title: Bystander effect

text: A meta-analysis (2011) of the bystander effect reported that "The bystander effect was attenuated when situations were perceived as dangerous (compared with non-dangerous), perpetrators were present (compared with non-present), and the costs of intervention were physical (compared with non-physical). This pattern of findings is consistent with the arousal-cost-reward model, which proposes that dangerous emergencies are recognized faster and more clearly as real emergencies, thereby inducing higher levels of arousal and hence more helping." They also "identified situations where bystanders provide welcome physical support for the potentially intervening individual and thus reduce the bystander effect, such as when the bystanders were exclusively male, when they were naive rather than passive confederates or only virtually present persons, and when the bystanders were not strangers."


title: Bystander effect

text: An alternative explanation has been proposed by Stanley Milgram, who hypothesized that the bystanders' callous behavior was caused by the strategies they had adopted in daily life to cope with information overload. This idea has been supported to varying degrees by empirical research.


title: Bystander effect

text: Timothy Hart and Ternace Miethe used data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and found that a bystander was present in 65 percent of the violent victimizations in the data. Their presence was most common in cases of physical assaults (68%), which accounted for the majority of these violent victimizations and less likely in robberies (49%) and sexual assaults (28%). The actions of bystanders were most frequently judged by victims as "neither helping nor hurting" (48%), followed by "helping" (37%), "hurting" (10%), and "both helping and hurting" (3%). Half of the attacks in which a bystander was present occurred in the evening, where the victim and bystander were strangers.


title: Bystander effect

text: Ambiguity is one factor that affects whether or not a person assists another in need. In some cases of high ambiguity, it can take a person or group up to five times as long before taking action than in cases of low ambiguity. In these cases, bystanders determine their own safety before proceeding. Bystanders are more likely to intervene in low ambiguity, insignificant consequence situations than in high ambiguity, significant consequence situations.


title: Bystander effect

text: Latané and Rodin (1969) suggested that in ambiguous situations, bystanders may look to one another for guidance, and misinterpret others' lack of initial response as a lack of concern. This causes each bystander to decide that the situation is not serious.


title: Bystander effect

text: Whether or not a bystander intervenes may have to do with their familiarity of the environment where the emergency occurs. If the bystander is familiar with the environment, they are more likely to know where to get help, where the exits are, etc. Bystanders who are in an environment in which they are not familiar with the surroundings are less likely to give help in an emergency situation.


title: Bystander effect

text: Research done by Garcia et al. (2002) indicate that priming a social context may inhibit helping behavior. Imagining being around one other person or being around a group of people can affect a person's willingness to help.


title: Bystander effect

text: Group cohesiveness is another variable that can affect the helping behaviour of a bystander. As defined by Rutkowski et al., cohesiveness refers to an established relationship (friends, acquaintances) between two or more people. Experiments have been done to test the performance of bystanders when they are in groups with people they have been acquainted with. According to Rutkowski et al., the social responsibility norm affects helping behavior. The norm of social responsibility states that "people should help others who are in need of help and who are dependent on them for it." As suggested by the research, the more cohesive a group, the more likely the group will act in accordance to the social responsibility norm. To test this hypothesis, researchers used undergraduate students and divided them into four groups: a low cohesive group with two people, a low cohesive group with four people, a high cohesive group with two people, and a high cohesive group with four people. Students in the high cohesive group were then acquainted with each other by introducing themselves and discussing what they liked/disliked about school and other similar topics. The point of the experiment was to determine whether or not high cohesive groups were more willing to help a hurt "victim" than the low cohesive groups. The four member high cohesive groups were the quickest and most likely groups to respond to the victim who they believed to be hurt. The four member low cohesive groups were the slowest and least likely to respond to the victim.


title: Bystander effect

text: Altruism research suggests that helping behaviour is more likely when there are similarities between the helper and the person being helped. Recent research has considered the role of similarity, and more specifically, shared group membership, in encouraging bystander intervention. In one experiment (2005), researchers found that bystanders were more likely to help an injured person if that person was wearing a football jersey of a team the bystander liked as opposed to a team the bystander did not like. However, when their shared identity as football fans was made salient, supporters of both teams were likely to be helped, significantly more so than a person wearing a plain shirt.


title: Bystander effect

text: The findings of Mark Levine and Simon Crowther (2008) illustrated that increasing group size inhibited intervention in a street violence scenario when bystanders were strangers, but encouraged intervention when bystanders were friends. They also found that when gender identity is salient, group size encouraged intervention when bystanders and victims shared social category membership. In addition, group size interacted with context-specific norms that both inhibit and encourage helping. The bystander effect is not a generic consequence of increasing group size. When bystanders share group-level psychological relationships, group size can encourage as well as inhibit helping.


title: Bystander effect

text: These findings can be explained in terms of self-categorization and empathy. From the perspective of self-categorization theory, a person's own social identity, well-being is tied to their group membership so that when a group based identity is salient, the suffering of one group member can be considered to directly affect the group. Because of this shared identity, referred to as "self-other merging," bystanders are able to empathize, which has been found to predict helping behaviour. For example, in a study relating to helping after eviction both social identification and empathy were found to predict helping. However, when social identification was controlled for, empathy no longer predicted helping behaviour.


title: Bystander effect

text: In discussing the case of Wang Yue and a later incident in China, in which CCTV footage from a Shanghai subway showed passengers fleeing from a foreigner who fainted, UCLA anthropologist Yunxiang Yan said that the reactions can be explained not only by previous reports of scamming from older people for helping, but also by historical cultural differences in Chinese agrarian society, in which there was a stark contrast between how individuals associated with ingroup and outgroup members, saying, "How to treat strangers nicely is one of the biggest challenges in contemporary Chinese society...The prevailing ethical system in traditional China is based on close-knit community ties, kinship ties." He continued, "A person might treat other people in the person's social group very, very nicely... But turn around, when facing to a stranger, and (a person might) tend to be very suspicious. And whenever possible, might take advantage of that stranger." In spite of this, Yan thought Chinese society was moving to a more positive direction, with the younger generation having more inclusive values as a result of growing up in a more globalized society.


title: Bystander effect

text: In India, the phenomena of bystanders failing to help after witnessing violent incidents have also been partly attributed to culture. Indian sociologist Ashis Nandy contended it was due to the "increasing brutalisation of our society" which resulted from "rapid cultural change and the change in education standards". According to psychologist Devika Kapoor, the bystander effect in India "seems more pronounced because of our cultural conditioning. We're often told to mind our own business as young kids and not ask questions. This then carries into our adult lives too, where we choose to isolate ourselves from situations that don't concern us."


title: Bystander effect

text: Darley and Latané (1968) conducted research on diffusion of responsibility. The findings suggest that in the case of an emergency, when people believe that there are other people around, they are less likely or slower to help a victim because they believe someone else will take responsibility. People may also fail to take responsibility for a situation depending on the context. They may assume that other bystanders are more qualified to help, such as doctors or police officers, and that their intervention would be unneeded. They may also be afraid of being superseded by a superior helper, offering unwanted assistance, or facing the legal consequences of offering inferior and possibly dangerous assistance. For this reason, some legislations, such as "Good Samaritan Laws" limit liability for those attempting to provide medical services and non-medical services in an emergency.


title: Bystander effect

text: A 2009 study published by International Ombudsman Association in the "Journal of the International Ombudsman Association" suggests that—in reality—there are dozens of reasons why people do not act on the spot or come forward in the workplace when they see behavior they consider unacceptable. The most important reasons cited for not acting were: the fear of loss of important relationships in and out of the workplace, and a fear of "bad consequences". There also were many reasons given by people who did act on the spot or come forward to authorities.


title: Bystander effect

text: This practitioners' study suggests that the "bystander effect" can be studied and analyzed in a much broader fashion. The broader view includes not just a) what bystanders do in singular emergencies, b) helping strangers in need, when c) there are (or are not) other people around. The reactions of bystanders can also be analyzed a) when the bystanders perceive any of a wide variety of unacceptable behavior over time, b) they are within an organizational context, and c) with people whom they know. The practitioners' study reported many reasons why some bystanders within organizations do not act or report unacceptable behavior. The study also suggests that bystander behavior is, in fact, often helpful, in terms of "acting on the spot to help" and "reporting" unacceptable behavior (and emergencies and people in need.) The ombuds practitioners' study suggests that what bystanders will do in real situations is actually very complex, reflecting views of the context and their managers (and relevant organizational structures if any) and also many personal reasons.


title: Bystander effect

text: In support of the idea that some bystanders do indeed act responsibly, Gerald Koocher and Patricia Keith Spiegel wrote a 2010 article related to an NIH-funded study which showed that informal intervention by peers and bystanders can interrupt or remedy unacceptable scientific behavior.


title: Bystander effect

text: John Quiñones' primetime show, "Primetime: What Would You Do?" on ABC, tests the bystander effect. Actors are used to act out (typically non-emergency) situations while the cameras capture the reactions and actions of innocent bystanders. Topics include cheating on a millionaire test, an elderly person shoplifting, racism and homophobia.


title: Bystander effect

text: Research suggests that the bystander effect may be present in computer-mediated communication situations. Evidence demonstrates that people can be bystanders even when they cannot see the person in distress. In the experiment, 400 online chat groups were observed. One of two confederates were used as victims in each chat room: either a male victim whose screen name was Jake Harmen or a female victim whose screen name was Suzy Harmen. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether or not the gender of the victim mattered, if the size of each chat group had any effect and if asking for a person's help by directly using their screen name would have any effect.


