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Cristalina

Cristalina is a small city located in the southeast of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Cristalina is located directly south of the federal capital, Brasília, and is connected to that city by BR-040. It lies on a plateau between the basins of two rivers: the Corumbá River and the São Marcos. Cristalina belongs to the micro-region called Entorno de Brasília, which consists of several cities in Goiás state located outside the boundaries of the Federal District.

Cristalina has municipal boundaries with:

Cristalina is located at the junction of two important highways—the BR 040, which links Brasília to Belo Horizonte, and the BR 050, which links Brasília to São Paulo. This location alone has been responsible for much of the growth of the city, which had an increase in population with the foundation and continuous growth of Brasília, which is located at a distance of 125 km.

As the name indicates the town is famous for being one of the largest centers of production and commerce of precious and semi-precious stones and crystals in Brazil. The immense variety of stones (such as amethysts, sapphires, emeralds, blue topazes, and tourmaline) and of crystals (found in diverse sizes, shapes and colors) are responsible for the large number of tourists that visit the city. Because of the altitude the climate is mild, with temperatures between 10 and 28 degrees Celsius.

The history of Cristalina began in the eighteenth century with gold exploration. An abundance of rock crystal and in 1879 two Frenchmen, Etienne Lopes and Leon Laboissière, residents of Paracatu, bought some of the crystal and exported it to Paris. They then settled in a place called Serra Velha where they set up their operations. Later, after the failure of the first miners, another Frenchman, Emílio Levy, arrived trading cloth for crystal and built his house, stimulating others to arrive. In 1901 the district of Serra dos Cristais was created belonging to the municipality of Santa Luzia, now Luziânia. In 1916 it was emancipated as São Sebastião dos Cristais, later changed to Cristalina.

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