Colonia Department

Colonia
Symbols
flag coat of arms
Basic data
Country	Uruguay
Capital	Colonia del Sacramento
surface	6106 km²
Residents	123.203 (2011)
density	20 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2	UY-CO
Website	www.colonia.gub.uy (Spanish)
politics
Intendant	Walter Zimmer
Political party	Partido Nacional

Coordinates: 34 ° 11 ′  S , 57 ° 42 ′  W

Colonia is a department in the south of Uruguay .

geography

Location and landscape

Map of the department of Colonia

Colonia del Sacramento harbor

The department, which covers an area of ​​6,106 km², lies opposite the confluence of the Río Paraná and Río Uruguay to the Río de la Plata . Its capital Colonia del Sacramento , which is located on this estuary opposite the Argentine capital Buenos Aires , has 21,714 inhabitants. It is bordered to the north by Soriano , to the west by Flores , to the east by San José , and to the south and west by the Argentine province of Buenos Aires .

The area belongs to the so-called La Plata plain and is therefore part of the pampas . However, it is hilly compared to the plains to the west of the Río de la Plata, with the Sierra del Mal Abrigo and above all the Cuchilla de San Salvador standing out as the most distinctive ranges of hills. The main rivers are the Río Rosario , Río San Juan and the following: Arroyo de las Vacas , Arroyo de las Víboras , Arroyo Cufré and Arroyo Miguelete .

climate

The climate is temperate and humid with an annual mean temperature between 17 and 18 ° C and rainfall of around 1,000 mm.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation is typical of the pampas with a great variety of grasses and trees of medium height. In addition to grazing animals, the animal world is now limited to rodents, birds, fish and other aquatic life in the Río de la Plata, including the La Plata dolphin .

Natural resources

In the department area there are deposits of black granite in the northeastern tip of the area and in the area around Rosario . Further mineral resources are stored in the Mina Narancio on Arroyo Miguelete , where talc , quartz , feldspar and beryl can be found.

history

The name of the department comes from its capital Colonia del Sacramento.

Colonial buildings in Colonia del Sacramento

Colonia del Sacramento was founded by Portuguese troops in 1680 amid the conflict over the Banda Oriental . The area was the scene of this conflict with Spain well into the 19th century, which it conquered several times until the new state of Uruguay became independent in 1825. As a result, both Portuguese and Spanish colonial architecture can be found in the cities and towns, and the city map of Colonia del Sacramento deviates in many places from the traditional Spanish-Latin American checkerboard pattern, so the streets are often based on geographic conditions , as in the Portuguese city model .

Economy and Infrastructure

The Estancia Anchorena in Colonia

Agriculture and animal husbandry form the basis of the economy. The department is best known for its dairy products and beekeeping (e.g. Nueva Helvecia ). Are cultivated u. a. Corn , sunflower , hops , flaxseed , olives , fruits and grapes . There is also little activity in mining ( quarries ).

There are small ports in the towns of Juan Lacaze, Colonia del Sacramento, Nueva Palmira y Carmelo. In industry, paper production, shipbuilding and the manufacture of synthetic materials should be mentioned; there is also agricultural industry (e.g. mills).

education

Colonia has a total of 14 secondary schools ( Liceos ), where 839 teachers teach 8,588 students. (As of December 2008)

Culture

Local pastas with salmo (type of fish) and tomatoes

Along with Montevideo and Canelones, Colonia is one of the departments that have been shaped most by Swiss and Italian culture. As a port city, Colonia del Sacramento took in immigrants from Europe as early as the 19th century, who, in addition to Switzerland and Italy, came mainly from Poland , Spain , France and Germany . Because of this past, the Swiss cheese specialties and pasta are particularly well known in local cuisine.

traffic

The department of Colonia is connected to the rest of the country by several national roads. The ferry connection Colonia- Buenos Aires ( Argentina ) and another boat connection Carmelo- Tigre (Argentina) are also important. The Colonia airfield is only used by private planes. In the past there were two railway lines from Colonia to Montevideo and Mercedes , which were closed in the 1980s and 1990s. However, there are projects to reopen them.

There have been negotiations with Argentina for years to build a bridge over the Río de la Plata , with several options being discussed. The most expensive but also the shortest variant because of the long river crossing would run via La Plata , while a variant via the delta of the Río Paraná would be much easier to implement; there, however, a largely intact natural area is affected.

politics

Like the other departments of Uruguay, Colonia is also headed by an elected Intendente . This has the power to determine the authorities of the localities. The current Intendente is Walter Zimmer, a member of the Partido Nacional .

population

Similar to the rest of the country, Colonia showed little population growth in the last censuses.

The demographic data in 2004 were as follows:

• Population growth: 0.448% (2004)
• Birth rate: 15.05 births / 1,000 population (2004)
• Death rate: 9.97 deaths / 1,000 population
• Median age: 33.5 (32.5 men. 34.6 women)
• Life expectancy (2004):
  • Total: 76.54 years
  • Men: 72.68 years
  • Women: 80.61 years
• Number of children per woman: 2.19
• Average per capita income in cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants: 4,385.6 peso / month

Population development

1852	1860	1908	1963	1975	1985	1996	2004	2011
7,971	13,349	54,644	105.276	111,832	112,717	120.241	119.266	123.203

Source:

While 119,266 inhabitants were counted in 2004, the number of inhabitants determined in the 2011 census was 123,203. Of these, 60,203 were men and 63,000 women.

Major cities and towns

Colonia del Sacramento ( Uruguay )

In addition to the capital Colonia del Sacramento, the cities of Juan Lacaze (port), Carmelo (shipbuilding), Nueva Helvecia also known as Colonia Suiza, Rosario , Nueva Palmira and Colonia Valdense are the most important towns.

Locations with more than 1,000 inhabitants (2004):

city	Residents
Carmelo	16,866
Colonia del Sacramento	21,714
Colonia Valdense	3,087
Florencio Sánchez	3,526
Juan Lacaze	13,196
Nueva Helvecia	10,002
Nueva Palmira	9,230
Ombúes de Lavalle	3,451
Rosario	9,311
Tarariras	6,070

Web links

Commons : Colonia Department  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Colonia in the Enciclopedia Geográfica del Uruguay (Spanish)
• Geography of the department (spanish)
• Side of the government of Colonia
• Colonia
• Description of Colonia del Sacramento (Spanish)
• Description of the city of Carmelo (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulises Rubens Grub : Atlas geografico de la República Oriental del Uruguay, Montevideo 1980, p. 35
2. ↑ Liceos del Uruguay (Spanish) (PDF; 6.94 MB), accessed on February 29, 2012
3. ↑ Projections ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( MS Excel ; 62 kB) of the national statistical office of Uruguay  
4. ↑ Censuses from 1852 to 2004 ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( MS Excel ; 29 kB)  
5. ↑ Statistical data of the 2011 census ( memento of the original from September 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay , accessed on August 29, 2012 (XLS file; 25 kB)