title: Bystander effect

text: Results indicated that the gender of the victim had no effect on whether or not a bystander assisted the victim. Consistent with findings of Latané and Darley, the number of people present in the chat room did have an effect. The response time for smaller chat groups was quicker than in the larger chat groups. However, this effect was nonexistent when the victim (Suzy or Jake) asked for help from a specific person in the chat group. The mean response time for groups in which a specific person was called out was 36.38 seconds. The mean response time for groups in which no screen name was pointed out was 51.53 seconds. A significant finding of the research is that intervention depends on whether or not a victim asked for help by specifying a screen name. The group size effect was inhibited when the victim specifically asked a specific person for help. The group size effect was not inhibited if the victim did not ask a specific person for help.


title: Bystander effect

text: Although most research has been conducted on adults, children can be bystanders too. A study conducted by Robert Thornberg in 2007 came up with seven reasons why children do not help when another classmate is in distress. These include: trivialisation, dissociation, embarrassment association, 'busy working' priority (the prioritisation of a current task instead of assistance), compliance with a competitive norm (where another social norm applies, a child may instead comply with that norm), audience modelling (modelling of the behaviours of the other audience members), and responsibility transfer (assuming that another person is responsible).


title: Bystander effect

text: In a further study, Thornberg concluded that there are seven stages of moral deliberation as a bystander in bystander situations among the Swedish schoolchildren he observed and interviewed: (a) "noticing that something is wrong", i.e., children pay selective attention to their environment, and sometimes they do not tune in on a distressed peer if they are in a hurry or their view is obstructed, (b) "interpreting a need for help"—sometimes children think others are just playing rather than actually in distress or they display pluralistic ignorance, (c) "feeling empathy", i.e., having tuned in on a situation and concluded that help is needed, children might feel sorry for an injured peer, or angry about unwarranted aggression (empathic anger), (d) "processing the school's moral frames"—Thornberg identified five contextual ingredients influencing children's behavior in bystander situations (the definition of a good student, tribe caring, gender stereotypes, and social-hierarchy-dependent morality), (e) "scanning for social status and relations", i.e., students were less likely to intervene if they did not define themselves as friends of the victim or belonging to the same significant social category as the victim, or if there were high-status students present or involved as aggressors—conversely, lower-status children were more likely to intervene if only a few other low-status children were around, (f) "condensing motives for action", such as considering a number of factors such as possible benefits and costs, and (g) "acting", i.e., all of the above coalesced into a decision to intervene or not. It is striking how this was less an individual decision than the product of a set of interpersonal and institutional processes.


title: Bystander effect

text: In an effort to make South African courts more just in their convictions, the concept of "extenuating circumstances" came into being. However, no concrete definition of extenuating circumstances was ever made. The South African courts began using the testimony of expert social psychologists to define what extenuating circumstances would mean in the justice system. Examples include: deindividuation, bystander apathy, and conformity.


title: Bystander effect

text: In the case of "S. vs. Sibisi and Others (1989)" eight members of the South African Railways and Harbours Union were involved in the murder of four workers who chose not to join in the SARHWU strike. Psychologists Scott Fraser and Andrew Colman presented evidence for the defense using research from social psychology.


title: Bystander effect

text: Social anthropologist Boet Kotzé provided evidence for the defense as well. He testified that African cultures are characterized by a collective consciousness. Kotzé testified that the collective conscious contributed to the defendants' willingness to act with the group rather than act as individuals. Fraser and Colman stated that "bystander apathy," deindividuation, conformity and group polarization were extenuating factors in the killing of the four strike breakers. They explained that deindividuation may affect group members' ability to realize that they are still accountable for their individual actions even when with a group. They also used research on bystander apathy by Latané and Darley to illustrate why four of the eight defendants watched as the other four defendants killed four men. The testimonies of Fraser and Colman helped four of the defendants escape the death penalty.


title: Bystander effect

text: Some parts of the world have included laws that hold bystanders responsible when they witness an emergency.


title: Bystander effect

text: In the US, Good Samaritan laws have been implemented to protect bystanders who acted in good faith. Many organizations are including bystander training. For example, the United States Department of the Army is doing bystander training with respect to sexual assault. Some organizations routinely do bystander training with respect to safety issues. Others have been doing bystander training with respect to diversity issues. Organizations such as American universities are also using bystander research to improve bystander attitudes in cases of rape. Examples include the InterAct Sexual Assault Prevention program and the Green Dot program. Others have been critical of these laws for being punitive and criminalizing the problem they are meant to address.


title: Bystander effect

text: Many institutions have worked to provide options for bystanders who see behavior they find unacceptable. These options are usually provided through complaint systems—so bystanders have choices about where to go. One option that is particularly helpful is that of an organizational ombudsman, who keeps no records for the employer and is near-absolutely confidential.


title: Bystander effect

text: The murder of Kitty Genovese is the case that originally stimulated social psychological research into the "bystander effect". On March 13, 1964, Genovese was stabbed, sexually assaulted, and murdered while walking home from work at 3 a.m. in Queens, New York. According to a sensationalized article in "The New York Times", 38 witnesses watched the stabbings but did not intervene or even call the police until after the attacker fled and Genovese had died.


title: Bystander effect

text: The shocking account drew widespread public attention and many newspaper editorials. Psychology researchers Latané and Darley attributed the lack of help by witnesses to diffusion of responsibility: because each witness saw others witnessing the same event, they assumed that the others would be taking responsibility and calling the police, and therefore did nothing to stop the situation themselves.


title: Bystander effect

text: An article published in "American Psychologist" in 2007 found that the story of Genovese's murder had been exaggerated by the media. There were far fewer than 38 eyewitnesses, the police were called at least once during the attack, and many of the bystanders who overheard the attack could not actually see the event. In 2016, "The New York Times" called its own reporting "flawed", stating that the original story "grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived".


title: Bystander effect

text: On October 24, 2009, a female student of Richmond High School was gang-raped and beaten by a group of boys and men after a classmate invited her to a dark courtyard outside the school's homecoming dance. It was reported that she was treated politely and drank brandy with the group before the assault took place, which lasted two and a half hours before a young woman notified the police. As many as 20 people witnessed the incident, with several reportedly cheering and videotaping it. She was hospitalised for scrapes and bruises all over her face and body, and later sustained scars from cigarette burns on her back, as well as hips that regularly pop out of place. The case drew nationwide outrage.


title: Bystander effect

text: On Memorial Day, 2011, 53-year-old Raymond Zack, of Alameda, California, walked into the waters off Robert Crown Memorial Beach and stood neck deep in water roughly 150 yards offshore for almost an hour. His foster mother, Dolores Berry, called 9-1-1 and said that he was trying to drown himself. (There are conflicting reports about Zack's intentions.) Firefighters and police responded but did not enter the water. The firefighters called for a United States Coast Guard boat to respond to the scene. According to police reports, Alameda police expected the firefighters to enter the water. Firefighters later said that they did not have current training and certifications to perform land-based water rescue. Dozens of civilians on the beach, and watching from their homes across from the beach, did not enter the water, apparently expecting public safety officers to conduct a rescue. Eventually, Zack collapsed in the water, apparently from hypothermia. Even then, nobody entered the water for several minutes. Finally, a good samaritan entered the water and pulled Zack to shore. Zack died afterwards at a local hospital.


title: Bystander effect

text: On October 13, 2021, a passenger was sexually harassed and eventually raped by another rider on a SEPTA train in Philadelphia, with several bystanders in the area purportedly witnessing the incident, even allegedly recording the assault on their phones, and failing to alert authorities or stop the assault until one off-duty employee called 911 after boarding the train and noticing the attack. The sexual assault, which went on for nearly 40 minutes, as well as the passengers' apparent lack of action, was recorded on SEPTA surveillance video. After the initial 911 call, a SEPTA officer boarded the train when it arrived at the 69th Street Transportation Center, arresting the suspect after pulling him off the victim.


title: Bystander effect

text: This assault gained international attention for the passengers' apparent lack of action, though some scholars argued that the bystanders simply did not know what to do in that instance. According to SEPTA general manager Leslie Richards, the arrest occurred 3 minutes after the initial 911 call, which happened after the victim had been harassed for more than half an hour. The organization eventually released a statement, saying "There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911." However, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer refuted the claim that the bystanders were filming the assault, countering that many of the bystanders may not have understood what they were seeing.


title: Bystander effect

text: In July 2016, a 24-year-old Myanmar citizen and domestic maid Piang Ngaih Don was abused and murdered by her employer Gaiyathiri Murugayan and Gaiyathiri's mother Prema S. Naraynasamy. Both Gaiyathiri and Prema were arrested and charged with murder, while a third accomplice, Gaiyathiri's husband Kevin Chelvam who was then a police officer, was also charged with maid abuse and his police duties were suspended in view of his criminal proceedings. Subsequently, Gaiyathiri was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment in June 2021 for a lower charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.


title: Bystander effect

text: The case invoked public outrage, shock and anger over the extensive cruelty of the case and death of the maid. Piang's case also demonstrated chilling similarities and comparisons to Kitty Genovese's murder and the existence of the bystander effect, as it was discovered that during the regular health-checks at the hospital and the maid agency, there were people who suspected that Piang may be abused but Gaiyathiri and her family denied them; no police report were made as well in relation to these suspected signs of maid abuse.


title: Bystander effect

text: In 2019, a large international cultural anthropology study analyzed 219 street disputes and confrontations that were recorded by security cameras in three cities in different countries—Lancaster, Amsterdam, and Cape Town. Contrary to bystander theory, the study found that bystanders intervened in almost every case, and the chance of intervention went up with the number of bystanders; "a highly radical discovery and a completely different outcome than theory predicts."


title: Mark Millar

text: Mark Millar (; born 24 December 1969) is a Scottish comic book writer and television producer who first came to prominence with a run on the superhero series "The Authority", published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. Millar has written extensively for Marvel Comics, including runs on "The Ultimates", which has been called "the comic book of the decade" by "Time" magazine and described as a major inspiration for the 2012 film "The Avengers" by its screenwriter Zak Penn, "X-Men", "Fantastic Four" and "" for Marvel's Ultimate imprint, as well as "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" and "Wolverine". In 2006, Millar wrote the "Civil War" mini-series that served as the centrepiece for the eponymous company-wide crossover storyline and later inspired the Marvel Studios film "". The "Old Man Logan" storyline, published as part of Millar's run on "Wolverine", served as the inspiration for the 2017 film "Logan".


