To travel around Rocha, to the east of Uruguay, is to make a tour through history. The indigenous populations that inhabited the Laguna Merín basin were characterized by building peculiar funerary monuments. They built mounds of soil, known as Cerritos de Indios, to bury their dead along with their personal effects. Every corner of Rocha witnesses the different stages that preceded the emergence of Uruguay.
Since its inception, Rocha was a strategic location because it was a border territory of the Portuguese and Spanish possessions in America. These kingdoms moved their disputes to these regions; reason enough for the construction of defensive and surveillance bastions, as Fortaleza de Santa Teresa and Fuerte San Miguel.
The city of Velázquez, a small town full of history, which earned it the recognition as "Historic Capital" of the department. In its vicinity is the first grocery store of the nationalist leader Bernardo Olid and the house of the poet and journalist Constancio C. Vigil. 6 km from the city is the exact place where the battles of India Muerta were fought, in the struggle for the independence of the country.
The coasts of Uruguay have had the justified reputation of "shipyard". The variability of the climate, the abundance of fog, the force of the winds and the geographical accidents favored the shipwrecks. The data extracted from the official documents, often increased by the legend, account for the fact that many of these wrecked ships carried in their holds fabulous treasures, which has attracted the attention of visitors.
