Artigas Department

Artigas Department is the northernmost department of Uruguay and the only Uruguayan department that borders two other countries: Brazil to the north and east across the Cuareim River, and Argentina to the west across the Uruguay River. Salto Department lies to its south. Its capital is the city of Artigas, which faces the Brazilian city of Quarai. The department covers 11,928 square kilometres, the fifth largest in the country, and had 77,487 inhabitants at the 2023 census. It was created by law on 1 October 1884 from territory that had belonged to Salto Department, and both the department and its capital are named after Jose Gervasio Artigas, leader of the Orientales in Uruguay's wars of independence. Around the town of Bella Union an agro-industrial area grows sugar cane, rice, fruit and vegetables, and the largest amethyst geode in the world was found in the department in 2007.