Departments of Uruguay

Uruguay consists of 19 departments (departamentos). Each department has a legislature, called a Departmental Board, and a chief executive called a Intendente.

Department
Departamento (Spanish)
Map of the departments of Uruguay.
CategoryUnitary state
LocationOriental Republic of Uruguay
Number19 departments
Subdivisions

History

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The first division of Uruguay into six departments occurred on 27 January 1816. In February of the same year, two more departments were formed, and in 1828 one more was added. When the country's first constitution was signed in 1830, there were nine departments: 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 current departments of Artigas, Rivera, Tacuarembó, Salto, Paysandú and Río Negro.

On 17 June 1837, this northern territory was divided in three, 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. In 1856 Florida was created, and on 7 July 1880 the department of Río Negro was split from Paysandú and Rocha was split from Maldonado. In 1884 Treinta y Tres was formed from parts of Cerro Largo and Minas, while Artigas was split from Salto. The same year the department of Rivera was split from Tacuarembó, and in 1885 Flores was split from San José.

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

List of departments

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Flag or
COA
Department ISO 3166-2
code
Formation Area
(km2)
Population
(2011)[1]
Density
(/km2)
Capital Capital population
  Artigas UY-AR 1884
(from Salto)
11,928 73,378 6.15 Artigas 40,658
  Canelones UY-CA 1816
(as Villa de Guadalupe)
4,536 520,187 114.68 Canelones 19,865
  Cerro Largo UY-CL 1821 13,648 84,698 6.21 Melo 53,245
  Colonia UY-CO 1816 6,106 123,203 20.18 Colonia del Sacramento   26,231
  Durazno UY-DU 1822
(as Entre Ríos Yí y Negro)
11,643 57,088 4.90 Durazno 34,372
  Flores UY-FS 1885
(from San José)
5,144 25,050 4.87 Trinidad 21,429
  Florida UY-FD 1856
(from San José)
10,417 67,048 6.44 Florida 33,640
  Lavalleja UY-LA 1837
(as Minas)
10,016 58,815 5.87 Minas 45,638
  Maldonado UY-MA 1816
(as San Fernando de Maldonado)
4,793 164,300 34.28 Maldonado 62,592
  Montevideo UY-MO 1816 530 1,319,108 2,489 Montevideo 1,319,108
  Paysandú UY-PA 1820 13,922 113,124 8.13 Paysandú 76,429
  Río Negro UY-RN 1868
(from Paysandú)
9,282 54,765 5.90 Fray Bentos 24,406
  Rivera UY-RV 1884
(as Tacuarembó)
9,370 103,493 11.04 Rivera 64,465
  Rocha UY-RO 1880
(from Maldonado)
10,551 68,088 6.45 Rocha 25,422
  Salto UY-SA 1837
(from Paysandú)
14,163 124,878 8.82 Salto 104,028
  San José UY-SJ 1816 4,992 108,309 21.70 San José de Mayo 36,747
  Soriano UY-SO 1816
(as Santo Domingo Soriano)
9,008 82,595 9.17 Mercedes 41,975
  Tacuarembó UY-TA 1837
(from Paysandú)
15,438 90,053 5.83 Tacuarembó 54,757
  Treinta y Tres   UY-TT 1884
(from Cerro Largo and Lavalleja)
9,676 48,134 4.97 Treinta y Tres 25,477

Statutory framework

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Establishment of departments

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The General Assembly has the powers to create new departments, requiring a supermajority vote of two thirds in both chambers, as provided by the Constitution in article 85. The General Assembly can also define their borders, requiring the same majority.[2]

Politics and governance

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The basic statutory framework of departments is defined by Section XVI of the Constitution. Each department has executive and legislative branches, in the form of the Intendant and the Departmental Board respectively. The Municipal Organic Law No. 9515 regulates more specific details of these rules.[3]

Finances

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The sources of financial resources of the departmental governments are detailed in article 297 of the Constitution, being the departmental taxes, national taxes whose administration is granted to departments, earnings from services or incomes, money obtained from sanctions, donations, inheritances and bequests received and accepted, and their own part of the national budget that they were granted by budget laws.[4]

Municipalities

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Since 2009 (Law No. 18567 of 13 September 2009),[5] the Uruguayan departments have been subdivided into municipalities. This system has been widely criticized as a waste of resources, due to Uruguay's small population of 3.4 million. The inaugural municipal elections were held in 2010, with municipal officials assuming office later in the year. Currently there are 125 municipalities.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Censos 2011". Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. ^ "Constitution of Uruguay - Article 85" (in Spanish). IMPO. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Constitution of Uruguay - Article 262" (in Spanish). IMPO. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Constitution of Uruguay - Article 297" (in Spanish). IMPO. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Ley Nº 18.567 del 13 de septiembre de 2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
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