The state of Minas Gerais is one of the 27 units of the Federative Republic of Brazil, with a population estimated in 19 million inhabitants.

It has as bordering states: Bahia (north and northeast), Espirito Santo (east), Rio de Janeiro (Southeastern), São Paulo (south and Southeastern), Mato Grosso do Sul (west) and Goiás and Federal District (northwest).The dividing line is 4,727 km total.

The territory of Minas Gerais is between the parallels of 14º13'58" of north latitude and 22º54'00" of south latitude and the meridians of 39º51'32" and 51º02'35" west of Greenwich. The biggest linear distance between the extreme points is 986 km, in the North-South direction, and of 1.248 km in the east-west.

The territorial area is of 588,4 thousand kilometers squared. This represents 6.9% of the Brazilian territorial area (8,5 million squared kilometers).

The capital is Belo Horizonte, conceived and planned to substitute the colonial Ouro Preto in the end of 19th century . It had its construction marked by the formularization of a specific urban planning, as the example of Boston (U.S.A.). It was inaugurated in December,12 of 1897. Belo Horizonte has 2,3 million inhabitants (2003).