Spoken dialect was the Patois, which was an occitan dialect spoken in the town of Villar Pellice in Italy from where the settlers were originated. The dialect was spoken mainly in the Colonia Department, where the first pilgrims settled, in the city called La Paz, Colonia. Today it is considered a dead language, although some elders at the mentioned location still practice it. There are still written tracts of the language in the Waldensians Library (Biblioteca Valdense) in the town of Colonia Valdense, Colonia Department.
Patois speaker arrived to Uruguay from the Piedmont. They were Waldensians, members of the oldest Protestant church in Italy, giving their name to the city Colonia Valdense which translated from the Spanish means Waldensians Colony.[1]
Its status was elevated to "Pueblo" (village) on 6 November 1951 by the Act of Ley N° 11.742.[2] On 24 September 1982, it was renamed to "Colonia Valdense" and its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (city) by the Act of Decreto-Ley N° 15.323.[3]
Population
According to the 2011 census, Colonia Valdense had a population of 3,235.[4]
Year
Population
1963
1,663
1975
2,140
1985
2,409
1996
2,876
2004
3,087
2011
3,235
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay[5]
Notable citizens
From 1936 to 1979, Annemarie Rübens, a German social activist lived in Colonia Valdense. Having fled from Nazi Germany, she founded a rural homestead for refugee children who were victims of the Nazi regime, called Casa Rubens. Later it was a daycare center for sons and daughters of political detainees, until Rübens was prohibited to return during the dictatorship in Uruguay. In 2016, the street in Colonia Valdense where Rübens had lived and given shelter to many children, was renamed after Ana María Rübens as a tribute to her life.[6]
