Rocha (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈrotʃa]) is adepartment in the east ofUruguay. Its capital is the city ofRocha. It bordersMaldonado Department to its west,Lavalleja Department to its northwest,Treinta y Tres Department to its north, while to its northeastLaguna Merín forms part of its border withBrazil and at the south end of the lake it also borders the southernmost end of Brazil, with the city ofChuy "shared" between both countries, the border passing through its main commercial avenue.
On 7 July 1880, the department of Rocha was formed from territory that had belonged to the department of Maldonado since the first division of the Republic in departments in 1819.[citation needed]
Rocha department features inCarlos Maria Dominguez's 2004 novelCasa de Papel (trs English, 2005,The House of Paper). The narrator visits the ruins of a house of books ergo, 'house of paper', which had been built and then destroyed by an obsessive book collector on the sand spit separatingRocha lagoon from the ocean.[citation needed]
