A () is a country subdivision in several Latin American countries, mostly as top-level subnational divisions (except in Argentina). It is usually simply translated as "department".
Current use Ten countries currently have .
Country Argentina (under ) 378 Bolivia 9 Colombia 1st 32 El Salvador 1st 14 Guatemala 1st 22 Honduras 1st 18 Nicaragua 1st 15 Paraguay 1st 17 Peru 1st 24 Uruguay 1st 19
Past use Mexico in the 1830s was divided into 24 , which were first-level divisions. It was during an attempt to centralize the government.
References
pt:Departamento