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar has written numerous creator-owned series which have been published under the unified Millarworld label, including "Wanted" with J. G. Jones, "Kick-Ass" with John Romita, Jr., "Nemesis" with Steve McNiven, "Superior" and "Supercrooks" with Leinil Francis Yu, "The Secret Service" with Dave Gibbons and "Jupiter's Legacy" with Frank Quitely. Some of these series have been adapted into live action and animated series and feature films, such as "Wanted", "Kick-Ass", "", "Jupiter's Legacy" and "Super Crooks". In 2017, Millarworld was purchased by Netflix with the aim for Millar to continue developing original properties that would later be adapted by the studio into various formats.


title: Mark Millar

text: In addition to his work as a writer, Millar serves as an executive producer on all film and television adaptations of his comics. Between 2012 and 2016, he was employed by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant for adaptations of Marvel properties.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2013, Millar was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to film and literature.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar was born on 24 December 1969 in Coatbridge, Scotland. He spent the first half of his life in the town's Townhead area and attended St. Ambrose High School.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar has four older brothers, and one older sister, who are 22, 20, 18, 16 and 14 years older than him, respectively. He was first introduced to comic books at age 4 by his brother Bobby, who at the time was attending university and, as of 2010, worked at a special needs school. The first comics that Millar read were the seminal 121st issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man", which featured the death of Gwen Stacy, and a Superman book purchased by Bobby that day. Millar's interest in the medium was further cemented with the black-and-white reprints of other comics, purchased for him by his brothers, so much that he drew a spider web across his face with an indelible marker that his parents were unable to scrub off in time for his First Communion photo a week later.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar's mother died of a heart attack at age 64, when Millar was 14, and his father died four years later, aged 65. Although Millar enjoyed drawing comics, he was not permitted to go to art school because his family frowned upon such endeavours as a waste of time for the academic Millar, who studied subjects like chemistry, physics and advanced maths. He initially planned to be a doctor, and subsequently decided that becoming an economist would be a viable alternate plan, but later decided that he "couldn't quite hack it" in that occupation. He attended Glasgow University to study politics and economics, but dropped out after his father's death left him without the money to pay his living expenses.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar was first inspired to become a comic book creator after meeting Alan Moore at a con in the mid-1980s. Years later, when an 18-year-old Millar interviewed Scottish comic book writer Grant Morrison for a fanzine, he told Morrison that he wanted to create comics as both a writer and an artist. Morrison, who then-recently returned to comics after spending most of the decade touring with his band The Mixers and had limited experience both of writing and drawing stories earlier in his career, suggested that Millar focus on one of those career paths, as it was very hard to be successful at both, which Millar cites as the best advice he has ever received. Soon after, Millar sold his first script, "Saviour", to an independent Leicester-based publisher Trident. Illustrated by Daniel Vallely, Morrison's former bandmate in The Mixers and, earlier, The Fauves, "Saviour" provided a mix of religious themes, satire and superhero action that quickly brought Millar to the attention of the wider British comics industry and resulted in several script commissions for the long-running anthology "2000 AD" and its sister title "Crisis".


title: Mark Millar

text: In 1992, Trident's owner Neptune Distribution went bankrupt, leaving both "Saviour" and "The Shadowmen", Millar's second series at the publisher, unfinished. By that time, Millar already became a semi-regular contributor to "2000AD" and its adjacent titles, and his output included several "Robo-Hunter" serials, a six-part prison story "Insiders" for "Crisis", a "Judge Dredd" spin-off series "Red Razors", as well as numerous newspaper strips starring Dredd himself for "Daily Star". The following year, Millar, Morrison and writer John Smith were given editorial reins over "2000AD" for an eight-week run titled "The Summer Offensive". The controversial initiative resulted, among other things, in the first major story co-written by Millar and Morrison, "Big Dave".


title: Mark Millar

text: In 1994, Millar crossed over to the American comic book industry, taking over the long-running series "Swamp Thing", published under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The first four issues of his run were again co-written with Morrison, who, according to Millar, "came on board <...> to make sure that DC selected me above anyone else pitching for the gig". Although Millar's further work on "Swamp Thing" brought some critical acclaim to the ailing title, the book's sales were still low enough to warrant cancellation by the publisher. For the next few years, Millar continued to write sporadically for "2000AD" and various American publishers, often co-scripting the stories with Morrison, with whom he shares the writing credit on the mini-series "Skrull Kill Krew" for Marvel, a short run on "Vampirella" for Harris, a year-long run on "The Flash" as well as "Aztek: The Ultimate Man" for DC.


title: Mark Millar

text: Several of Millar's unrealized projects of this period include a revamp of Marvel's 2099 imprint and an "end-of-the-world" storyline for "Marvel Tales", both co-created with Grant Morrison. In late 1998, Millar and Morrison, along with Mark Waid and Tom Peyer, developed an extensive proposal for the Superman titles that was scheduled to launch in January 2000. The proposal was greenlit, and the team's tenure as collaborative writers was scheduled to begin with upcoming editor Eddie Berganza's first issue. Upon returining from his vacation, then-current DC editor Mike Carlin was shocked to discover that big changes were being implemented to Superman without his knowledge and vetoed the project. In 1999, Millar also developed pitches for Phantom Stranger and Secret Society of Super-Villains as well as a revamp of his debut series "Saviour".


title: Mark Millar

text: In the late 1990s, Millar made the first attempt to branch out from comics into screenwriting with a vampire-themed black comedy-drama "Sikeside". The script was eventually picked up by Channel 4 with Millar as both writer and director, and, although it was initially written as a TV movie, the production company asked Millar to develop it into a six-episode series instead. Described as ""Buffy" meets "Trainspotting"" and planned to be filmed in Millar's hometown of Coatbridge, "Sikeside" was ultimately cancelled during pre-production. In a 2010 interview, Millar mentioned that he has sold the rights to the script to producer Angus Lamont who wanted to turn it into a film for a theatrical release.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar started gaining notice at DC Comics for his work on the all-ages comic book series "Superman Adventures", which featured stories set in the continuity of "". Millar, a self-proclaimed Superman fan, stayed on the title for two years and received two Eisner Award nominations while penning one-off stories featuring the version of the character from the mainline DC Universe. Millar's best known Superman story, the three-issue Elseworlds mini-series "", was first announced in 1998, even though Millar finished most of the script two year prior. As the series' original artist Dave Johnson fell behind the schedule, Millar opposed the idea of using other artists for the remaining pages. DC eventually brought in artist Kilian Plunkett to complete the book in 2002. "Red Son", which Millar first came up with as a child after reading "Superman" #300, was published the following year and later adapted into an .


title: Mark Millar

text: In August 1999, it was announced that Millar and Scottish artist Frank Quitely will be taking over "The Authority", an ongoing series published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint, on the recommendation of the outgoing writer and series' co-creator Warren Ellis. Millar's trademark style of over-the-top violence mixed with satire, pop culture references and mature themes was met with critical and commercial success while the book itself suffered from censorship enacted by DC starting with the new creative team's very first issue and continuing into Millar-written . As a result, the creators repeatedly requested a "Suggested for Mature Readers" label for the series but the idea was vetoed by then-Publisher of DC Comics Paul Levitz. Meanwhile, DC published a "lost" "Superman Adventures" script by Millar to capitalize on his newfound success, while Millar himself considered a move from his native Scotland to the United States, deliberating between staff position offers made by Wildstorm and DC Comics' main competitor Marvel.


title: Mark Millar

text: In June 2000, Marvel announced that Millar will join its then-upcoming "Ultimate" line of comics as the writer on "Ultimate X-Men", since Brian Michael Bendis, who was previously attached to the series, decided to focus his attention on the inaugural "Ultimate" launch of the Spider-Man title. The line, designed to simplify and streamline the company's long-running fictional continuity for mainstream audiences, was met with instant critical and commercial success and, soon after the launch of "Ultimate X-Men", Millar announced that he had signed a two-year contract for a staff writing position at Marvel. As part of the deal, Millar and his family relocated to New York.


