Artigas () is the capital of the

Artigas Department Artigas Department ( es, Departamento de Artigas, ) is the northernmost department of Uruguay, located in its northwestern region. Its capital is the city of Artigas, which borders on the Brazilian city of Quaraí. Artigas Department has an area ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Its name comes from that of the national hero,

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a political leader, military general, statesman and national hero of Uruguay and the broader Río de la Plata region. He fought in the Latin American wars of ind ...

, who fought for the emancipation of the River Plate, and sought to create a federative nation from these colonies. As of the census of 2011, it is the eleventh most populous city in the country.

Location

The city is located on the border with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, separated only by a bridge from the town

Quaraí Quarai is a Brazilian municipality located near the border with Uruguay on the Rio Quaraí. The population is 22,607 (2020 est.) in an area of 3,147.63 km2, making it one of the largest municipalities in the state. Its elevation is 112 m. It ...

of the state

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

of Brazil. It is the farthest city from Uruguay's capital

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, being away.

History

It was founded on 12 September 1852 by Don Carlos Catalá as the town of San Eugenio del Cuareim. On 5 September 1884 it became capital of the department. It was renamed Artigas and its status was elevated from ''villa'' (town) to ''ciudad'' (city) on 31 August 1915.

Economy

Artigas is a centre for trading grain crops (primarily

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

) with

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

. The railroad station and, since 1973,

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

are focused on this commerce. The hills in the area contain significant numbers of precious stones, especially

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...

and

amethyst Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος ''amethystos'' from α- ''a-'', "not" and μεθύσκω (Ancient Greek) / μεθώ (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that t ...

, which were first found in 1860, since when mining has taken place. Souvenirs and handicrafts made using these gem stones are produced in Artigas and exported widely.

IUGS geological heritage site

In respect of it being 'the site of world-class amethyst deposits, where the largest amethyst-filled giant geodes were ever found', the

International Union of Geological Sciences The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of geology. About The IUGS was founded in 1961 and is a Scientific Union member of the Inte ...

(IUGS) included the 'Deposits of Amethyst of Los Catalanes Gemological District' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'

Population

In 2011 Artigas had a population of 40,658. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Transportation

The city is served by Artigas International Airport.

Places of worship

* San Eugenio del Cuareim, Artigas, St. Eugene of the Cuareim Parish Church (Roman Catholic)

Climate

Artigas has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, described by the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

as ''Cfa''. Summers are warm to hot and winters are cool, with the occurrence of

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

s and

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

. The precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 1,293 mm (50.9 in), and the annual average temperature is around 19 °C (66 °F).

Notable people

Adelia Silva Adelia Silva (3 April 192510 July 2004) was a Uruguayan educator, writer and social activist. She became the first Afro-Uruguayan to earn a teaching degree. She taught in rural schools, weathering racial and sexist discrimination. She moved to ...

(1925-2004), educator and writer who had a significant role in elevating the civil rights of Afro-Uruguayans. *

Darwin Núñez Darwin Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro (; born 24 June 1999) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Liverpool and the Uruguay national team. Núñez is known for his explosive speed and proficient techn ...

(born 1999), footballer *

Pablo Aurrecochea Pablo Fernando Aurrecochea Medina (born March 3, 1981 in Artigas, Uruguay) is an Uruguayan retired footballer. He was best known for wearing kits adorned with cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry, Krusty the Clown, The Incredible Hulk, Batma ...

(born 1981), footballer

References

External links

*
INE map of Artigas, Pintadito, Cerro Ejido, Cerro Signorelli and Cerro San Eugenio
{{Authority control Populated places in the Artigas Department Populated places established in 1852 Brazil–Uruguay border crossings 1852 establishments in Uruguay First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites