When the country's first constitution was signed in 1830, there were nine departments: Montevideo, Maldonado, Canelones, San José, Colonia, Soriano, Paysandú, Durazno and Cerro Largo.

At the same time, the department of Minas (which was eventually renamed to Lavalleja) was created out of parts of Cerro Largo and Maldonado.

The General Assembly has the powers to create new departments, requiring a supermajority vote of two thirds in both chambers, as provided by the Constitution in article 85.

[3] The sources of financial resources of the departmental governments are detailed in article 297 of the Constitution, being the departmental taxes, national taxes whose administration is granted to departments, earnings from services or incomes, money obtained from sanctions, donations, inheritances and bequests received and accepted, and their own part of the national budget that they were granted by budget laws.

This system has been widely criticized as a waste of resources, due to Uruguay's small population of 3.4 million.