Contagem

About Contagem

Contagem is a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is only 21 kilometres (13 miles) from the capital, Belo Horizonte, and forms part of a metropolitan area with a population of 4.8 million.

Over time, the city's geographic boundaries were lost due to its horizontal growth towards the capital, causing intense conurbation with Belo Horizonte. Contagem is part of the Greater Belo Horizonte area and is one of the most important cities in this urban agglomeration, mainly due to its large industrial park. Its road system, designed to accommodate an intense flow of vehicles and cargo, is made up of the country's main highways, BR-381 (Fernão Dias - access to São Paulo), BR-262 (access to Vitória and Triângulo Mineiro) and BR-040 (access to Brasília and Rio de Janeiro).

The city belongs to the metropolitan mesoregion and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte, has a territorial extension of 195.2 square kilometres (75.4 square miles), and borders the municipalities of Ribeirão das Neves, Esmeraldas, Betim, Ibirité and Belo Horizonte. The elevation of the city hall is 939 metres (3,081 feet).

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.