Río Negro Department

The **Río Negro department** () is a department of Uruguay. The capital is the city of Fray Bentos.

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

## History 
The Río Negro department was created on 20 March 1880. Before that time, its territory was part of the Paysandú department.

## Geography
The Río Negro department is in the western part of Uruguay, along the Uruguay river. It has an area of . The population is 54,765 inhabitants (2011 census), one of the departments with fewest inhabitants, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2.

There are two chains of low hills in the department. These chains of low and rounded hills are named *cuchillas* in the country. The two *cuchillas* in the department are *cuchilla de Navarro* to the south and forming the border with the Durazno department, and *cuchilla de Haedo* that goes from the northeast to the southwest.

There are two protected areas in the department: *National Park Esteros de Farrapos e islas del río Uruguay* () and the *Esteros y algarrobales del río Uruguay*.

### Limits
* To the north: Paysandú department.
* To the east: Tacuarembó department. 
* To the southeast: Durazno department, separated by the Río Negro river.
* To the south: Soriano department, separated by the Río Negro river.
* To the west: Argentina, separated by the Uruguay river.

### Rivers
The main rivers in the department are:
* Uruguay, to the west and that forms the border with Argentina; and
* Río Negro that flows along the southern border of the department, forming the natural border with the departments of Durazno to the southeast and Soriano to the south.

## Demographics
The inhabitants of the Río Negro department (and of the city of Paysandú) are known, in Spanish, as *Rionegrenses*.

**Evolution of the population in Río Negro**

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  bar:1975 text:1975
  bar:1985 text:1985
  bar:1996 text:1996
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  bar:2011 text:2011
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  bar:1975 from:0 till: 50123
  bar:1985 from:0 till: 48644
  bar:1996 from:0 till: 51713
  bar:2004 from:0 till: 53989
  bar:2011 from:0 till: 54765

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 bar:1975 at: 50123 fontsize:S text: 50,123 shift:(-12,8)
 bar:1985 at: 48644 fontsize:S text: 48,644 shift:(-15,5)
 bar:1996 at: 51713 fontsize:S text: 51,713 shift:(-15,5)
 bar:2004 at: 53989 fontsize:S text: 53,989 shift:(-15,8)
 bar:2011 at: 54765 fontsize:S text: 54,765 shift:(-15,5)

:**Rural population**
According to the 2011 census, the Río Negro department has a rural population of 5,212, that represents  of the total population of the department.

:**Main towns**

## Gallery 

File:Parroquia Nuestra Sra Del Pilar11.jpg|Church of Fray Bentos.
File:Plaza Artigas.jpg|Artigas square, Fray Bentos.
File:Nuevo Berlin 02.jpg|Memorial with stone from the Berlin Wall, Nuevo Berlín
File:Agua de fuego.jpg|*Esteros de Farrapos*.

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

## References
## Other websites
* Intendencia de Río Negro website 
* Statoids - Departments of Uruguay
* Enciclopedia Geográfica del Uruguay: Río Negro