Rocha, Uruguay

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (August 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Rocha]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Rocha}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Rocha
Capital city
Plaza Independencia
Rocha Location in Uruguay
Coordinates: 34°29′0″S 54°21′0″W / 34.48333°S 54.35000°W / -34.48333; -54.35000
Country	Uruguay
Department	Rocha
Founded	1793
Population  (2011 census)
• Total	25,422
• Demonym	Rochense
Time zone	UTC -3
Postal code	27000
Dial plan	+598 447 (+5 digits)
Climate	Cfa

Rocha (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈrotʃa]) is the capital city of the Rocha Department in Uruguay.

It was founded in 1793 and had acquired the status of "Villa" (town) before the independence of Uruguay. On 7 July 1880 it was made capital of the Department of Rocha by the Act of Ley Nº 1.474, while its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (city) on 10 January 1894 by the Act of Ley Nº 2.252.^[1]

Rocha department features in Carlos María Domínguez's 2004 novel Casa de Papel (The house of paper). The narrator visits the ruins of a house of books, which had been built and then destroyed by an obsessive book collector on the sand spit separating Rocha lagoon from the ocean.

In 2011^[update] Rocha had a population of 25,422.^[2]

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay^[1]

The city is located on the intersection of Route 9 with Route 15, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast of San Carlos of Maldonado Department. The stream Arroyo Rocha flows along the west limits of the city.

Rocha has a mild humid subtropical climate (Cfa, according to the Köppen climate classification), with pleasant summers and cool winters. It was oceanic (Cfb) before the current climatic table (1961-1990 period). The precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 1,123 mm (44.2 in). The hottest month, January, has an average temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F), and the coldest month, July, has an average of 11.2 °C (52.2 °F). The average yearly temperature is 16.8 °C (62.2 °F).

Rocha is on the main road from Montevideo to the border with Brazil. Buses connect it to Montevideo. The rail station was closed in the 1980s. There is a small local airfield. There are plans to improve the local infrastructure substantially. The major project planned is to build a deep water port in or near La Paloma. There are also plans to build an airport to bring in tourism, for example, Rocha's lagoon has a circular bridge especially for it.^[7]

• Parish Church of Our Lady of Remedies (Roman Catholic)
• Parish Church of Our Lady of Fatima (Roman Catholic)

• Javier Barrios Amorín, politician
• Alberto Demicheli (1896–1980), Uruguayan political figure
• Gonzalo González (born 1993), Uruguayan footballer
• Gladys Castelvecchi, poet
• Carlos Malo, singer
• Carlos Julio Pereyra, politician
• Elio Rodríguez (born 1962), former Uruguayan footballer
• Renzo Sánchez (born 2004), Uruguayan footballer
• Jesús Toscanini, footballer
• Pedro Vaz, diplomat
• Constancio C. Vigil, author

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Rocha.

• INE map of Rocha