The city is geographically located close to the circumcenter of the three largest metropolitan areas in Brazil (Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), thus making it a strategic hub for commerce.

In 1764 the Minas Gerais governor, D. Luiz Lobo Diogo Silva, visited Tomé M. Costa and noticed some small houses nearby.

In 1790, Captain Domingos Dias de Barros, Tomé's son in law, built a bigger chapel on the site where the old one stood.

The town continued to develop civically after Emperor Pedro II and the imperial family visited it in 1884, for the inaugural of the Minas & Rio railroad.

Três Corações has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa) characterized by wet, warm summers and dry, cool winters.

The city has one university maintained by local authorities: Universidade Vale do Rio Verde (UNINCOR), which offers courses in several areas, including dentistry.

Also Carlos Luz, the 19th president of Brazil and so far the shortest-serving one having held the office only for two days in 1955 before he was ousted by a military coup, was born in Três Corações.