Soriano Department

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Map of the department of Soriano.

Soriano is one of the nineteen departments that make up the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. Its capital is Mercedes.

It is located in the west of the country, bordered to the north by the Negro River that separates it from the department of Río Negro, to the east by Flores, to the south by Colonia, and to the west by the Uruguay River that separates it from the Argentine Republic. Despite being very close to the limit of San José, it does not maintain limits with it, nor is it created a four-way street.

History

This region was once inhabited by various "tribes" of aborigines for thousands of years, as evidenced by the discovery of an anthropolite in 1891.

Its oldest town, Villa Soriano, is the one that has given its name to the department. Located practically at the mouth of the Negro River with the Uruguay River, it was founded as a reduction of Indians by the Franciscans in 1624 under the name of Santo Domingo Soriano, making it the oldest in the country, although there were discontinuities in its existence.

The “Puerto de las Naos” of Gaboto was established towards the end of May 1527 on the south bank of the San Salvador River. This Spanish settlement was identified, archaeologically, through post holes, stove holes, food remains, European ceramic material (majolica) and glass beads from the 17th century XVI, also recognizing the structure of an adobe wall.

The department is one of the six oldest in the country along with Montevideo, Canelones, Colonia, San José and Maldonado, all founded on January 27, 1816, to which Paysandú, Cerro Largo and Durazno would later be added, forming thus the nine founding departments at the moment of the oath of the Constitution of 1830.

Geography

Location

Located on the west coast of the territory, it limits to the north with the department of Río Negro, to the east with Flores, to the south with Colonia, and to the west with the Argentine Republic, from which it is separated by the Uruguay river. It also has a small place of contact with San José to the southeast: the villa Ismael Cortinas.

Hydrography

The department of Soriano is irrigated by the waters of the Uruguay River and the basins of two large tributaries of it, the Negro River and the San Salvador River.

The streams of La Agraciada and Arenal Grande flow directly from the Uruguay River.

The streams Espinillo, Bizcocho, del Águila, del Corralito and Arroyo San Martín drain into the San Salvador.

The Bequeló, Cololó, Vera and Grande streams flow into the Negro River, with the Perdido and Durazno streams flowing through it.

Climate

With a warm and humid climate (17.5 °C and 1050 mm annual average), the rainwater is channeled through a dense drainage network derived from the Negro and San Salvador rivers, which added to some of the The highest CONEAT indices in the country, with soils of more than 40 cm of Horizon A, allows one of the best agricultural-livestock productions in all of Uruguay to be maintained.

Different sustainable practices with the soil and the application of state-of-the-art technologies allow us to obtain the crops with the highest quality and yield in Uruguay. Wheat, soybean, barley, sunflower, corn and sorghum crops predominate.

Its exploited area for agriculture has 50,000 rotating hectares, and 46.9% of the area planted with soybeans in the country.

It has an outstanding livestock, with great emphasis on breeding and fattening cattle, presenting in the sheep sector, the best Corriedale-Merilin sheep in the country.

Beekeeping accounts for more than 40% of the national honey production.

Government

In accordance with article 262 of the Constitution of the Republic, in matters of departmental administration "the Government and Administration of the Departments, with the exception of public security services, will be exercised by a Board Departmental and a Mayor. They will have their headquarters in the capital of each department and will begin their functions sixty days after their election." In addition, "the Mayor, with the agreement of the Departmental Board, may delegate to the local authorities the exercise of certain tasks in their respective territorial constituencies"(...).

Executive

The Municipal Administration is the executive body of the department. The Mayor is directly elected with four substitutes, for a period of five years with the possibility of re-election. The current Mayor is Guillermo Besozzi.

Legislative

The legislature is exercised by a Departmental Board made up of 31 mayors or councilors, with three alternates, who accompany the electoral lists and are elected democratically. The councilors are in charge of proposing municipal reforms, decrees and taxes, as well as any other project they deem appropriate to coordinate with the Mayor. These fulfill the function of the Legislative Branch at the departmental level.

Municipalities

The municipalities of the department of Soriano by 2020:
1) Municipality of Cardona.
2) Municipality of Dolores.
3) Municipality of José Enrique Rodó.
4) Municipality of Palmitas.
The territory represented in gray colour corresponds to the departmental area not municipalized so far.

Map	Municipality	Surface (km2)	Population (Census 2011)	Headquarters
	Cardona	356.1	5029	Cardona
	Dolores	413.7	19577	Dolores
	José Enrique Rodó	393.6	3077	José Enrique Rodó
	Palmitas	178.7	2304	Palmitas

Infrastructure

Transportation

Soriano has an extensive road network. National routes 2, 12, 14, 55, 57, 95, 96 and 105 circulate over its territory, connecting it with the rest of the country.

There is also a railway line that departs from the town of Veinticinco de Agosto in a northwesterly direction towards Mercedes. On April 20, 1979, the 17 km Mercedes-Ombucito extension was inaugurated, linking Río Negro with Soriano by rail and thus the west of Uruguay with the high coast. The line remained active until 1985 for passengers and until 1998 for cargo, being officially closed in 2002. On July 2, 2021, the dismantling of the railway line over the Líber Seregni mixed bridge of the Mercedes-Ombucito section was ordered to expand the number of lanes to two in each direction on Route 2 on the highway, alleging that the railway had been abandoned since 1998 and was not in a condition to support the weight of a train.

In the city of Mercedes is the Ricardo Detomasi Departmental Airport, which is used for domestic flights.

Urban centers

Towns or cities with a population of 1,000 or more (2011 census data, unless a different date is indicated.):

Other towns with less than 1000 inhabitants are: