History and Origin of The Name
The town began with the discovery of diamonds and once had as many as 30,000 inhabitants. When the diamonds ran out the town lost population and has only become more prosperous in recent years with tourism attracted by the Sierra da Canastra National Park. The slogan for the town is "Tourism, the new diamond of Vargem Bonita".
The origin of the name of the town is rather original. According to tradition, there was a ranch called Várzea in the decade of the 1940s. The word "várzea" refers to the banks of the rivers, often flooded, and sought after by farmers for planting rice and corn.
The story goes that this ranch was praised by a friend of the owner who said: "Mas que vargem bonita!", instead of "várzea bonita". In the local dialect "vargem" is a synonym for "várzea". The owner, José Alves Ferreira, liked the word so much that he changed the name of his ranch, which later became the site of the town.
Read more about this topic: Vargem Bonita
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