It belongs to the Zona da Mata mesoregion and it located 322 kilometers southeast of Belo Horizonte, the state capital.

[2] The political emancipation of the municipality took place in 1854, and its name is a tribute to Princess Leopoldina de Bragança e Bourbon, daughter of Emperor D. Pedro II.

[4] Currently it is formed by the headquarters and the districts of Abaíba, Piacatuba, Providência, Ribeiro Junqueira and Tebas.

One of the main events that happen in the city are the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, the Feira da Paz and the traditional Viola and Gastronomy Festival of Piacatuba.

[7] The toponym is a tribute to the second daughter of Emperor D. Pedro II, Princess Leopoldina de Bragança e Bourbon.

Before that, the area was a district called São Sebastião do Feijão Cru, in reference to both the patron saint of the place and the stream that crosses the territory.

[9][10] In 1813, the first sesmarias in the territory of the current municipality, which belonged to the term of Barbacena, comarca of Rio das Mortes, were donated.

[11] The first explorers established themselves with their families on the banks of the Feijão Cru Stream, where a troopers' settlement began to develop near a small chapel made of wattle and daub, erected in 1831 by farmers Francisco Pinheiro de Lacerda and Joaquim Ferreira Brito and dedicated to Saint Sebastian.

[12] The same law transferred some districts dismembered from the territory of Presídio, now Visconde do Rio Branco, to Leopoldina.

[18] Coffee growing developed in the province of Rio de Janeiro crossed the Paraíba do Sul river and spread into the Zona da Mata through the valleys of the Paraibuna, Pirapetinga and Pomba rivers, leading to a fast growth of the area in the second half of the 19th century.

[11] In 1883, Leopoldina had the second largest slave population in the province of Minas Gerais, behind only Juiz de Fora.

[22] Between 1911 and 1912, the Banco Ribeiro Junqueira and the Zonna da Matta construction company were founded in the town.

[23] The coffee crisis at the beginning of the 20th century, however, caused serious changes in the economy of the Zona da Mata and the municipality, which began to rely on dairy farming and rice cultivation.

[24] In the period between the First Republic and the military coup of 1964, some political leaders of Leopoldina achieved projection in Minas Gerais and Brazil, such as Senator Ribeiro Junqueira, Governor Clóvis Salgado and President Carlos Luz.

[2] Emancipated from Mar de Espanha in 1854, the municipality was installed on January 20, 1855 covering nine districts: Leopoldina (headquarters), Capivara, Conceição da Boa Vista, Laranjal, Madre de Deus do Angu, Nossa Senhora da Piedade, Bom Jesus do Rio Pardo, Santa Rita do Meia Pataca and São José do Paraíba.

Currently, the municipality is formed by six districts: Leopoldina, Abaíba, Piacatuba, Providência, Ribeiro Junqueira and Tebas.

[5][2] Leopoldina is located in the Zona da Mata mesoregion and occupies an area of 942 km2, which makes it the most extensive of its micro-region, representing 0.161% of the state of Minas Gerais, 0.102% of the Southeast Region and 0.011% of the entire Brazilian territory.

It borders Cataguases to the north, Laranjal to the northeast, Recreio to the east, Pirapetinga and Estrela Dalva to the southeast, Volta Grande and Além Paraíba to the south, Santo Antônio do Aventureiro to the southwest, Argirita and São João Nepomuceno to the west, and Descoberto and Itamarati de Minas to the northwest.

[2] The territory of Leopoldina is located in the Paraíba do Sul River Basin, and the municipal headquarters is crossed by the Feijão Cru Stream.

The highest rainfall is recorded in the period from October to March, with the winter months characterized by drought.

The first representative of the executive power and mayor of the municipality was Francisco Andrade Bastos, whose mandate lasted from 1937 to 1945.

The Leopoldina Railroad, now granted to Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA), passes through the districts of Providência, Abaíba and Ribeiro Junqueira.

[42] According to the territorial division of the Catholic Church, Leopoldina has been the seat of a diocese since 1942, whose episcopal see is the Cathedral of St.