- Melo
Infobox Settlement
official_name = Melo
pushpin_
subdivision_type= Country |subdivision_name=Uruguay |subdivision_type1 = Department
subdivision_name1 = Cerro Largo Department
elevation_m = 80
latd=32 |latm=22 |lats= |latNS=S|longd=54 |longm=11 |longs= |longEW=W
established_title= Founded
established_date = 1795
founder = Agustín de la Rosa
population_total = 50578
population_as_of = 2004
population_blank1_title =Demonym
population_blank1 = melense
area_code = +064
postal_code_type =postal code
postal_code = 37000"For the play and film adaptations, see
Mélo ."Melo is a city in
Uruguay .Location and population
It is located in north-eastern
Uruguay and is the capital of the department of Cerro Largo.The population is of 50,578 inhabitants, according to the 2004 census.
Located in the central area of Cerro Largo, 60 km. west of the border with
Brazil , over the edge of Conventos Stream (a branch to theTacuarí River ), this urban settlement can easily be found at km. 387 on the 8th road. Other leading ways to the city are roads 7, 26 and 44.History
It was Founded on
June 27 ,1795 by Agustín de la Rosa, an officer to theSpanish Empire . Melo is still an old-fashioned city with low buildings, and a hellhole of stultifying boredness, daily irrigated by cheap brazilian liquor. " [objectivity questioned] "Given its proximity to some Portuguese colonies in Brazil, the "Melo Village" (in Spanish, "Villa de Melo"), as it was once named; was invaded by Portuguese forces in 1801, 1811, and 1816. With Uruguayan independence, Melo was officially declared capital of the department of Cerro Largo.
In 1845, the city square was rebaptized in honor of
Manuel Oribe , a formerPresident of Uruguay and a political leader of the "White Party" (Partido Blanco), which brought out to light the relations of this corner of the country with that National Movement (the vast majority of its inhabitants have belonged to that same political community).The Conventos Stream, which was once used for boat races carried out by the "Club Remeros Melo", has become severely polluted over time and was consequently forbidden to public access.
Melo was visited by the Pope in 1988. This formed the background to the 2006 film "El Baño del Papa".
The historian J.C. Chasteen has discussed the place of Melo in the history of
Uruguay (see below).ee also
*
Departments of Uruguay John Charles Chasteen, 'Heroes on Horseback: A Life and Times of the Last Gaucho Caudillos', University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0826315984.
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