Sabará - Nossa Senhora do Rosário Church Ruins |
The first explorers arrived at the place where Sabará is placed today in the middle
of the decade of 1550. They were explorers in search of gold and wealth. Near to Serra do Taquaril, there was an excellent place for the
implantation of small plantings, besides water fountains. Farther the nice weather and fertile soil, the river that pass through the region could
be crossed on foot on that point.
As time passed by, the place started to gain small stores and became a stop point
for explorers. Vila Real de Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Sabará surged only in 1711, time when the gold exploration in Minas Gerais were high.
Small hamlets were united to form this settlement.
The founder of Sabará was Manoel de Borba Gato, son-in-law of Fernão Dias. After
the death of his father-in-law, he continued the search for wealth and was the first one to find gold in the margins of Rio das Velhas. He passed
most of his life at Arraial de Sant'Ana, which now belongs to the city.
In 1714, Sabará was a county that bordered with Bahia, Pernambuco, Goiás, Espírito
Santo and Rio de Janeiro. In 1719, Vila Real de Sabará had 127 stores, besides 5771 slaves. All the same, the settlement was not only one of the
biggest commercial centers of the colonial era; it was also an important center for gold processing. Sabará gained Casa de Fundição (Foundry),
today Museu do Ouro, and Casa da Independência in the 20’s.
More than a hundred years later, Sabará was recognized as city, in 1838. |
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