title: Mark Millar

text: In November 2000, Millar and Quitely announced their plans to leave "The Authority" after the third story arc, which was supposed to run in issues #22–25 (cover-dated March–June 2001) if the series was to maintain a monthly schedule. However, soon after the first issue of the arc was published, it was announced that Quitely had signed an exclusive contract with Marvel and would therefore leave the title earlier than planned. Wildstorm assigned Art Adams to finish the last issues and hired writer Tom Peyer and artist Dustin Nguyen to create another four-issue story arc that would fill the publishing gap while Adams worked on his portion of the series. Then, following the 11 September 2001 attacks, Wildstorm decided to postpone the release of the remaining three issues and further edit the completed but not yet released work for sensitive content, which eventually drove Adams away from the title. "The Authority" #29, Millar's last issue on the series, was published with art by Gary Erskine and the cover date of July 2002. Another Millar-written "The Authority" spin-off, a one-shot story tentatively titled "Apollo/Midnighter", was announced for a 2000 release but never produced.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2002, Millar and artist Bryan Hitch further expanded Marvel's Ultimate line with "The Ultimates", a reimagining of the company's Avengers team. The title also proved highly successful, although it suffered from delays in shipping due to Hitch's personal issues. "The Ultimates" was eventually cancelled after 13 issues and two years of publication with the aim of relaunching the title so that more issues could be produced in advance. "The Ultimates 2" launched shortly thereafter and also suffered from delays, this time due to Millar's newly-diagnosed chronic condition and increased workload at Marvel. The second volume as well as the creative team's run on the title ended in 2007 with another 13th issue. Millar and Hitch's work on "The Ultimates" inspired two Marvel Animated Features titled "Ultimate Avengers" and the subsequent 2012 Marvel Studios feature film "The Avengers", directed by Joss Whedon. Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who portrayed the character Quicksilver in the 2015 sequel film "", stated that it also drew inspiration from the Ultimate comics.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2002 and 2003, Millar wrote a column for Comic Book Resources. Around the same time, Millar's website included a teaser for a 6-issue Punisher series with artist Steve Dillon, although no official announcement was made by Marvel. In 2003, Millar and artist Terry Dodson launched "Trouble" at Marvel's newly-revived Epic imprint, a series meant to re-popularize romance comics that ended up both a sales and critical failure. That same year, Millar renewed his exclusive contract with Marvel for two more years. The following year, he penned two 12-issue runs for titles published under the Marvel Knights imprint, launching "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" again with Dodson and taking over the "Wolverine" ongoing series with artist John Romita, Jr. Millar and "Ultimate Spider-Man" writer Brian Michael Bendis launched a new ongoing series for the Ultimate Marvel imprint, "Ultimate Fantastic Four" but left it after just six issues due to scheduling problems. Millar and artist Greg Land were announced as the creative team for a new "Thor" ongoing series but the pair took over "Ultimate Fantatic Four" instead. Millar's return to the title introduced, among other things, the concept of Marvel Zombies. During this period, Millar was assigned to write a trilogy of mini-series that would introduce Galactus to the Ultimate Universe but he left the project due to other commitments at Marvel and health issues.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2006, after renewing his exclusive contract with Marvel for two more years, Millar launched the most well-known and best-selling work of his career, the 7-issue mini-series "Civil War" with artist Steve McNiven that acted as the centrepiece of the company-wide crossover storyline of the same name. The story revolved around the passing of the Superhuman Registration Act in response to the death and destruction unintentionally caused by superheroes on a regular basis and the resultant schism in the superheroic community, with Captain America and Iron Man taking opposing sides of the debacle. The storyline had lasting impact on the fictional Marvel Universe and served as the inspiration for the 2016 Marvel Studios film "".


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2007 and 2008, Millar attempted to pitch a new series of Superman films to Warner Brothers but the studio went with David S. Goyer's pitch for "Man of Steel" instead. During that time, he also had two pitches rejected at Marvel, a Blade story with Richard Corben and a Ghost Rider story with John Romita, Jr., as both characters already had ongoing series at the time and Marvel did not believe either property could support more books. In 2008, Millar returned to the "Wolverine" ongoing series for an extended dystopian storyline "Old Man Logan", illustrated by his "Civil War" collaborator Steve McNiven. Elements of this story inspired the 2017 20th Century Fox film "Logan". Also in 2008, Millar reteamed with "The Ultimates" co-creator Bryan Hitch for a run on the mainline "Fantastic Four" series and launched the mini-series "Marvel 1985" with artist Tommy Lee Edwards. The three titles, running concurrently, are notable in that Millar purposefully wrote them as interlinked through the introduction of the character Clyde Wyncham, who also appeared in Millar's creator-owned series "Kick-Ass" that was published under Marvel's Icon imprint. In 2009, Millar returned to the Ultimate Universe with a number of limited series released under the "" banner, his last Marvel work to date.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2011, Millar abandoned work-for-hire in favor of working full-time on his creator-owned properties.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2003, Millar introduced Millarworld, a unified label for his future creator-owned comics. The initial line-up consisted of "Wanted" (published by Top Cow and subsequently adapted into a feature film starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman), "Chosen" (published by Dark Horse), "The Unfunnies" (published by Avatar) and the unreleased one-shot "Run". Another unreleased project was "King and Country", a political drama involving the British royal family repurposed from a TV series pitch Millar created in 2005. According to Millar, the book was supposed to be published in the form of a fully-painted graphic novel by a "big book publisher". In 2008, the Millarworld line expanded with two new releases, "War Heroes" at Image and "Kick-Ass", which was published under Marvel's Icon imprint and adapted into a feature film two years later. The ownership of the Millarworld series is split 50/50 between Millar and the collaborating artist.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2010, Millar and British publisher Titan launched a pop culture-themed magazine "CLiNT" that featured serializations of Millar's creator-owned comics as well as a number of short stories by up-and-coming creators submitted via the Millarworld forum. Other magazine contributors include Frankie Boyle, Stewart Lee, Jonathan Ross and Jimmy Carr. In 2011 and 2012, Millar organized the Kapow! Comic Convention in London. The 2011 Kapow! event was notable for setting two Guinness World Records, the "Fastest Production of a Comic Book" and "Most Contributors to a Comic Book". Millar began work at 9 a.m., plotting a 20-page "Superior" story, followed by more than 60 comic book creators—including Sean Phillips, Dave Gibbons, Frank Quitely, John Romita Jr., Jock, Doug Braithwaite, Ian Churchill, Olivier Coipel, Duncan Fegredo, Simon Furman, David Lafuente, John McCrea, Liam Sharp—who appeared on stage throughout the day to create a panel each. The black-and-white book was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes and 38 seconds, then published through Marvel's Icon imprint on 23 November 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation. In 2015 and 2016, Millarworld held Talent Contest events where entrants had to write and/or draw short stories based on some of the company's properties. The winning entries were published as two anthology specials in 2016 and 2017, respectively.


title: Mark Millar

text: Most of the Millarworld series have enjoyed interest from Hollywood over the years. In 2008, Michael De Luca optioned "War Heroes" for Columbia Pictures. In 2010, "Nemesis" was optioned by 20th Century Fox with Tony Scott attached to direct. Three years later, Fox optioned "Starlight". 2014 saw the release of "", directed by Matthew Vaughn. That same year, "Superior" was optioned by Fox with Vaughn attached as producer. The following year, "Huck" was picked up by Studio 8, while an adaptation of "Chrononauts" was announced to be in development by Universal. In 2016, Waypoint Entertainment optioned both "Supercrooks" and "American Jesus" (which had previously been optioned by Matthew Vaughn's Marv Films in 2009), while Lorenzo di Bonaventura began development on "Jupiter's Legacy". That same year, Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum signed on to produce "Empress" with "" writer F. Scott Frazier set to pen the screenplay.


title: Mark Millar

text: In August 2017, it was announced that Millarworld has been purchased for an undisclosed sum by Netflix. Millar noted it was the third time in history a comic book company had been purchased by a production studio, comparing the buyout to the 1967 purchase of DC Comics by Kinney National Company (subsequently renamed to Warner Communications) and the 2009 acquisition of Marvel Comics by The Walt Disney Company. As part of the deal, Millar and his wife Lucy continued to run Millarworld as President and CEO, respectively, developing new properties to be produced by Netflix. Comics adapted to film before the deal, such as "Kick-Ass" and "Kingsman", were not included in the package. The first of Millarworld properties to be adapted at Netfilx was "Jupiter's Legacy", which premiered in May 2021 with an eight-episode first season. It was followed by "Super Crooks", an animated spin-off series released in November 2021.


title: Mark Millar

text: Over the years, Millar has earned a reputation as a controversial and outspoken writer. In interviews, he openly criticized the business practices of the American comics industry in the 90s, the comic book writing trend of decompression popularized in the early 00s, the tendency of Big Two publishers to oversaturate the market with tie-ins and spin-offs in the mid-00s as well as the DC Comics' management of "The Authority" during his tenure as the title's writer. In his writing, Millar has incorporated the themes of domestic abuse ("The Ultimates"), teenage pregnancy ("Trouble"), child molestation ("The Unfunnies") and rape, the latter sometimes for comedic effect. In August 2013, when asked by Abraham Riesman of "The New Republic" about the use of rape as a plot device in more than one of his comics, Millar responded, "The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know. I don't really think it matters. It's the same as, like, a decapitation. It's just a horrible act to show that somebody's a bad guy." The comment drew criticism from industry peers and comic book journalists. Similar incidents include Millar publicly expressing amazement at the fact that non-caucasians can get Down's syndrome and referring to all gamers as "pedos" in an interview.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar frequently employs unusual tactics to promote himself and his work, such as the public bet with Harry Knowles regarding the casting of the lead actor in then-upcoming Superman film in 2004, which Millar used as a way to advertise his run on "Wolverine". That same year, Millar claimed that rapper Eminem was in talks to take the lead role in the film adaptation of his creator-owned series "Wanted" which resulted in public denial by Eminem's management via "Variety". In 2006, Millar auctioned the right to name the protagonist of his then-upcoming creator-owned series "Kick-Ass". In 2016, he organized a "treasure hunt" for advance copies of "Jupiter's Legacy" hidden in ten cities around the world. In 2017, Millar established a charitable foundation and launched a multi-year campaign to promote it.


