{{Infobox settlement |name = La Teja |settlement_type = ''Barrio'' |image_skyline = Plaza Lafone.jpg |imagesize = |image_caption = Plaza Lafone in La Teja |image_map = La Teja Montevideo.png |mapsize = |map_caption = Street map of La Teja |image_map1 = Montevideo La Teja.png |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = Location of La Teja in Montevideo |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{flag|Uruguay}} |subdivision_type1 = Department |subdivision_name1 = Montevideo Department |subdivision_type2 = City |subdivision_name2 = Montevideo |established_date = |area_total_km2 = |population_as_of = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = |timezone = |coordinates = {{coord|34|51|51|S|56|13|31|W|region:UY-MO|display=inline,title}} |elevation_m = |website = }}
'''La Teja''' is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay. The neighborhood has a mix of residential and industrial properties, mostly occupied by working class communities, including with a number of informal settlements built on former industrial sites.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-28|title=Living with lead in Uruguay|url=https://toxicnews.org/2020/02/28/living-with-lead-in-uruguay/|access-date=2022-01-26|website=Toxic News|language=en}}</ref>
The barrio is notable for its high concentration of industrial sites, including the La Teja Refinery, that have spawned a local environmental justice activism community.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Alexander|first=William L.|date=2020|title=Life Without Lead: Contamination, Crisis, and Hope in Uruguay by Daniel Renfrew (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/757536|journal=Anthropological Quarterly|volume=93|issue=1|pages=1619–1624|doi=10.1353/anq.2020.0002|s2cid=226629242 |issn=1534-1518|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In particular, high concentrations of lead contamination led to national policy and attention.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Mañay|first1=Nelly|title=Lead Contamination in Uruguay: The "La Teja" Neighborhood Case|date=2008|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77030-7_4|pages=93–115|editor-last=Whitacre|editor-first=David M.|series=Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-77030-7_4|isbn=978-0-387-77030-7|access-date=2022-01-26|last2=Cousillas|first2=Adriana Z.|last3=Alvarez|first3=Cristina|last4=Heller|first4=Teresa|volume=195 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== Name == The neighborhood was established on September 12, 1842, as Pueblo Victoria, named after then-Queen of England, Queen Victoria.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":03" /> However, the community eventually became known as La Teja. Two competing theories are available for the change in name: it either refers to the distinctive clay tiles (tejas) used in the early architecture of the neighborhood or to the slave quarters in the area leading to a large population of enslaved men referred to by the tiles they made.<ref name=":03"/>
==Location== It shares borders with Tres Ombúes to the north west, Belvedere to the north, El Prado / Nueva Savona barrio to the north east, Capurro to the south east and borders the Bay of Montevideo to the south. To the west of its southern part it borders the Pantanoso Creek, across which starts the Villa del Cerro.
In La Teja is located the Cementerio de La Teja, Montevideo.
== History == Before being recognized as a town, Jesuits and Spanish, Italian and Basque immigrants had created communities in the area that would become La Teja.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Daniel|title=Life without lead : contamination, crisis, and hope in Uruguay|date=2019|isbn=978-0-520-96824-0|location=Oakland, California|pages=51–82|language=English|chapter=Chapter 2: This is Not a Game|oclc=1102765674}}</ref> Buying Jesuit land, the British entrepreneur Samuel Fisher Lafone created a meat curing plant in the area, and with the help of the city planned 122 city blocks in the area.<ref name=":03"/> The neighborhood was established on September 12, 1842, as Pueblo Victoria, naming it after the then Queen of England Queen Victoria.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=La Teja -"Pueblo Victoria" {{!}} Municipio A|url=https://municipioa.montevideo.gub.uy/node/184|access-date=2022-01-27|website=municipioa.montevideo.gub.uy}}</ref><ref name=":03" />
The neighborhood later grew during the early 21st century waves of European immigrants to Uruguay.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Daniel|title=Life without lead : contamination, crisis, and hope in Uruguay|date=2019|isbn=978-0-520-96824-0|location=Oakland, California|pages=1–23|language=English|chapter=Introduction|oclc=1102765674}}</ref> These communities created an industrial working-class neighborhood strongly identified with militancy and solidarity found in urban politics in the region.<ref name=":0"/> The Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay targeted local leaders in the neighborhood during its repression of dissent.<ref name=":0"/>
During the industrial period led by Import substitution industrialization policies, the neighborhood grew during the 1970s and 80s as workers moved into the neighborhood to be near factories.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Daniel|title=Life without lead : contamination, crisis, and hope in Uruguay|date=2019|isbn=978-0-520-96824-0|location=Oakland, California|pages=24–50|language=English|chapter=Chapter One: To Live, Not Only Survive|oclc=1102765674}}</ref> As workers built up housing in the area, the native marsh was frequently backfilled with industrial and construction waste that was easily available.<ref name=":1"/> Both formal and informal settlements in the neighborhood were built on reclaimed, and sometimes contaminated, industrial sites.<ref name=":1"/>
In the early 2000s, several local children were identified to have high lead exposure.<ref name=":0" /> After investigation, doctors and public health officials discovered broad contamination of the community.<ref name=":0" /> In response, the community formed what anthropologist Daniel Renfrew called "the first environmental justice movement in Uruguay", embodied in the organization ''Comisión Vivir sin Plomo'' (Commission for a Life Without Lead).<ref name=":0" /> The group was led by Carlos Pilo, a local militant community organizer.<ref name=":0" /> The campaign led by the community resulted in a widespread public health awareness of lead contamination and eventual regulation in the country.<ref name=":0" />
== Economy ==
=== Refinery === {{Excerpt|La Teja Refinery}}
== Institutions ==
=== Places of worship === * Parish Church of the Holy Family, Av. Carlos María Ramirez 677 (Roman Catholic)
=== Radio stations ===
* El Puente FM<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=El Puente FM 103.3 Online|url=https://radios.com.uy/puente/|access-date=2022-01-27|website=Radios.com.uy|language=es}}</ref>
== See also == *Barrios of Montevideo * Samuel Fisher Lafone
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.raicesuruguay.com/raices/barrio_lateja.html Revista Raíces/ Historia del barrio La Teja] * {{cite book|url=http://www.periodicas.edu.uy/Nuestra_tierra/pdfs/4-Montevideo_Los_barrios_I.pdf|title=Los barrios de Montevideo|chapter=La Teja: escenario de complejos industriales|page=32|author=Aníbal Barrios Pintos|access-date=2013-03-01|language=Spanish|archive-date=2013-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927075519/http://www.periodicas.edu.uy/Nuestra_tierra/pdfs/4-Montevideo_Los_barrios_I.pdf|url-status=dead}}
{{Barrios of Montevideo}}
Category:Barrios of Montevideo