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History

The first European explorers to set foot in Uruguay were Spaniards, five hundred years, ago.  The native Charrúa Indians thwarted those early expeditions.  In 1680, the first permanent settlement was founded by the Portuguese at Colonia as competition to the rival Spanish city of Buenos Aires on the opposite shore of the Rio de la Plata.  In 1726, Spain responded by building a citadel at Montevideo, now Uruguay’s capital.  Montevideo became the major Spanish port of the South Atlantic.

For a century or so, in these colonial times, Uruguay was in the middle of a tug of war between the Portuguese and the Spanish.  Eventually, Uruguay became an independent state, constituting a buffer zone between Argentina and Brazil.  Uruguay’s neighboring countries would repeatedly test its fragile independence. 

Uruguayan national hero, José Gervasio Artigas, declared Uruguay independent in 1815 with his “revolution of the poor.”  A year later, Brazilians attacked Montevideo from the north, and, after four years of fighting, Uruguay was annexed to Brazil in 1821. On August 25, 1825, Juan Antonio Lavalleja and his little group of brave men issued a declaration of independence. After a three-year fight, a peace treaty between Argentina and Brazil was brokered by Britain and signed on August 28, 1828 guaranteeing Uruguay's independence.

During the mid 1800’s, two warring factions emerged within the country.  These factions later evolved into the two modern day political parties of Uruguay:  The Blancos (Whites) and the Colorados (Reds).  Uruguay was plagued by civil war, dictatorship, and political intrigue.  It was not until the early nineteen hundreds that stability began to take hold with the presidency of José Batlle y Ordóñez.  He instituted a variety of reforms and social services.

In 1984, Julio María Sanguinetti won the presidential election. His government embraced democratic traditions and fostered a process of national reconciliation between political factions. 

Uruguay’s economic difficulties enabled Tabaré Vázquez to win the presidency without a runoff in 2004; his Broad Front coalition also won majorities in both legislative houses. Vázquez became the first leftist to be elected president in Uruguay.  Today, Uruguay’s political conditions are among the freest on the continent.
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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