Departamento

A Departamento (Spanish pronunciation: [depaɾtaˈmento]) 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 departamentos.

Past use

Mexico in the 1830s was divided into 24 departamentos, which were first-level divisions. It was during an attempt to centralize the government.