Gregorio Aznárez is a village in the

Maldonado Department The Maldonado Department (; ), with an area of and 212,951 inhabitants (2023), is located to the southeast of Uruguay. Its capital is Maldonado, Uruguay, Maldonado. Geography Neighbouring departments are Rocha Department, Rocha to the East, Lav ...

of southeastern

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Geography

The village is located on the west of the department, on Route 9, about north of the junction with

Ruta Interbalnearia Ruta Interbalnearia (which means Inter-resort Route) or Ruta Líber Seregni is a national route of Uruguay. It connects Montevideo with Punta del Este to the east along the coast. The road is approximately in length. It is marked on maps and si ...

History

Gregorio Aznárez born in Villa Mendigorria (Navarra), Spain is 1860. Descendant of a noble family, he and his family emigrate to Uruguay due to the

Third Carlist War The Third Carlist War (), which occurred from 1872 to 1876, was the last Carlist War in Spain. It is sometimes referred to as the "Second Carlist War", as the earlier Second Carlist War, "Second" War (1847–1849) was smaller in scale and relative ...

. At the age of 28 years Gregorio Aznárez was already involved in different commerce activities: He participated in the first Uruguayan exports to Brazil of flour, cereals and leather. Two years later he made the first tests of rice growing and sugar beet. His connection with the sugar industry dates back to 1891, when he met the engineer Luis Torrosella, which had obtained the concession to refine sugar in Uruguay, and French Félix Giraud, who settled in Montevideo's first sugar refinery, called Eastern Refinery. Aznárez was asked to choose the place where to start growing sugar beet. He took a journey of 50 days riding a horse around the departments of Canelones, Maldonado and Rocha. Aznárez finally found the best place where to grow the sugar beet in the department of Maldonado. "(...) this area was chosen because it was the only place protected from the migratory lobster, that used to destroy crops when they came from Brazil (...) This area was ideal (because) it is surrounded by the sea and by the Sierra de las Animas which the migratory lobster do not cross. " (Gregorio Aznarez Betchold, his grandson). In 1900 Gregorio Aznárez married Julia Simondino and had four children: Maria Paulina, Gloria, Alejandro and Julio Gregorio. Years later, Julio Gregorio Aznárez will take control of the company and participate in the period of greatest prosperity for the town. In the same year Gregorio Anárez bought two thousand acres, settled the first farmers and built the first sugar factory called "La Sierra". After his dead in 1959, the settlement of "Estación La Sierra" was named "Gregorio Aznárez" and its status was elevated to "Pueblo" (village) by the Act of Ley Nº 12.630.

Population

In 2011 Gregorio Aznárez had a population of 944. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Places of worship

* Parish Church of the Holy Family (

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

)

References

External links

INE map of Gregorio Aznárez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorio Aznarez Populated places in the Maldonado Department