisfaction among them and eventually led to conspiracy in 1789, inspired by a fear that the Portuguese government was about to enforce the collection of its "fifths" of the mining output, which had largely fallen into arrears. Among the conspirators was one Jose Alves Maciel, who had just returned from France where he had met Thomas Jefferson and had become infected with French revolu tionary ideas. A number of residents became involved, among them the poet Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga. Reckless talk in public places led to the arrest of the conspirators. Only one was exe cuted, a poor, uneducated subaltern militia officer, Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier, who has been glorified as the proto-martyr of Brazilian independence. In 1822 Minas became a province of the empire created by Dom Pedro I. The abolition of slavery in 1888 caused much discontent among the planters and in the following year Minas Geraes promptly adhered to the declaration of the republic in Rio de Janeiro.