Pirapora is a municipality in northcentral Minas Gerais in Brazil. The population is 56,640 (2020 est.) in an area of 550 km². The name Pirapora comes from the Tupi words for "fish" + "jump", referring to the piracema season when a mass migration of fishes ascends the São Francisco River to spawn. Location Pirapora belongs to its own statistical microregion. The elevation of the municipal seat is 472 meters. It became a municipality in 1912. This municipality is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River and is 340 km from the state capital. Neighboring municipalities are: Lagoa Grande, Coromandel, Guarda-Mor, Lagamar and Paracatu. There are two districts, besides the municipal seat: Claro de Minas, 12 km. distant, and Vazamor, 32 km. distant. Microregion of Pirapora The statistical microregion of Pirapora includes 9 cities: Buritizeiro, Várzea da Palma, Ibiaí, Jequitaí, São Romão, Lassance, Riachinho, Santa Fé de Minas and Lagoa dos Patos. It has an area of 23,111 km2 and a population of approximately 150,000 inhabitants. History The city is located on the right bank of the great São Francisco River, the longest river to flow entirely inside Brazilian territory. Its history goes back to the colonial period of the bandeirantes and the gold panhandlers who followed the river upstream, arrived at the rapids of Pirapora and founded the settlement of São Gonçalo das Tabocas. In 1911 the small Arraial de São Gonçalo de Pirapora became the seat of a municipality and its name was shortened to Pirapora. Its street plan was laid out in the form of a chess set, inspired by the new capital of Belo Horizonte, and the streets were given names of Brazilian states. There are highway connections with the main federal highway, the BR 040, to the west. In 1910 the railroad came up from the south and reached Pirapora, with a bridge (694 m) being built across the river. There were plans to extend the line to the coast. At the end of the nineteen seventies the line was deactivated, but the bridge and the rails still remain. Today the river has lost its economic importance and is mainly used by tourist boats that attempt to recreate the spirit of the past, when Mississippi style riverboats were used to go as far as Juazeiro in Bahia. These boats used charcoal, which contributed to the disappearance of the vegetation along the river. One