South of the town flows the stream Arroyo de la Yeguada and to its west, in the Uruguay River, is the island Isla del Burro.

The brothers Richard and Karl Wendelstandt migrated from Germany around 1850 and bought the farm "El Curupí" in the Department of Soriano.

With these investments, the surroundings of farm "Nueva Melhem" became the village Nuevo Berlín around 1865–1868, with the approval of the brothers Wendelstandt, who requested Mr. Fridolin Quincke to design it.

[citation needed] On 16 March 1875, it was declared a "Pueblo" (village)[1] and on 19 December 1974 its status was elevated to "Villa" (town) by the Act of Ley Nº 14.326.

[3] Source: National Institute of Statistics of Uruguay[1] On 10 October 1997, a Douglas DC-9-32, en route from Posadas, Misiones to Buenos Aires, crashed near the town after entering a storm.