Salto Department

The **Salto department** () is a department of Uruguay. The capital is the city of Salto.

Its ISO 3166-2 code  is **UY-SA**.

## Name 
The name of the department and of its capital city comes from the presence of small waterfalls () in the Uruguay river.

## History 
The Salto department was made on 17 June 1837; then, the department included the present Artigas Department. Its final borders were defined on 1 October 1884, when the Artigas department was separated from Salto.

## Geography
The Salto department is in the northwestern part of the country. It has an area of , the second largest in the country after the Tacuarembó department. It is the fourth department with more people living in it, with a population of 124,878 inhabitants (2011 census) for a population density of .

There are two chains of low and rounded hills in the department. These chains of are known as *cuchillas* in the country. The two *cuchillas* in the department are the *cuchilla de los Arapeyes* to the north, and the *cuchilla del Daymán* that runs across the department from the southeast to the northeast. Between these two chains is the valley of the Arapey Grande river.

### Limits
* To the north: Artigas department.
* To the east: Rivera and Tacuarembó departments
* To the south: Paysandú department.
* To the west: Argentina, separated by the Uruguay river.

### Rivers
The main rivers in the department are:
# *Uruguay* river to the west; it makes the border with Argentina.
# *Arapey Grande* river, a tributary of the Uruguay river.
# *Daymán* river to the south; it is also a tributary of the Uruguay river and forms the border with the Paysandú department.

### Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate in the city of Salto is a "Humid subtropical climate" and of the subtype **Cfa**.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Salto is . The month with the most precipitation on average is March with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is August with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Salto is . The warmest month, on average, is January with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is June, with an average temperature of .

## Demographics
The inhabitants of the Salto department (and of the city of Artigas) are known, in Spanish, as *Salteños* (women: *Salteñas*.

**Evolution of the population in Salto**

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  bar:1985 text:1985
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  bar:1975 from:0 till: 103074
  bar:1985 from:0 till: 108487
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  bar:2004 from:0 till: 123120
  bar:2011 from:0 till: 124878

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 bar:1985 at: 108487 fontsize:S text: 108,487 shift:(-18,5)
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 bar:2004 at: 123120 fontsize:S text: 123,120 shift:(-18,8)
 bar:2011 at: 124878 fontsize:S text: 124,878 shift:(-18,5)

:**Rural population**
According to the 2011 census, the Artigas department has a rural population of 7,849.

:**Main towns**

## Gallery 

File:Salto Uruguay visto del puerto.jpg|The city of Salto from the port.
File:Termas Salto Grande.jpg|"Horacio Quiroga" Park, in Termas de Salto Grande, Salto.
File:CONSTRUIDA POR INTEGRANTES DEL EXODO DEL PUEBLO ORIENTAL..JPG|Saint John the Baptist cathedral.
File:Plaza Treinta y Tres 1-2.jpg|*Treinta y Tres* square, Salto.
File:MuseoFachadaSalto.jpg|Museum of Man and Technology, Salto.

## Related pages
* Departments of Uruguay
* ISO 3166-2:UY

## References
## Other websites
* Intendencia de Salto website 
* Enciclopedia Geográfica del Uruguay|Salto 
* Statoids - Departments of Uruguay