title: Mark Millar

text: Throughout the 90s and early 00s, Millar was close friends with fellow Scottish writer Grant Morrison. The pair frequently collaborated on works published by British and American publishers and appeared together at various events. Morrison was seen as the mentor figure in their relationship, as evidenced by a humorous strip created by Garth Ennis and Dave Gibbons for an anniversary issue of "2000 AD" in which Millar appeared in the form of a small droid repeating a single phrase, "me and Gwant". The pair was also parodied in an issue of "Simpsons Comics" written by Gail Simone, shown fighting over whose then-ongoing X-Men series—Millar's "Ultimate" or Morrison's "New"—is more important. Sometime around 2004, Millar and Morrison seemingly cut all communication and never interacted in public again, which, according to Morrison, happened because Millar wanted to break away from the image of Morrison's protégé after the success he had with "The Authority" and "Ultimate X-Men". When asked about the state of their relationship in a 2011 interview, Morrison responded thus, "I wish him well but, no, there is no good feeling between myself and Mark Millar for many reasons most of which are he destroyed my faith in human fucking nature."


title: Mark Millar

text: In August 2011, Millar appeared in his native Coatbridge to unveil a superhero-themed steel archway beside the Monkland Canal, created by sculptor Andy Scott with the help from the students at St. Ambrose High School, Millar's alma mater. The six-metre-high archway, created as part of the efforts to reinvigorate the canal, was inspired by Millar's work, depicting a superhero named Captain Coatbridge and two superheroines.


title: Mark Millar

text: In June 2013, Millar was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to film and literature on the Queen's Honours Birthday list.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar has cited Alan Moore and Frank Miller as the two biggest influences on his career, characterising them as "my Mum and Dad." Other comic book creators he names as influences include Dave Sim, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis.


title: Mark Millar

text: In 2013, Millar listed "Superman", "Flash Gordon", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "" and "The Incredibles" as his five favorite films.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar is a practicing Catholic who abstains from using profanity in his personal life. He met his first girlfriend Gill, who lived nearby in Coatbridge and attended the same school as him, at the age of 17. The couple married in 1993 and divorced in early 2009. They have one daughter, Emily, who was born in 1998. Millar's second wife, Lucy Unwin, gave birth to their first child in November 2011 and the second in March 2014. Millar and Unwin married in May 2016. They reside in Glasgow's West End.


title: Mark Millar

text: Speaking about his political views, Millar has described himself thus, "I regard myself as traditionally left of centre and progressive, a Eurosceptic in the Bennite mould, and the policies espoused by the coalition formed under the Yes umbrella are the closest to my own particular ideology."


title: Mark Millar

text: Before the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Millar was cited as a supporter of Scottish independence by groups such as the National Collective, and made comments interpreted in support of independence. However, in the run-up to the referendum, Millar stated that he was "genuinely undecided". In a January 2015 interview with "The Herald", he stated, "Originally I was "Yes" and then about six months before I started having doubts, and then I just went silent on it because I saw the country going mad. People who I love were falling out with each other." In 2020, Millar explained on Twitter that he is not a "tribalist" when it comes to Scottish independence, stating, "After the Blair era I was tempted for a year or two" regarding the matter, but questioned whether an independent Scotland could function economically.


title: Mark Millar

text: Millar supported British withdrawal from the European Union and endorsed a "Leave" vote during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally "Beautiful Horizon"), is a major urban and finance center in Latin America, and the sixth largest municipality in Brazil, after the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília and Fortaleza, but its metropolitan area is the third largest in Brazil with just over 5.8 million inhabitants, after those of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Nine Brazilian presidents were born in Minas Gerais, the most of any state. The state has 10.1% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 8.7% of the Brazilian GDP.


title: Minas Gerais

text: With an area of —larger than Metropolitan France—it is the fourth most extensive state in Brazil. The main producer of coffee and milk in the country, Minas Gerais is known for its heritage of architecture and colonial art in historical cities such as São João del-Rei, Congonhas, Ouro Preto, Diamantina, Tiradentes, Mariana, Sabará and Serro. In the south, the tourist points are the hydro-mineral spas, such as Caxambu, Lambari, São Lourenço, Poços de Caldas, São Thomé das Letras, Monte Verde (a district of the municipality of Camanducaia) and the national parks of Caparaó and Canastra. The landscape of the state is marked by mountains, valleys, and large areas of fertile lands. In the Serra do Cipó, Sete Lagoas, Cordisburgo and Lagoa Santa, the caves and waterfalls are the attractions. Some of Brazil's most famous caves are located there.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Two interpretations are given for the origin of the name Minas Gerais. It comes from "Minas dos Matos Gerais", the former name of the colonial province ("Mines of the General Woods").


title: Minas Gerais

text: The first interpretation is that the name simply means "General Mines", with the word Gerais serving as an adjective to the mines, which were themselves spread in several spots around a larger region.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The second interpretation is that this ignores the two large geographical spaces which conformed the state in its history: the region of the mines (Minas), and the region of the Gerais ("Matos Gerais" or "Campos Gerais", which means something close to "General Fields"). These corresponded to the areas of "sertão" which were farther and hard to access (with an economy based on farming and agriculture) from the mining spots (whose economic space was urban from its origin).


title: Minas Gerais

text: The confusion comes from the fact that the term "Gerais" is taken as an adjective to "Minas" in the first version, although according to this point of view it refers to the region called Gerais (as a noun). A further complication is that this is not a well-defined area on the map of the state, but rather a designation to these parts outside the mining spots, more related to the geography of Sertão, and more isolated from the state's nucleus.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is in the north of the southeast region of Brazil, which also contains the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. It borders Bahia (north), Goiás (west and northwest), Mato Grosso do Sul (far west), the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (south) and the state of Espírito Santo (east). It also shares a short boundary with the Federal District (northwest). Minas Gerais is situated between 14°13'58" and 22°54'00" S latitude and between 39°51'32" and 51°02'35" W longitude. It is larger in area than Metropolitan France or Spain.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais features some of the longest rivers in Brazil, most notably the São Francisco, the Paraná and to a lesser extent, the Doce river. The state also holds many hydroelectric power plants, including Furnas. Some of the highest peaks in Brazil are in the mountain ranges in the southern part of the state, such as the Mantiqueira Mountains and Serra do Cervo, that mark the border between Minas and its neighbors São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The most notable one is the Bandeira peak, the third highest mountain in Brazil at 2,890 m, standing on the border with Espírito Santo state. The state also has huge reserves of iron and sizeable reserves of gold and gemstones, including emerald, topaz and aquamarine mines. Emeralds found in this location are comparable to the best Colombia-origin emeralds, and are most often a bluish-green color.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Each region of the state has a distinct character, geographically and to a certain extent culturally.


title: Minas Gerais

text: According to the modern (2017) geographic classification by Brazil's National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which succeeded the division in mesoregions and microregions (1988), the state is now divided in 13 intermediate geographic regions, each one divided in immediate geographic regions (70 total in the whole state):


title: Minas Gerais

text: The discovery of the "Maxakalisaurus topai" (Dinoprata) fossils was a significant paleontological find. The fossil is a genus of titanosaurid dinosaur found 45 kilometers (28 mi) from the city of Prata, in the state of Minas Gerais in 1998. It was closely related to "Saltasaurus", a sauropod considered unusual because it had evolved apparently defensive traits, including bony plates on its skin and vertical plates along its spine; such osteoderms have also been found for Maxakalisaurus. The genus name is derived from the tribe of the Maxakali.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The "Maxakalisaurus" fossils belonged to an animal about 13 meters (43.3 ft) long, with an estimated weight of 9 tons, although, according to paleontologist Alexander Kellner, it could reach a length of approximately 20 meters (65 ft). It had a long neck and tail, ridged teeth (unusual among sauropods) and lived about 80 million years ago. Because sauropods seem to have lacked significant competition in South America, they evolved there with greater diversity and more unusual traits than elsewhere in the world. A replica has been displayed at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, since August 28, 2006.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The region of Minas Gerais was inhabited by indigenous peoples as long ago as 11,400 to 12,000 years ago, based on the estimated age of the Luzia woman, the name of the oldest human fossil found in the Americas. Luzia was found in excavations in Lapa Vermelha, a cave in the region of Lagoa Santa and Pedro Leopoldo, in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. In the region of the municipalities of Januária, Montalvânia, Itacarambi and Juvenília, in the north of Minas Gerais, archaeological excavations have led to estimates that the initial settlement occurred between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago. Starting in this period, cultural characteristics emerged, such as the use of stone or bone, the creation of cemeteries and small grain silos, as well as cave paintings. Later, about four thousand years ago, it is speculated that vegetable cultivation occurred, in particular corn, and that two thousand years ago, ceramic products were already being manufactured.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The discovery of Luzia in the 1970s led to the hypothesis that the settlement of the Americas was begun with the migration of hunter gatherers from Asia, probably through the Bering Strait, by way of a land bridge called Beringia (which was left by the recession of the sea during the last ice age). The indigenous peoples of Minas Gerais, as well as throughout Brazil and South America, are descendants of the groups who migrated there through North America.


