Tacuarembó ( Guarani: ''Takuarembo'', literally: "

Bamboo shoot Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including '' Bambusa vulgaris'' and '' Phyllostachys edulis''. They are used as vegetables in numerous Asian dishes and ...

") is the capital city of the Tacuarembó Department in north-central

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 ...

Location and geography

The city is located on Km. 390 of Route 5, south-southwest of Rivera, the capital city of the

Rivera Department Rivera Department () is a department of the northern region of Uruguay. It has an area of and a population of 103,493. Its capital is the city of Rivera. It borders Brazil to the north and east, Cerro Largo Department to the southeast, Tacuarem ...

. Routes 26 and 31 also meet Route 5 within the city limits. The stream Arroyo Tacuarembó Chico, a tributary of Río Tacuarembó, flows through the north part of the city. As of the census of 2011, it is the eighth most populated city of the country.

History

On 24 October 1831, a presidential decree by

Fructuoso Rivera José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general and patriot who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, twice served as Uruguay's President and was one of the instigators ...

ordered the creation of a city in the region. The task was entrusted to the President's brother, Colonel Bernabé Rivera. Tacuarembó plaza Artigas

Colonel Rivera left

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and 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 . Montevideo is situated on the southern coa ...

on a three-month journey with a caravan of wagons and families, towards the shore of the Tacuaremboty River, which in the

Guaraní language Guaraní (), specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani ( "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of P ...

means "river of the reeds". The area was surveyed and divided into blocks for settlement. On January 21, 1832, Coronel Rivera founded the town under the name "San Fructuoso", after Saint Fructuosus of Tarragona (whose Saint's Day is January 21) and after his (Benjamin's) brother. By 1837, San Fructuoso was a growing town. It had more than 500 residents, a justice of the peace, a military commander, a parish priest, a mayor, and a Public Works Commission. On 16 June 1837, the Tacuarembó Department was created (along with Salto and

Paysandú Paysandú () is the capital of Paysandú Department in western Uruguay. Location The city is located on the banks of the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina. It lies northwest of Montevideo via Route 1 and Route 3, on the junc ...

), and San Fructuoso was named the capital. Over time, the community continued to grow. According to the Act of Ley Nº 2.389, on 17 July 1895 it held the status of "Villa" (town). Its name changed to "Tacuarembó", and on 24 June 1912, its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (city) by the Act of Ley Nº 4.031.

Population

In 2011, Tacuarembó had a population of 54,755. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Places of worship

* St. Fructuosus Cathedral ( Roman Catholic) * Holy Cross Parish Church (Roman Catholic) * St. Joseph Parish Church (Roman Catholic) * Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church (Roman Catholic)

Climate

Tacuarembó 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 as ''Cfa''. Summers are warm to hot and winters are cool, with frequent

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 ga ...

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 inf ...

. The precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 1,165 mm (45.87 in), and the annual average temperature is 18 °C (64.4 °F).

Notable residents

Writers Circe Maia, Mario Benedetti, Tomás de Mattos, and Jorge Majfud are from Tacuarembó, as is José Núñez, 19th century Nicaraguan politician. Some Uruguayans claim that the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combinat ...

musician

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inte ...

was born near Tacuarembó, in the village of Valle Edén. Scholarly consensus is that he was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France, then raised in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...

, but as an adult he obtained legal papers saying he was born in Tacuarembó, probably to avoid French military authorities.

References

External links

DelTacua.com.uy CommunityArticle on the Laguna de Lavaderas of the city's park, Official Portal of Uruguayan Government"Fundamentos Culturales de Tacuarembó" Washington Benavides, Ciudadano Ilustre de Tacuarembó.INE map of Tacuarembó and La Pedrera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacuarembo Populated places in the Tacuarembó Department Populated places established in 1832