Colonia Valdense is a town located in southwestern Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, within the Colonia Department

Colonia Department

Colonia is a departamento in southwestern Uruguay. Its capital is Colonia del Sacramento, the country's second oldest city.-Economy:The region is the main producer of dairy products in Uruguay...

. It is home to around 3,100 people. It lies along Route 1

Route 1 (Uruguay)

Route 1 is a national route of Uruguay. In 1975, it was assigned the name Brigadier General Manuel Oribe, a national hero of Uruguay. It connects Montevideo with Colonia del Sacramento to the west along the coast...

.

History

Colonia Valdense was founded in 1856, following the arrival of Italian immigrants from Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

. The town is named after Pierre Valdo, a French priest founder of the religious movement known as «the Valdensians».

Its status was elevated to "Pueblo" (town) category on 6 January 1951 by decree Ley No. 11.742.

Population

According to the 2004 census, the town had a population of 3,087.

Year	Population
1963	1,665
1975	2,140
1985	2,409
1996	2,876
2004	3,087

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay

External links

• Information about Colonia Valdense at Multimedia Uruguay portal cultural
• INE map of Colonia Valdense