Las Piedras is a city in the

Canelones Department The Departamento de Canelones ( es, Departamento de Canelones; ) is one of the 19 uruguayan departments. With an area of and 518,154 inhabitants, it is located in the south of Uruguay. Its capital is Canelones. Geography and climate Neighbou ...

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 ...

. As of the census of 2011, it is the seventh most populated city of the country. Las Piedras is also the name of the municipality to which the city belongs.

Location

The city is located on the east side of Route 5, north of the border with

Montevideo Department Montevideo () is a department (''departamento'') of Uruguay. It is by far the smallest department in area, but also by far the most populated. Its capital is the city of Montevideo, which is also the national capital. While most of the departmen ...

. Bordering

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

to the south and

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 co ...

to the southeast, it belongs to the wider metropolitan area of Montevideo. The stream Arroyo de las Piedras flows by the city.

History

Las Piedras was founded in 1744 under the name "San Isidro". On May 18, 1811 the

an independence leader don

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 in ...

led patriot forces to victory against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

at the

Battle of Las Piedras The Battle of Las Piedras was fought on May 18, 1811 as part of the Uruguayan struggle for independence. Background and development of events In 1810, the May Revolution had forced the Spanish to abandon Buenos Aires, but they held on to the ...

. While not the definitive event in the country's independence process, it marked a significant step towards the eventual establishment of an independent

. It had acquired the status of "Pueblo" (

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

) before the Independence of Uruguay. Its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

) on 15 May 1925 by the Act of Ley Nº 7.837.

Population

According to the 2011 census, Las Piedras had a population of 71,258. In 2010 the ''Intendencia de Canelones'' had estimated a population of 79,412 for the municipality during the elections. MunCanLasPiedras

Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Places of worship

* Isidore the Laborer Parish Church (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Salesians of Don Bosco , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turi ...

) * St. Adolph Parish Church in

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king ...

(

) * Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish Church in San Isidro (

, Pilgrims of the Eucharist) * St. Anthony of Padua Church in Pueblo Nuevo (

)

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to 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, nota ...

system, Las Piedras 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° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. Climate Summary for Las Piedras, Uruguay
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Sport

There is one professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team called Juventud de Las Piedras.

References

External links

INE map of Las Piedras

Gallery

{{Authority control Populated places in the Canelones Department Populated places established in 1744 1744 establishments in the Spanish Empire