El Ombú

El ombú is a deutschschprachige Mennonite colony in the department of Río Negro, Uruguay. It is located 284 km north-west of Montevideo.

El ombú was founded in 1950 as the first Mennonite colony in Uruguay. Initially, there were 350 settlers who wished to settle here, although about 750 people arrived two years earlier on the Volendam in Uruguay. There were 80 families and twelve individuals, who settled on about 1,200 ha in the whole. Later, the colony grew and in 2012 had already up to 4,800 ha of land. In the same year, only about 180 people lived in El ombú. The settlers live mostly from dairy farming and agriculture. The cooperative " Cooperativa Las Flores de Rio Negro" was founded in September 1950.

In the late 1950s, a church was built, before the service was held in the open air.