title: Minas Gerais

text: More than a hundred indigenous groups inhabited the state of Minas Gerais. The region was occupied until the 16th century by indigenous peoples of the Macro-Jê such as the Xakriabá, the Maxakali, the Crenaques, the Aranãs, the Mocurins, the Atu-auá-araxás and the Purí. A few decades after Portuguese colonization, however, they became targets of enslavement, and were, for centuries, captured by Bandeirantes to work on their farms or to be sold; those who revolted were subject to genocide. There are currently five groups: the Xakriabá, the Crenaques, the Maxakalis, the Pataxós and the Pankararus.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In the colonial era, the Brazilian interior was colonized by Portuguese and bandeirantes. The Brazilian gold rush ushered in an influx of new settlers in search of veins of gold (discovered 1693) and gems, and later diamonds which come from the naturally occurring itacolumite rock that can be found in great numbers in the Iron Quadrangle region. These helped to boost occupation of the inner lands and led to the foundation of several new villages. In 1697, the Portuguese used enslaved African labor to start building the Estrada Real, the "royal road," that would connect the ports of cities of Rio de Janeiro and Paraty to the mineral-rich regions of Ouro Preto, Serro, and, at the northernmost point, Diamantina. In 1753 Rosa Egipcíaca was enslaved and forced to work as a prostitute in a mine in the region, until she became ill and began to have religious visions. These visions led to her arrest and imprisonment and ultimately interrogation by the Inquisition. She recorded them in the first book to be written by a black woman in Brazil - "Sagrada Teologia do Amor Divino das Almas Peregrinas".


title: Minas Gerais

text: Prior to 1720, Minas Gerais was part of the captaincy of São Vicente (later renamed São Paulo e Minas de Ouro). The first capital of Minas Gerais, and seat of the local see, was the city of Mariana; it was later moved to Vila Rica. In the late 18th century, Vila Rica was the largest city in Brazil and one of the most populous in the Americas. As the gold mines were exhausted over the 19th century, the city lost its importance; it was later renamed Ouro Preto and remained the state capital until the construction of the all-new, planned city of Belo Horizonte at the turn of the 20th century. The gold cycle left its mark in cities such as Mariana, Ouro Preto, Diamantina, Sabará, Tiradentes and São João del-Rei. The relative isolation from European influence, added to the huge influx of gold and other valuable minerals, helped the local people to develop their own style of art, which became known as Barroco Mineiro. Prime examples of this period are the richly decorated churches in the colonial cities. The most important artist of this period was Antônio Francisco Lisboa, who became known as Aleijadinho. His sculptural and architectural work, as exhibited in the Twelve Prophets and The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Ouro Preto, are highly valued by experts as one of the most refined artistic expressions outside Europe at that time.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In addition to art and architecture, there was an explosion of musical activity in Minas Gerais in the 18th century. Printed copies of European music, as well as accomplished musicians, made the journey to the area, and soon a local school of composition and performance was born and achieved considerable sophistication. Several composers worked in Minas Gerais in the 18th century, mainly in Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), Sabará, Mariana, and other cities. Some of the names which have survived include José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita, Marcos Coelho Neto, Francisco Gomes da Rocha and Ignácio Parreiras Neves; they cultivated a style related to the classical European style but marked by more a more chordal, homophonic sound, and they usually wrote for mixed groups of voices and instruments.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Guimarães Rosa's literature is mostly situated in Minas Gerais, with locations widely located across the State (hence the term General, although more concentrated in its north) rather than delimited and identifiable. This northern area began to be colonized (with brutal conflicts with the large Amerindian population who lived in some parts, especially in Vale do Jequitinhonha) and became accessible to colonists departing from Bahia up north, which made the Portuguese crown insert the region within the state of Minas Gerais's borders in order to prevent gold and diamond smuggling from people trying to avoid colonial taxation and oversight; thus the captaincy of Minas Gerais was closely watched by the crown because of its tax revenue.


title: Minas Gerais

text: During the 18th century, mining exploration was strongly controlled by the Portuguese Crown, which imposed heavy taxes on everything extracted (one fifth of all gold would go to the Crown). Several rebellions were attempted by the colonists, always facing strong reaction by the imperial crown. One of the most important was the Vila Rica revolt that ended with the execution of Filipe dos Santos, the revolt's leader, but also with the separation of Minas Gerais from the captaincy São Paulo e Minas de Ouro. The most notable one, however, was the Minas Gerais conspiracy, started in 1789 by a group of middle-class colonists, mostly intellectuals and young officers. They were inspired by the American and French Enlightenment ideals. The conspiracy failed and the rebels were arrested and exiled. The most famous of them, Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (known as Tiradentes), was hanged by order of Queen Maria I of Portugal, becoming a local hero and a national martyr of Brazil. The Minas Gerais flag—a red triangle on a white background, along with the Latin motto "Libertas quæ sera tamen", "freedom albeit late"—is based on the design for the national flag proposed by the "Inconfidentes", as the rebels became known.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In the economic history of Brazil, Minas Gerais plays a pivotal role in shifting the economic axis from the Brazilian northeast (based on sugarcane, that starts declining in the 18th century) to the southeast of the country, which still remains the major economic center. The large amounts of gold found in the region attracted the attention of Portugal back to Brazil, progressively turning Rio de Janeiro into an important port city, from where these would be shipped to Portugal and where the Portuguese crown would eventually move its administration in 1808 after Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Portugal (see Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Due to the economic importance of the state and the particular traits of the local population—famed for its reserved and balanced character—Minas Gerais has also played an important role on national politics. During the 19th century, politicians such as José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva were instrumental in the establishment of the Brazilian Empire under the rule of Pedro I and later his son, Pedro II. After the installation of the First Brazilian Republic, during the early 20th century, Minas Gerais shared the control of the national political scene with São Paulo in what became known as the "coffee with milk politics" (coffee being the major product of São Paulo, and milk representing Minas Gerais' dairy industry, despite the latter also being an important coffee producer).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais was also home to two of the most influential Brazilian politicians of the second half of the 20th century. Juscelino Kubitschek was president from 1956 to 1961, and he was responsible for the construction of Brasília as the new capital of Brazil. Tancredo Neves had an extensive political career that culminated with his election in 1984 to be the first civil president after the 1964 military coup. However, he died after a series of health complications just as he was about to assume the position. Also, Itamar Franco, former president of Brazil, lived there, though he was not born in Minas Gerais.


title: Minas Gerais

text: According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 19,765,000 people residing in the state. The population density was . Urbanization: 85% (2006); Population growth: 1.4% (1991–2000); Houses: 5,741,000 (2006).


title: Minas Gerais

text: The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 9,091,000 White people (46%), 8,927,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (45%), 1,802,000 Black people (9%), 40,000 Asian people (0.2%), 37,000 Amerindian people (0.2%).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Ethnic groups found in Minas Gerais include: Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Germans and Lebanese.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The ethnic composition of the population varies from town to town. For example, in Córrego do Bom Jesus, a small town located in the extreme south of Minas Gerais, White people make up 98.7% of the population. The South of Minas Gerais is both the most European and the most densely populated part of the state. On the other hand, in Setubinha, located in the northeast part of the state, 71.8% are mixed-race and 14.7% Black. It is historically explainable: southern Minas Gerais, in the border with São Paulo, received larger numbers of Portuguese farmers in colonial times. In the late 19th century, Italian immigrants also arrived. The north region, close to Bahia, was a place to the arrival of many African slaves since the 18th century. The central part of the state, where the capital Belo Horizonte is, has a more balanced ratio between White, Black and mixed people.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The population of Minas Gerais is the result of an intense mixture of peoples, particularly between Black Africans and Portuguese. In colonial Minas Gerais, the population was divided in five different categories: "Whites", mostly Portuguese; "Africans", who often did not have a surname and were usually known for their region of origin (for example "Francisca Benguela" would refer to Benguela); "Crioulos" (Black people born in Brazil, usually to both African parents); Mulattoes (people of mixed Black and White ancestry, usually born to a Black mother and a Portuguese father) and "Cabras" (people of mixed ancestry, usually with high degree of Amerindian admixture). Black people and "Mulattoes" predominated in the population after the beginning of the colonization. By the 19th century, however, whites were already the largest single group in the Minas Gerais population. Taking the population as a whole (all groups included), European genes account for the majority of the Minas Gerais genetic heritage, which has been explained on the basis of the extremely high mortality rates of the enslaved African population and lower reproductive rate of African slaves (the vast majority of them were males, among other reasons for their lower reproductive success). The Amerindian population was hit hard by the diseases brought by the European colonists and they did not have much of an impact either, especially in Minas Gerais, where European presence and colonization was massive.


title: Minas Gerais

text: During the colonial period, the disproportion between the number of men and women was quite sharp. The census of 1738 in Serro do Frio, which included Diamantina, revealed that of the 9,681 inhabitants, 83.5% were men and 16.5% women. Among the slaves, women were only 3.1%. The number of free "women of color" (Black and "Mulatto") was very high. The same census revealed that 63% of the former slaves were women and only 37% men. Since interracial relationships between "women of color" and White men were widespread, the female slaves were more likely to be freed than the male slaves.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The monogamous family structure that the Catholic Church tried to deploy in colonial Brazil was the exception in Minas Gerais. At that time cohabitation and temporary relationships predominated in Minas Gerais, as well as in Brazil as a whole. Monogamy and weddings in churches would only take root in Brazil in the 19th century, fitting the moral standards imposed by the Church. The role of women in colonial Minas Gerais was much more dynamic than it would be allowed by the standards of the time. Many women used to live on their own, were heads of family and worked, particularly the "women of color" and former slaves. The society of Minas Gerais provided a great social mobility to former slaves, mainly for women. In Tejuco, the percentage of White males who were head of family (37.7%) was very similar to the percentage of Black women who were head of family (38.5%). Many former slaves were able to accumulate goods and many of them became slave owners as well. Some Black people and mainly Mulattos were able to integrate themselves in the highest social stratum of the society of Minas Gerais, once restricted to Whites. This happened through a process of "whitening" their descendence and through the assimilation of the culture of the White elite, like being members of Catholic brotherhoods.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Cohabitation was the most common crime in Minas Gerais. The Catholic Church was strict in the punishment of this crime, in order to prevent the widespread miscegenation between White, mostly Portuguese males with Black or Mulatto women.


