thousand years and registers from the first explorers of the region after Brazil's discovery, in 1500, provides us information that they were still numerous on that occasion. The exploration of this region began in the 16th century, with expeditions like the ones from Sebastião Fernandes Tourinho, that went by the Rio Doce route in the search for precious metals. Fernandes Tourinho went through the inverse route of the river until finding the Santo Antônio River, but the settlement was prohibited on the beginning of the 17th century, due to the efforts to not having ways to have illegal gold extraction on the Diamantina, Minas Gerais region. The settlement was allowed on 1755 and to guarantee to safety of the colonizers and merchants that used the Doce River, barracks were installed with the mission to keep an eye on the Botocudos. The barrack of Baguari was the first territory of today's municipality and along with him, near settlements also appeared, one of them being Figueira, that correspond to today's municipality. The Amerindians were seen as a threat to the colonizers and the barracks worked as a strategy of forcing them to leave the region. Near Figueira, in 1818, the D.Manoel barrack was created, on the left side of the Doce River, working as a little port that attended to military service and would also form a trading post. Later, the settlement was ranked up to a district subjected to Peçanha by the provincial law nº 3.198 of September 23 of 1884, coming to be called Santo Antônio da Figueira. General information The area around Governador Valadares was explored in colonial serve the residences of the town. It was powered by steam. 1923 – Figueira In 1937, the municipality of Figueira do Rio Doce was established, which then changed its name to Governador Valadares, in honor of the governor at the time, Benedito Valadares. Since the 1980s, Governador Valadares is known as one of the main sources of Brazilian immigrants to the United States, even earning the nickname "Governador Valadolares" in reference to expatriates sending remittances of their dollar salaries. However, the late 2000s recession made many of the Valadares immigrants to return home since financial security became worse in the United States. Economy Production and the intense trade in precious stones is the reason the "Brazil Gem Show" takes place in the local authority every year: an event that consists of