river, eastern Brazil, rising in the Serra do Espinhaço, south of Diamantina, Minas Gerais estado (state), and flowing northward and then east-northeastward across the uplands. At Salto da Divisa, it is interrupted by the Cachoeira (falls) do Salto Grande (140 ft 【43 m】 high). It descends to the coastal plain at the city of Jequitinhonha (beyond which it is also called Rio Grande do Belmonte) and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Belmonte in Bahia state after a course of approximately 680 mi (1,090 km). The river is navigable in parts and runs through the poorest part of Minas Gerais.