It is situated in the southern part of Minas Gerais and in the middle of the Mantiqueira Mountains, at 1,200 meters high, which gives the city a mild climate.

In 1770 Arriaga Manoel de Oliveira, accompanied by his wife and six children, founded the Colony of Campo Vermelho near the current city.

Manoel Arriaga, very saddened by the fact, turned away from the colony and settled on the banks of the Milho Branco stream where he set up a farm which in time became the city.

[2] At the request of Captain Lacerda the chapel of Bom Jardim, today the old parish church, was erected in the village centre.

It consisted of two districts: the headquarters, originally part of the Municipality of Andrelândia, and Taboão from the city of Rio Preto.

[2] The area of the municipality is 395 square kilometers (153 sq mi), representing 0.07% of the state, the region 0.045% and 0.005% of the entire Brazilian territory.

Located on the banks of the Rio Grande in the southern region of the state of Minas Gerais, and the Serra da Mantiqueira.

The city has mesothermal highland tropical climate, with cold and dry winter rains and higher, taking into account the situation of latitude and elevation ranging from 990 m to 1733 m. According to regional averages, the winter is hardly unpleasant unless one or the other day, the coldest month, July, has averaged approximately 55 °F and 61 °F, daily maximum of 71 °F and 73 °F and minimum of 41 °F to 50 °F and may reach even with minimum absolute in Celsius Scale up to 0 °C (32 °C), and may even gear.