Other historical cities in Minas Gerais are Ouro Preto, São João del-Rei, Mariana, Tiradentes, Congonhas and Sabará.

Diamantina is a statistical micro-region that includes the following municipalities: Diamantina, Datas, Felício dos Santos, Gouveia, Presidente Kubitschek, São Gonçalo do Rio Preto, Senador Modestino Gonçalves, and Couto de Magalhães de Minas.

Before the arrival of Portuguese settlers, in the 16th century (the first reports give account of expeditions that went up the Jequitinhonha and São Francisco Rivers), Diamantina, like the entire region of the current state of Minas Gerais, was occupied by indigenous peoples of the Macro-Jê languages.

[4] Diamantina was founded as Arraial do Tejuco in 1713, with the construction of a chapel that honored the patron Saint Anthony of Padua.

During the 18th century, the city was famous for having sheltered Chica da Silva, a freed slave who was the wife of the richest man in Colonial Brazil, João Fernandes de Oliveira.

The delay was due to the need for greater local control by the colonial authorities, since in the mid-18th century the population was larger than that of Vila do Príncipe do Serro Frio, head of the region.

Life in Diamantina at the end of the 19th century was portrayed by Alice Brant in her book Minha Vida de Menina, which became a landmark in Brazilian literature after being rediscovered by Elizabeth Bishop.In 1938, Diamantina celebrated its 100th anniversary as a city, receiving the title of "National Historic Heritage" from the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.

Diamantina is located 292 kilometers almost directly north of the state capital, Belo Horizonte, in a mountainous area.

[8] The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568.