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WORLD FACTBOOK (US)
Introduction: Montevideo, founded by the Spanish in 1726 as a military stronghold, soon took advantage of its natural harbor to become an important commercial center. Claimed by Argentina but annexed by Brazil in 1821, Uruguay declared its independence four years later and secured its freedom in 1828 after a three-year struggle. The administrations of President Jose BATLLE in the early 20th century established widespread political, social, and economic reforms that established a statist tradition. A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement named the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to cede control of the government to the...
COUNTRY BRIEF (AU)
Economic Overview: Uruguay's economy is highly dependent on agriculture and the economic cycles of its close trading partners, Argentina and Brazil. Uruguay was severely affected by the crises in Brazil (1999) and Argentina (2001) and faced a painful recession in 2002-2003.
Membership of regional trading bloc Mercosur provides Uruguay with preferential trade access to the markets of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela (in addition to Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, which have associate membership of Mercosur). However, Uruguay has expressed dissatisfaction with the trading benefits that Mercosur has provided, and has ...
BACKGROUND NOTES (US)
History: The only inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrua Indians, a small tribe driven south by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay. The Spanish discovered the territory of present-day Uruguay in 1516, but the Indians' fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. The
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COUNTRY PROFILE (UK)
History: Uruguay's original inhabitants were the Charrúa Indians, a hunter-gatherer people. They killed the explorer Juan Diaz de Solís and most of his party when the Spaniards encountered them in 1516. But by the 17th century, the Charrúas had prospered, abandoned hostilities, and begun trading with the Spanish. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the territory changed hands between the Spanish and Portuguese several times. By 1832 virtually all Charrúas had been killed or forced to leave, leaving Uruguay with no indigenous people (the only such country in Latin America). Uruguayan independence - finally recognised in 1828 - was
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COUNTRY STUDIES (US)
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