Mantena is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region o Brazil. Mantena is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. According to IBGE data, the estimated population in 2020 was 27,647. (That census may omit pertinent data, as the population of the city was almost 50,000 before the separation of the districts of São João da Manteninha and Nova Belém, which were elevated to a city and its districts of Divino of Palmeiras, Santa Rita and Vargem Grande, together forming part of its municipality with a population of approximately 20,000 inhabitants.) According to the Aurélio XXI Dictionary of Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Mantena, in Goiás, means "good" or "great". The word also refers to a character who plays the king of the Christians and the Moors, in the cavailas of the municipality of Franca, in São Paulo. Also named are the knights of the Cavalry Association of São Gonçalo and São Benedito de Guaratinguetá, Aparecida and Lorena, all the cities of the Paraíba Valley, in the interior of São Paulo. The name "Mantena" is of indigenous origin and means "good soil", "fertile soil". History Around 1920, the territory began to be populated. This happened thanks to the Capuchin priests, among them, Friar Innocent of Comiso. At that time, the lands that today form our Municipality belonged to the Municipality of Itambacuri, being part of the District called Lajão, later the District of Lajão was dismembered of Itambacuri, appearing the Municipality of Conselheiro Pena. In 1930, Emiliano Ferreira Júnior, bought a large part of these lands and came to occupy them with his family. Two years after his installation in the lands, he was disgusted here due to the death of his daughter and decided to sell his lands to Cândido Ribeiro Gonçalves, known as Cândido Ilhéu. This one bought all the patrimony and donated a part for the construction of the town, with only 7 houses, receiving the name of "Bar of the Stream of the Islanders", in homage to the donor. On December 17, 1938, the mayor of the Municipality of Conselheiro Pena (to which belonged our village), Sebastião Anastácio de Paula, (who still resides in Conselheiro Pena), happy with the growth of the village turned it into a district by Law n0 158, the district of Bom Jesus do Mantena was created, comprising the entire region of São Mateus do Sul,