Río Branco, Uruguay
Encyclopedia
Río Branco is a city in the Cerro Largo Department
Cerro Largo Department
Cerro Largo Department is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Melo.-History:During the 19th and early 20th centuries, when intermittent periods of civil war occurred in Uruguay, the department was a stronghold of the Blanco party...

 of northeastern Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

. It is located on the border with Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, at the east end of Route 26, about 86 kilometres (53.4 mi) east-southeast of the department capital city of Melo. Río Yaguarón, which forms the natural border with Brazil, flows along the north limits of the city, and right across it is the Brazilian town of Jaguarão
Jaguarão
Jaguarão is a town in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul located on the shores of the Jaguarão River bordering Uruguay.Is there a place of Battle of Jaguarão-External links:*...

, with an international bridge joining the two.

Its status was elevated to "City" category on 1 July 1953 by decree Ley No. 11.963.

Population

In 2004, Río Branco had a population of 13,456.
Year Population
1963 4,024
1975 5,685
1985 9,072
1996 12,215
2004 13,456

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay

Name and history

Rio Branco is unusual for having a Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 name in a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

-speaking country. (The name means "white river" and would be Río Blanco in Spanish.)

Named after Brazilian diplomat

This is because the city is not named after any actual river, but as a tribute to the Brazilian diplomat Barão do Rio Branco
Barão do Rio Branco
José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Jr., 1st Baron of Rio Branco was a Brazilian diplomat, geographer, historian, politician and professor, considered to be the "father of Brazilian diplomacy". He was the son of famous statesman José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Sr....

, who negotiated the definitive borders of Brazil and Uruguay.

External links

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