Salto, Uruguay

Salto is a city in northwestern Uruguay on the Uruguay River, and it is the capital of the Salto Department. At the 2023 census it had 114,084 residents, which makes it the second most populated city in the country after Montevideo. Its origins lie in the Guarani War period, when Spanish forces led by Governor Jose Joaquin de Viana built barracks here in October 1756; the short-lived settlement of San Antonio del Salto Chico gives the city its recognised foundation date of 8 November 1756. A fort named San Antonio followed in 1757. Salto was recognised as a villa in 1835 and became capital of its department in 1837. In the Uruguayan independence story the area is tied to the camp of the Exodus of the Eastern People under Jose Gervasio Artigas in December 1811, and in 1845 Garibaldi's troops seized the town. A monument to Artigas stands on Plaza Artigas downtown. The article's infobox places the city in a humid subtropical climate zone at about 48 metres above sea level.