Rocha () is the capital city of the
Rocha Department in
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 the intersection of
Route 9 with Route 15, about northeast of
San Carlos of
Maldonado Department
The Maldonado Department ( es, Departamento de Maldonado; ), with an area of and 164,300 inhabitants (2011), is located to the southeast of Uruguay. Its capital is Maldonado.
Geography and climate
Neighbouring departments are Rocha to the Eas ...
. The stream
Arroyo Rocha flows along the west limits of the city.
History
It was founded in 1793 and had acquired the status of "Villa" (town) before the Independence of Uruguay. On 7 July 1880 it was made capital of the Department of Rocha by the Act of Ley Nº 1.474, while its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (city) on 10 January 1894 by the Act of Ley Nº 2.252.
[
]
In literature
Rocha department features in Carlos Maria Dominguez's 2004 novel Casa de Papel (trs English, 2005, The house of paper). The narrator visits the ruins of a house of books ergo, 'house of paper' which had been built and then destroyed by an obsessive book collector on the sand spit separating Rocha lagoon from the ocean.
Population
In 2011 Rocha had a population of 25,422.
Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''
Transportation
Rocha is on the main road from Montevideo to the border with Brazil. Buses connect it to Montevideo. The rail station was closed in the 1980s. There is a small local airfield. There are plans to improve the local infrastructure substantially. The major project planned is to build a deep water port in or near La Paloma. There are also plans to build an airport to bring in tourism, for example, Rocha's lagoon has a circular bridge especially for it.
Places of worship
* Parish Church of Our Lady of Remedies (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 ...
)
* Parish Church of Our Lady of Fatima (Roman Catholic)
Notable people
* Elio Rodríguez (born 1962), former Uruguayan footballer
Climate
Rocha has a mild 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° ...
(''Cfa'', 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 ...
), with pleasant summers and cool winters. It was oceanic (''Cfb'') before the current climatic table (1961-1990 period). The precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 1,123 mm (44.21 in). The hottest month, January, has an average temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F), and the coldest month, July, has an average of 11.2 °C (52.2 °F). The average yearly temperature is 16.8 °C (62.2 °F).
References
External links
INE map of Rocha
Populated places in the Rocha Department
{{Rocha-geo-stub