Qualla: Morrinhos, Goiás

Morrinhos, Goiás: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aryelevelin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The town is named for three hills: Ovo, Catraca, and Cruz. In Portuguese, morrinhos means "little hills," and they anchor the horizon here the way landmarks do in flat country. The name is modest, but the town it identifies is not. By 2000, Morrinhos ranked sixth out of 242 municipalities in Goias on the Human Development Index, a rare achievement for a farming community. It is also the gateway to Caldas Novas, Brazil's most famous hot-water resort town, which sits 52 kilometers to the east.

Read more: Morrinhos, Goiás on Qualla

Image: Aryelevelin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Morrinhos, Goiás: A Donated Town

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aryelevelin, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1845, Captain Gaspar Martins Veiga gave away the land that would become Morrinhos. The donation created a settlement that took the pious name Nossa Senhora do Carmo. Antonio Correia Bueno, along with his brothers Inacio and Pedro, had come from Patrocinio in Minas Gerais at th...

Read more: Morrinhos, Goiás on Qualla

Image: Aryelevelin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Morrinhos, Goiás: The Tomato Capital

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aryelevelin, CC BY-SA 4.0. Drive across the municipality and you will count 114 center-pivot irrigation systems, the slowly-rotating quarter-mile arms that keep plants alive in dry season. Morrinhos uses them for tomatoes, making it the largest tomato producer in the state of Goias. Sugarcane, coffee, pass...

Read more: Morrinhos, Goiás on Qualla

Image: Aryelevelin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Morrinhos, Goiás: A Park of Names

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Morrinhense, Public domain. The Jatobá Centenário ecological park opened in 1996 to protect half a square kilometer of virgin forest. Two kilometers of trails wind through it. The name comes from a single giant jatobá tree, the park's centenary landmark and its crown jewel. Natural lakes hold cold, clear wa...

Read more: Morrinhos, Goiás on Qualla

Image: Morrinhense | Public domain

Morrinhos, Goiás: The Road to Caldas Novas

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Gandolph, CC BY-SA 4.0. The reason travelers pass through Morrinhos is not Morrinhos itself but its famous neighbor. Fifty-two kilometers east lies Caldas Novas, a town built over a geothermal field whose hot springs have drawn bathers for more than a century. The resort complex there pipes thermal wate...

Read more: Morrinhos, Goiás on Qualla

Image: Eric Gandolph | CC BY-SA 4.0