The region has a lot of hills, and the heights varies from 100 to 1,900 meters.

Zona da Mata was the richest region of Minas Gerais from the 1850s to the 1930s due to coffee and milk production.

Today - along with farming - textile, furniture, siderurgy and automotive industries are important to the economy of the region.

Other important cities are: "The Forbidden Lands: Colonial Identity, Frontier Violence, and the Persistence of Brazil's Eastern Indians, 1750-1830".

This geographical article relating to Minas Gerais is a stub.