title: Minas Gerais

text: According to a 2013 autosomal DNA study, the ancestral composition of the state of Minas Gerais can be described as: 59.20% European, 28.90% African and 11.90% Native American


title: Minas Gerais

text: During the time of the gold rush, thousands of Portuguese immigrated to Brazil (mainly from the Minho), and many of them to Minas Gerais, the place where the gold rush activities took place. Most of them came from Entre Douro e Minho, in Northern Portugal. The reference book for a large number of these families is "Velhos Troncos Mineiros" (Old Mineiro Branches) by Raimundo Trindade. The Native American population of Minas Gerais was estimated to be at 97,000 in 1500, by the time the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500 (John Hemming in ""Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians"").


title: Minas Gerais

text: The ancestry of the Africans brought to Minas Gerais was both West African and Bantu, with a predominance of the former initially and a predominance of the latter later.


title: Minas Gerais

text: According to the 2010 Brazilian Census, most of the population (13.8 million people) consider themselves to be Catholic, which puts the state in ninth place when considering the percentage of the population belonging to this religion (70.4%). Although the number of Catholics has been gradually decreasing in recent years, Roman Catholicism is still strongly rooted in the Culture of Minas Gerais, but religious pluralism has also grown in recent years.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is home to some of the best schools in the country, both at the secondary and higher levels. It is also the state that contains the largest number of Federal Universities, public universities maintained directly by the federal government.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is the second-largest consumer market in Brazil, behind the state of São Paulo. It shares 10.4% of the Brazilian consumer market. Companies of this Brazilian state have access to 49% of the Brazilian consumer market, with estimated consumption potential of 223 billion US dollars. The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 47.1%, followed by the industrial sector at 44.1%. agriculture represents 8.8% of GDP (2004). Main exports: mineral products 44.4%, metals 15.8%, vegetable products 13%, precious metals 5.5%, foodstuffs 4.9%, transportation 3.5% (2012).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais had an industrial GDP of R $128.4 billion in 2017, equivalent to 10.7% of the national industry. It employs 1,069,469 workers in the industry. The main industrial sectors are: construction (17.9%), extraction of metallic minerals (15.2%), food (13.4%), industrial services of public utility, such as electricity and water (10.8%) and metallurgy (10.5%). These 5 sectors concentrate 67.8% of the state's industry.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is a major producer of milk, coffee and other agricultural commodities, as well as minerals. The state has marked economic divisions. The southern part of the state (close to the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro state borders) has several mid-sized cities with solid industrial bases such as Juiz de Fora, Varginha, Pouso Alegre, and Poços de Caldas, as well as Ipatinga in the east of the state, which is also a modern and major industrial city and Itabira, considered mother city of mining company Vale, that has stocks quoted in Bovespa and NYSE. The northeastern region is marked by poverty, but Governador Valadares and Teófilo Otoni attract foreign traders for the semi-precious gems such as topaz and sapphire. In Teófilo Otoni, some companies are also attracted because of Brazilian Export Processing Zone, a free trade area.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The western part, the ""Triângulo Mineiro"", is less densely populated than the rest of the state, and it is now a focus of biotechnology investment, particularly on the cities of Uberlândia, Uberaba, Patos de Minas and Araguari, which includes leading research on cattle, soy and corn culture.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In agriculture, the state stands out in the production of coffee, sugar cane and soy, and also has large productions of orange, beans, sorghum, carrot, potato, banana, tangerine and strawberry, in addition to producing papaya, persimmon and cassava.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In 2020, Minas Gerais was the largest producer of Coffea arabica in the country, with 74% of the national total (1.9 million tons, or 31.2 million 60-kg bags). In 2017, Minas represented 54.3% of the total national production of coffee (first place).


title: Minas Gerais

text: The state was the third largest producer of sugar cane in Brazil in 2020, representing 11.1% of the total produced in the country, with 74.3 million tons.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The cultivation of soy, on the other hand, is increasing, however, it is not among the largest national producers of this grain. In the 2018–2019 harvest, Minas Gerais harvested 5 million tons (seventh place in the country). The state was the second largest producer of oranges in 2018, with a total of 948 thousand tons.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is the second largest producer of beans in Brazil, with 17.2% of national production in 2020. In addition, it is one of the largest national producers of sorghum: around 30% of Brazilian production. It also ranks third in domestic production of cotton.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The state was the third largest producer of banana in 2018, with 766 thousand tons. Brazil was already the 2nd largest producer of the fruit in the world, currently in 3rd place, losing only to India and Ecuador.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In 2018, São Paulo and Minas Gerais were the largest producers of tangerine in Brazil. Minas was the 5th largest producer of papaya. About persimmon, Minas ranks third with 8%.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In 2019, in Brazil, there was a total production area of around 4 thousand hectares of strawberry. The largest producer is Minas Gerais, with approximately 1,500 hectares, cultivated in most municipalities in the extreme south of the state, in the Serra da Mantiqueira region, with Pouso Alegre and Estiva being the largest producers.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Regarding carrots, Brazil ranked fifth in the world ranking in 2016, with an annual production of around 760 thousand tons. In relation to the exports of this product, Brazil occupies the seventh world position. Minas Gerais is the largest producer in Brazil. Among the production centers in Minas Gerais are the municipalities of São Gotardo, Santa Juliana and Carandaí. As for potato, the main national producer is the state of Minas Gerais, with 32% of the total produced in the country. In 2017, Minas Gerais harvested around 1.3 million tons of the product. In the production of cassava, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Minas was the 12th largest producer in the country, with almost 500 thousand tons.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Regarding the bovine herd, Minas has the second largest in the country. In 2015, it had a total of 23.8 million head of cattle.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas is the main producer of milk in Brazil, with the highest number of milked cows, responsible for 26.6% of production and 20.0% of total milking animals. The municipality of Patos de Minas was the second largest producer in 2017, with 191.3 million liters of milk. In 2015, the state produced 9.1 billion liters of milk.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In terms of pork meat, in 2017, Minas had the 4th largest herd in the country, with 5.2 million heads, 12.7% of the national total.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The state is the third largest producer of eggs in the country, with 9.3% of the Brazilian total in 2019 (which was 3.83 billion dozen).


title: Minas Gerais

text: The central region of the state (where the capital is located) has big reserves of iron (and to a lesser extent, gold) still being actively mined. In mineral production, in 2017, Minas Gerais was the country's largest producer of iron (277 million tons worth R$37.2 billion), gold (29.3 tons worth R$3.6 billion), zinc (400 thousand tons worth R$351 million) and niobium (in the form of hydrochloride) (131 thousand tons worth R$254 million). In addition, Minas Gerais was the second largest producer of bauxite (1.47 million tons at a value of R$105 million), the third of manganese (296 thousand tons worth R$32 million) and fifth of tin (206 tons worth R$4.7 million). There are also deposits of Verdete slate, a glauconite-bearing mineral. Minas Gerais had 47.19% of the value of the production of minerals marketed in Brazil (first place), with R$41.7 billion.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The state has the largest production of various precious and semi-precious stones in the country. In aquamarine, Minas Gerais produces the most valuable stones in the world. In diamond, Brazil was the largest diamond producer in the world from 1730 to 1870, mining occurred for the first time in the Serra da Canastra, region of Diamantina, even lowering the price of stone in everyone due to over production. Minas Gerais continues to mine diamonds, in addition to having larger or smaller scale productions of agate, emerald, garnet, jasper and sapphire. Topaz and tourmaline stand out. In topaz, Brazil has the most valuable variety in the world, imperial topaz, only produced in Ouro Preto. Furthermore, the country is the world's leading producer of topaz. It's also among the world's largest tourmaline producers.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In the steel industry, Brazilian crude steel production was 32.2 million tons in 2019. Minas Gerais represented 32.3% of the volume produced in the period, with 10,408 million tons, being the largest steel center. Among the steel companies in Minas Gerais are Usiminas, ArcelorMittal Aços Longos (formerly Belgo Mineira), Açominas (belonging to Gerdau), Vallourec & Mannesmann and Aperam South America.


title: Minas Gerais

text: There are also large companies installed the automotive industry, as manufacturers FIAT in Betim, IVECO in Sete Lagoas, Mercedes-Benz and suppliers of auto-parts, as STOLA and USIPARTS. In Brazil, the automotive sector represents about 22% of the industrial GDP. Minas Gerais is the third largest vehicle producer in the country, with a 10.7% participation in 2019.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In the Electronics industry, the billing of industries in Brazil reached R$153 billion in 2019, around 3% of national GDP. The number of employees in the sector was 234.5 thousand people. Exports were $5.6 billion, and the country's imports were $32 billion. Brazil has two large electroelectronic production centers, located in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas, in the State of São Paulo, and in the Free Zone of Manaus, in the State of Amazonas. The country also has other smaller centers, one of them in the municipality of Santa Rita do Sapucaí, in Minas Gerais. In Santa Rita do Sapucaí, 8 thousand jobs are linked to the sector, with more than 120 companies. Most of them produce equipment for the telecommunications industry, such as decoders, including those used in the transmission of the digital television system. The company Multilaser has a plant in the city of Extrema.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In Food Industry, in 2019, Brazil was the second largest exporter of processed foods in the world, with a value of US$34.1 billion in exports. The income of the Brazilian food and beverage industry in 2019 was R$699.9 billion, 9.7% of the country's gross domestic product. In 2015, the food and beverage industry in Brazil comprised 34,800 companies (not including bakeries), the vast majority of which were small. These companies employed more than 1.6 million workers, making the food and beverage industry the largest employer in the manufacturing industry. There are around 570 large companies in Brazil, which concentrate a good part of the total industry income. Minas Gerais created food companies of national importance such as Itambé and Pif Paf Alimentos.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In the Footwear industry, in 2019 Brazil produced 972 million pairs. Exports were around 10%, reaching almost 125 million pairs. Brazil ranks fourth among world producers, behind China, India and Vietnam, and 11th among the largest exporters. Minas Gerais has a polo specialized in cheap shoes and sneakers in Nova Serrana. The city has around 830 industries, which in 2017 produced around 110 million pairs.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In Textile industry, Brazil, despite being among the 5 largest producers in the world in 2013, and being representative in the consumption of textiles and clothing, has little insertion in world trade. In 2015, Brazilian imports ranked 25th (US$5.5 billion). And in exports, it was only 40th in the world ranking. Brazil's share of world textile and clothing trade is only 0.3%, due to the difficulty of competing in price with producers from India and mainly from China. The gross value of production, which includes the consumption of intermediate goods and services, of the Brazilian textile industry corresponded to almost R $40 billion in 2015, 1.6% of the gross value of industrial production in Brazil. Minas Gerais has 8.51% (third largest production in the country).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Tourism is also an important activity for the state: historical cities like Ouro Preto, Mariana, Sabará, Congonhas, Diamantina, Tiradentes, and São João del-Rei, are major attractions for visitors interested in their colonial architecture. Other cities, like Araxá, Poços de Caldas, Lambari, Caxambu, Lavras, and others, attract visitors interested in their mineral watersprings. Eco-tourism is a rising economic activity in the state, especially in localities situated on the several highlands that exist in Minas Gerais.


