Situated in the Mantiqueira mountain range, on the border of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, the Itatiaia National Park was created in 1937 and is now regarded as the first natural area in Brazil to be protected. It is strange to think that at the time of its creation it was believed that it contained the highest point in Brazil, at three thousand metres above sea level. Subsequently it was discovered that the Pico da Bandeira, in the Caparaó mountains, a ramification of the Mantiqueira range, was actually higher and another national park was created there too. Even later, it was discovered that the highest point in Brazil is in fact the Serra da Neblina on the border with Venezuela, nowadays also protected as a National Park.
It is important to realize that many years before the Itatiaia National Park was created, there was already a research station there attached to the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden which, to this day, houses very important samples from the highlands of the Mata Atlântica. The park has been extended over the years and, more recently, has benefited greatly from the creation by the state of Minas Gerais of the Papagaio Ecological Station. The Itatiaia park is almost entirely surrounded by the Mantiqueira Mountain Environmental Protection Area, designated in 1985 and which serves as its buffer zone.