Departments of Uruguay

Departments of Uruguay
Category	Unitary state
Location	Eastern Republic of Uruguay
Number	19 departments

Uruguay consists of 19 departments. Each department has a legislature called a Departmental Board. The mayor of the department's capital city also serves as the department's chief executive.

History

The first division of the Republic in six departments happened on 27 January 1816. In February of the same year, two more departments were formed, and in 1828 one more was added. When the First Constitution was signed in 1830, there were nine departments. These were the departments of Montevideo, Maldonado, Canelones, San José, Colonia, Soriano, Paysandú, Durazno and Cerro Largo. At that time, the department of Paysandú occupied all the territory north of the Río Negro, which included the actual departments of Artigas, Rivera, Tacuarembó, Salto, Paysandú and Río Negro.

On 17 June 1837 a new division of Uruguay was made and this northern territory was divided in three parts by the creation of the departments of Salto and Tacuarembó. At the same time the department of Minas (which was eventually renamed to Lavalleja) was created out of parts of Cerro Largo and Maldonado. Then in 1856 the department of Florida was created and on 7 July 1880 the department of Río Negro was split from Paysandú and the department of Rocha was split from Maldonado. In 1884 the department of Treinta y Tres was formed from parts of Cerro Largo and Minas, while also the department of Artigas was split from Salto, and in the same year the department of Rivera was split from Tacuarembó. Finally in the end of 1885 the department of Flores was split from San José.

1830	1837	1856	1880	1884-85
Series of maps showing the gradual formation of the actual 19 departments of Uruguay.

List of departments

Flag	Department	ISO 3166-2 code	Formation	Area (km²)	Population (2011)	Density (/km²)	Capital
	Artigas	UY-AR	1884 (from Salto)	11,928	73,378	6.15	Artigas
	Canelones	UY-CA	1816 (as Villa de Guadalupe)	4,536	520,187	114.68	Canelones
File:Banderadecerrolargo.jpg	Cerro Largo	UY-CL	1821	13,648	84,698	6.21	Melo
	Colonia	UY-CO	1816	6,106	123,203	20.18	Colonia del Sacramento
	Durazno	UY-DU	1822 (as Entre Ríos Yí y Negro)	11,643	57,088	4.90	Durazno
	Flores	UY-FS	1885 (from San José)	5,144	25,050	4.87	Trinidad
	Florida	UY-FD	1856 (from San José)	10,417	67,048	6.44	Florida
	Lavalleja	UY-LA	1837 (as Minas)	10,016	58,815	5.87	Minas
	Maldonado	UY-MA	1816 (as San Fernando de Maldonado)	4,793	164,300	34.28	Maldonado
	Montevideo	UY-MO	1816	530	1,319,108	2,489	Montevideo
	Paysandú	UY-PA	1820	13,922	113,124	8.13	Paysandú
	Río Negro	UY-RN	1868 (from Paysandú)	9,282	54,765	5.90	Fray Bentos
	Rivera	UY-RV	1884 (as Tacuarembó)	9,370	103,493	11.04	Rivera
	Rocha	UY-RO	1880 (from Maldonado)	10,551	68,088	6.45	Rocha
	Salto	UY-SA	1837	14,163	124,878	8.82	Salto
	San José	UY-SJ	1816	4,992	108,309	21.70	San José de Mayo
	Soriano	UY-SO	1816 (as Santo Domingo Soriano)	9,008	82,595	9.17	Mercedes
	Tacuarembó	UY-TA	1837	15,438	90,053	5.83	Tacuarembó
	Treinta y Tres	UY-TT	1884 (from Cerro Largo and Lavalleja)	9,676	48,134	4.97	Treinta y Tres

Municipalities

Main article: Municipalities of Uruguay

Since 2009 (Law No. 18567 of 13 September 2009), the Uruguayan departments have been subdivided into municipalities. As Uruguay is a very small country (3 million inhabitants, of which roughly one-half lives in the national capital), this system has been widely criticized as a waste of resources. Nevertheless, in the municipal elections of 2010 the local authorities were elected and they assumed office months later. Currently there are 89 municipalities scattered all over the country.

See also

• ISO 3166-2:UY

External links

• Congreso Nacional de Intendentes Template:Es icon