However, together with the cities of Punta del Este and San Carlos it makes up a conurbation with a population of over 135 thousand inhabitants.

After the Treaty of Madrid, when they started to divide Spanish and Portuguese properties in that region of America, the military governor of Montevideo, José Joaquín de Viana, suggested to the King that they should establish two populations, one in Maldonado and the other in Minas.

In August 1755, still waiting for a response from the King, Viana decided to leave with some families and head towards Portezuelo.

[1] When he returned 20 months later, he brought seven indigenous families and incorporated them into the small village to bolster the population.

By being in the way of the Malvinas/Falkland current and in the bottleneck of the continent it generates a rare temperate climate typically of the ocean on the east coast.