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OURO PRETO (" Black Gold ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 380 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OURO PRETO (" See also:

Black See also:Gold ") , a See also:city of the See also:state of See also:Minas Geraes, See also:Brazil, 336 M. by See also:rail N. by W. of Rio de Janeiro, and about 300 M. W. of See also:Victoria, Espirito Santo, on the eastern slope of the Serra de Espinhago and within the drainage See also:basin of the Rio Doce. Pop. (189o) 17,86o; (1900) 11,116. Ouro Preto is connected with See also:Miguel Burnier, on the Central of Brazil railway, by a See also:metre-See also:gauge See also:line 31 m. in length. The city is built upon the See also:lower slope of the Serra do Ouro Preto, a See also:spur of the Espinhago, deeply cut by ravines and divided into a number of irregular hills, up which the narrow, crooked streets are built and upon which See also:groups of See also:low, old-fashioned houses See also:form each a See also:separate See also:nucleus. From a See also:mining See also:settlement the city See also:grew as the in-equalities of the site permitted. R. F. See also:Burton (See also:Highlands of Brazil, See also:London, 1869) says that its shape " is that of a huge See also:serpent, whose biggest end is about the Praga.. The extremities stretch two See also:good See also:miles, with raised convolutions. . .

. The streeting' of both upper and lower See also:

town is very tangled, and the old thoroughfares, See also:mere ` wynds' . . . show how valuable once was See also:building ground." The rough streets are too steep and narrow for vehicles, and even See also:riding on horseback is often difficult. Several rivulets follow the ravines and drain into the Ribeirao do Carmo, a sub-tributary of the Rio Doce. The See also:climate is sub-tropical and humid, though the See also:elevation (3700-3800 ft.) gives a temperate climate in See also:winter. The days are usually hot and the nights See also:cold, the See also:variations in temperature being a fruitful cause of bronchial and pulmonary diseases. Ouro Preto has several historic buildings; they are of antiquated See also:appearance and built of the simplest materials—broken See also:stone and See also:mortar, with an exterior covering of See also:plaster. The more noteworthy are the old See also:government See also:house (now occupied by the school of mines), the legislative See also:chambers, municipal See also:hall and jail—all fronting on the Praca da Independencia—and elsewhere the old Casa dos Contos (afterwards the public See also:treasury), a See also:theatre (the See also:oldest in Brazil, restored in 1861–1862) and a See also:hospital. There are 15 churches in the city, some occupying the most conspicuous sites on the hills, all dating from the more prosperous days of the city's See also:history, but all devoid of architectural See also:taste. Ouro Preto is the seat of the best mining school in Brazil. The city See also:dates from 1701, when a gold-mining settlement was established in its ravines by See also:Antonio Dias of Taubate. The circumstance that the gold turned black on exposure to the humid See also:air (owing to the presence of See also:silver) gave the name of Ouro Preto to the See also:mountain spur and the settlement. In 1711 it became a city with the name of See also:Villa Rica, a See also:title justified by its See also:size and See also:wealth.

At one See also:

period of its prosperity its See also:population was estimated at 25,000 to 30,000. In 1720 Villa Rica became the See also:capital of the newly created captaincy of Minas Geraes, and in 1823 the capital of the See also:province• of the same name under the See also:empire of Dom Pedro I. When the empire was overthrown in 1889 and Minas Geraes was reorganized as a republican state, it was decided to remove the capital to a more favourable site and See also:Bello Horizonte was chosen, but Ouro Preto remained the capital until 1898, when the new town (also called Cidade de Minas) became the seat of government. With the decay of her mining See also:industries, Ouro Preto had become merely the See also:political centre of the state. The removal of the capital was a serious See also:blow, as the city has no industries to support its population and no See also:trade of impdrtance. The event most prominent in the history of the city was the See also:conspiracy of 1789, in which several leading citizens were concerned, and for which one of its less influential members, an alferes (See also:ensign) of See also:cavalry named Joaquim Jose da See also:Silva See also:Xavier, nicknamed " Tira-dentes " (See also:teeth-puller), was executed in Rio de Janeiro in 1792. The conspiracy originated in a belief that the Portuguese See also:crown was about to enforce See also:payment of certain arrears in the mining tax known as the " royal fifths," and its See also:object was to set up a See also:republic in Brazil. Although a See also:minor figure in the conspiracy, Tira-dentes was made the scapegoat of the See also:thirty-two men arrested and sent to Rio de Janeiro for trial, and posterity has made him the proto-See also:martyr of republicanism in Brazil.

End of Article: OURO PRETO (" Black Gold ")

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