title: Minas Gerais

text: One of the most important tourist circuits in Minas Gerais is the Estrada Real, which passes through the old roads used to transport gold from the mines, connecting the central region of the state with the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Parati. The different itineraries of this circuit present historical, cultural and natural attractions for its visitors. Another noteworthy aspect of tourism in Minas Gerais includes visits to historic cities, which preserve colonial museum buildings, in addition to including museums and cultural spaces that reveal the past of these places. Of these cities, Ouro Preto stands out, where the Museum of Inconfidência is located.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The relief of the state, with an abundance of peaks and mountains (especially the great peaks), in addition to the large number of grottos and caves, natural and artificial rivers and lakes, and the richness of the state's fauna and flora, attract practitioners. of ecotourism. and adventure tourism. Another relevant segment is rural tourism, since Minas is one of the states with the most developments for this purpose. In the central region of the state, in addition to the historic cities and the capital, there are national parks such as Serra do Cipó, as well as the Inhotim Museum, which has one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the country. In the south of the state, there is the Circuito das Águas, known for its mineral spas. São Lourenço and Poços de Caldas are cities famous for their spas, hot springs and thermal baths.


title: Minas Gerais

text: It also highlights business tourism, which is booming, since in recent years important events of international projection have been held in the state. In particular, the city of Belo Horizonte stands out in this segment, attracting more and more fairs, congresses and meetings, which can be attributed to the city's infrastructure and important hotel network. Other cities in the interior (such as Juiz de Fora, Uberaba and Uberlândia) also offer options for holding large business events.


title: Minas Gerais

text: As of November 2020, the state of Minas Gerais had, in addition to municipal highways, 39,738 km of state and federal highways, of which 29,255 were paved and 2,505 km were duplicate highways. The state has duplicate highways that leave the capital Belo Horizonte and connect it with São Paulo (BR-381) and Rio de Janeiro (BR-040), and in its western part (BR-050, BR-153 and BR-365 in the area known as the Triângulo Mineiro, between the states of São Paulo and Goiás, near Uberaba and Uberlândia). Some parts of BR-262 are also duplicated. The state, however, presents, in general, a duplication deficit, with sections of a single lane with movement above the saturation limit. Recently, in 2022, a project was created to grant BR-381 to private initiative, with the intention of doubling 215 km between Belo Horizonte, Ipatinga and Novo Oriente de Minas.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state that harbors the highest mileage of highways. The state highway network is 269,545 kilometers, of which only 11,396 on federal roads and 21,472 on state highways and state coincide, corresponding to all other municipal roads. Because of its central position, the state is crossed by the most important national highways, like BR-116 (Rio-Bahia), BR-040 (Rio-Brasília) and others. Many of the most important Brazilian routes cross the state and, for this reason, it counts the greater proportion of car accidents per capita.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Rail transport has been around since the 19th century, when the Central Railway of Brazil was built in 1860. In 1874, the Leopoldina Railway was inaugurated. In 1880 the Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas was founded and in the following decades several other railways were opened in the territory of Minas Gerais. Starting in the 1960s, railways began to be replaced by roads, due to the growing demand for the car fleet, which resulted in the closure of some railways and branches. In the 1990s, the entire national railway system was privatized, disabling the remaining passenger services on some local lines. However, there are still active railways that cross the Minas Gerais, today used only for freight, such as the old Central do Brasil Railway, Leopoldina Railway, Western Minas Railway and Steel Railway, operated by dealers. Railway Center. Atlantic. Vitória a Minas Railway (EFVM) is responsible for transporting the production of Vale and other state companies to the port of Tubarão, in Vitória, Espírito Santo, and also operates the only daily passenger train in Brazil that runs long distances, between Vitória and Belo Horizonte, which connects other cities that also have stations.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Tancredo Neves International Airport is located in the municipalities of Lagoa Santa and Confins, 38 km (23 mi) from Belo Horizonte, and was opened in January 1984. It was planned from the start for future expansion in steps to meet growing demand. The airport has one of the lowest rates of shutdown for bad weather in the country. However, the Confins airport was not using much of its capacity until 2005, when it was decided that a large part of the Pampulha Airport flights (which is smaller and located inside Belo Horizonte's urban area) would move to Confins.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The Tancredo Neves International Airport is currently the fifth busiest airport in the country, after Guarulhos, Congonhas, Brasília and Galeão. It is a main hub for Azul. In addition to direct flights to over 40 destinations in Brazil, it also has regular scheduled international services to Buenos Aires, Panama City, Miami and Lisbon.


title: Minas Gerais

text: In 2014 the airport was auctioned to the private sector. Renovations were concluded in 2016. A new terminal was built with 17 new jetways, increasing the airport's capacity to 22 million passengers a year and the runway is undergoing expansion. A new runway is planned to be built by 2020.


title: Minas Gerais

text: A new Administrative Center (Cidade Administrativa de Minas Gerais) was completed in March 2010, for the state of Minas Gerais. Designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, the center consists of four large buildings on an 800,000 square meter site. Two buildings accommodate 17 of the state ministries, the third building consists of an auditorium, with capacity for 540 guests. The fourth building is the "Palacio do Governo", which is the world's largest suspended structure, built in reinforced concrete. The building has a 150m span, and its roof is supported by four columns.


title: Minas Gerais

text: As in the rest of Brazil, football is the most popular sport among locals. Pelé, widely considered the best footballer of all time, was born in the Minas city of Três Corações. Belo Horizonte is home to two of the most successful teams in the country, and the city also has one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, the Mineirão, opened in 1965. Reopened after renovations in 2013, Mineirão was chosen as one of the venues for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and also the soccer tournament of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Another stadium in Belo Horizonte, Independência Stadium, was one of the venues of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, where it hosted a legendary upset of the United States team over England.


title: Minas Gerais

text: The biggest teams of Belo Horizonte and Minas as a whole are Atlético Mineiro, founded in 1908 and nicknamed "Galo" (rooster) after its mascot, and Cruzeiro, founded in 1921 as "Palestra Itália" by the members of the local Italian community - but renamed in the 1940s. Atlético won one edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1971, two CONMEBOL Cups (the predecessor of the current Copa Sudamericana), is the biggest winner of the State Championship with 41 titles, one title of the Libertadores Cup Champion in 2013 and one Copa do Brasil title in 2014. Cruzeiro won 36 state championships, won four times the Brazilian Championship, defeating Pelé's Santos in the 1966 Taça Brasil, the 2003 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (which combined with a state championship and a Brazilian Cup in the same year lead to a treble named by Cruzeiro as "Triple Crown"), won the 2013 and 2014 national league. Cruzeiro has been one of Brazil's most successful clubs since the 1960s, being elected the most successful Brazilian team of the 20th century by IFFHS. Its titles include 4 editions of the Brazilian Cup, 4 Brazilian Championships and 2 Copa Libertadores in 1976 and 1997. Cruzeiro was relegated to the second division of the National League in 2019, while Atlético missed the 2006 edition, following a relegation in the previous year (2005).


title: Minas Gerais

text: Belo Horizonte is also home to América Mineiro, founded in 1912 current owner of Independência and considered the third force of the state. While the team's struggles combined with the popularization of Atlético and Cruzeiro reduced América's supporters, the team has won both the second and third levels of the Brazilian Championship, the Sul-Minas Cup in 2000, and 16 state championships, including a record dynasty of ten tournaments between 1916 and 1925. Both Villa Nova of Nova Lima and Betim Esporte Clube (when it was known as Ipatinga Futebol Clube) have won the state championship and been in Série A of the Brazilian league.


title: Minas Gerais

text: Besides football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the whole country. Multisport club Minas Tênis Clube had its male and female teams win the Brazilian Superleague of Volleyball, with Contagem-based Sada Cruzeiro also winning the male tournament. Sada-Cruzeiro also won the FIVB World Club Championship two times in last 3 years, being one of the most successful volleyball team in the world. The Brazil national volleyball team has had some of its highest attendance numbers at Mineirinho, an arena located near the Mineirão stadium. On basketball, both Minas and Uberlândia's Uberlândia Tênis Clube are in the national tournament.