Maldonado Department
| Flag | Coat of Arms |
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| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Capital: | Maldonado |
| Area: | 4,793 km² |
| Inhabitants: | 140,192 (2004) |
| Pop. Density: | 29.24 inh./km² |
| Demonym: | fernandino |
| Website: | maldonado.gub.uy (in Spanish) |
| ISO 3166-2: | UY-MA |
| Politics | |
| Intendant: | Oscar de los Santos (FA) |
| Ruling party: | Frente Amplio |
| Map | |
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The Maldonado Department (Spanish: Departamento de Maldonado), with an area of 4,793 km² (1,851 square miles) and 140,192 inhabitants, is located to the southeast of Uruguay. Its capital is Maldonado.
Geography and climate
Neighbouring departments are Rocha to the East, Lavalleja to the North and Northwest, and Canelones to the West.
It's limited to the Southwest by the Río de la Plata and to the Southeast by the Atlantic Ocean. Several creeks flow through the state, most of which are tributaries of the River Plate: the Maldonado, José Ignacio, Garzón, Pan de Azúcar and the Aigua. Near the coast several lagoons are found: del Sauce, del Diario, José Ignacio and Garzón.
Three main geostructural regions can be found inside its limits:
- The Northern region, with its sierras, some of which are the tallest in the country: Carape (with the Cerro Catedral, 514 m, the highest elevation of the country), and de las Animas (with the Mirador Nacional, 501 m).
- The central area, with a hilly terrain, considerably lower than the ones mentioned above (around 150 m high, in average)
- The coastal stripe, with its atlantic plains and some coastal hill ranges.
Fertile soils are to be found to the West, while the ones to the North and East are less fertile. Located in the humid subtropical region, its average temperature is low compared to that of the rest of the country (around 17°C), and so are its precipitation levels (up to 1,000 mm yearly, in average).
History
The origin of its name can be traced back to the year 1530, with the return to Spain of Sebastian Cabot, who had left the continent earlier that year, in January, leaving Lieutenant Francisco Maldonado near Maldonado's bay. The strategic importance of that bay led to the decision by Montevideo's governor Joaquin de Viana to build a settlement in Portezuelo (near the Laguna del Diario) in 1755. Two years later, in 1757, a civil and military settlement was founded around the bay and in the neighbouring Gorriti Island. Other settlements soon followed in the area, with the intention of limiting the Portuguese expansion. In 1828, the department of Maldonado was created, containing as well the territories now belonging to the department of Rocha, and most of Lavalleja.
Economy
There are three main economical areas in the department, centered in the main urban centres:
- To the North and center of the department, with centre in the town of Aigua, is a region dedicated to livestock raising, which has been sufferering from a steady depopulation in the latter years.
- To the West, with centre in the city of Pan De Azucar, is the agroindustrial region, which has been experimenting lately a demografic stagnation.
- To the South, bordering the coastline, centered in Piriapolis and Maldonado's metropolitan area (which includes San Carlos and Punta Del Este), is the touristic region, which has become one of the areas with bigger growth rates in the country.
The main crops are wheat, maize, sunflower, oat, potato, among others, centered in the south of its territory. Fishing, as well as cattle and sheep raising have also a great importance in the department's economy. It is, along with Lavalleja, the main and most diversified mining area of the country (marble, metals, feldspars, construction materials, etc.), but it is scarcely exploited currently. It has been, however, the department with the fourth most important mining activity, after Lavalleja, Canelones and Montevideo, with a production worth 4,642,123 dollars, according to 1999 data.
Maldonado's main industries are dairy processing, sugar production and automobile manufacturing. Tourism, especially centered around Punta del Este and Piriápolis, has become since the 1950's one of the main sources of income for the department. It has also been the cause for its unique urban concentration of the population (94% out of the total)
Population and Demographics
As of the census of 2004, there were 140,192 people and 47,657 households in the department. The average household size was 2.9. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males.
- Population growth rate: 2.285% (2004)
- Birth Rate: 17.10 births/1,000 people (2004)
- Death Rate: 7.06 deaths/1,000 people
- Average age: 31.0 (30.1 Males, 32.0 Females)
- Life Expectancy at Birth (2004):
- Average Family Size: 2.31 children/woman
- Urban per capita income (cities of 5,000 inhabitants or more): 4,066.1 pesos/month
Main Urban Centres
(Towns or cities with 1,000 or more inhabitants listed - data from the 2004 census,
unless noted otherwise)
| City/Town | Population |
|---|---|
| Aiguá | 2,676 |
| Cerro Pelado | 2,407 (1996) |
| Gregorio Aznárez | 1,003 (1996) |
| Hipódromo | 1,436 (1996) |
| Maldonado | 50,417 |
| Pan De Azúcar | 6,969 |
| Pinares - Las Delicias | 6,989 (1996) |
| Piriápolis | 7,579 |
| Punta Del Este | 8,252 |
| San Carlos | 23,878 |
| San Rafael - El Placer | 1,950 (1996) |
External links
- Municipality of Maldonado, official website. (in Spanish)
- Junta Departamental de Maldonado, official website. (in Spanish)
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