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Uruguay, republic of the South Cone of South America, limits to the north and northeast with Brazil, to the east and the south with the ocean Atlantic, to the south with the river of the Silver and to the west with Argentina. It is the second country but small of the continent. The river Uruguay marks its western frontier. The surface of the country is of 176.215 km2. Their capital, Montevideo, is the city more populated, main port and economic center.
Territory and resources
Uruguay has 193 km. of Atlantic coast, and 813 km. of fluvial coast that marks their frontier: 435 km. in the river Uruguay and 378 km. in the river of the Silver.
Regions fisiográficas
The land of the south consists of wavy plains covered with pastizales, to exception of the swamps that skirt the Atlantic coast. In the north and northwest is a low plateau, the Kitchen knife of Haedo, sprinkled by small chains of hills that arrive to a maximum height of 377 m. The oriental part of the country is dominated by the Big Kitchen knife that extends from north to south from Brazil until the proximities of Tip of the This. It reaches their maximum altitude, 512 m, in the hill Cathedral, the highest point in Uruguay. The forests prevail along the riversides of the rivers. The most outstanding in the interior of the country is the Black river, only navigable near their outlet. The Uruguay is navigable from its outlet until Jump.
Climate
Uruguay enjoys a temperate climate. The temperature in the summer months of January and February it reaches an average of 21,7 °C, and during the coldest, June, it goes down 10 °C. The rains fall during the whole year, arriving yearly to the 890 mm of average. During the months of winter it sometimes blows a strong wind coming from the Southwest call ' pampero', although the freezes are practically unknown in most of the country.
Natural resources
The main resources of the country are agricultural and the minerals are scare. In general, their floors are very fertile, to exception of the swamps of the coast this. The hydroelectric energy is of fundamental importance for Uruguay; their main one central hydroelectric it is that of Big Jump —que it shares with Argentina —sobre the river Uruguay, other two in the Black river and a more in the frontier with Brazil, built in the decade of 1980. The electric sector is nationalized.
Flora and fauna
The predominant vegetation in Uruguay is the high pastizales. A small purple flower grows with such an abundance that the country is sometimes denominated ' the earth púrpura'. Other flowers are the myrtle, the finicky one, the rosemary and the ceibo. Among the hard wooden autochthonous trees they deserve to be mentioned the urunday, the lapacho, the locust, the quebracho, the jacaranda, the sallow and the acacia. In the southeast and in the valleys of the central and northern region the palms prevail. In the Atlantic coast pines and eucalyptuses have been planted to consolidate the land; poplars, cypresses, oaks, cedars, mulberries and magnolias have also been cared.
The puma, the nandu (American ostrich), the tapir and the marine wolves were plentiful when the Spaniards arrived in Uruguay, although today they are scarce or they have disappeared. The deer, the otter, the boar, the fox, the mountain cat, the armadillo, river wolf and diverse rodents are the mammals that are.
Among the aquatic birds they can make an appointment the swan, the stork, the white heron and the duck. Other birds are the vulture, the owl, the partridge, the parrot, the cardinal and the thrush. The main reptiles are the small lizard, the turtle, the bell viper and the viper of the cross. In the superior course of the river Uruguay the amphibians and the big spiders are plentiful.
Population
The Uruguayan population is of mainly European origin, descending of Spanish and Italian immigrants, although also of Brazilian, Argentinean and French. Only between a 5 and 10% it is of mestizo origin between European and indigenous. They are not the small original indigenous population's remains.
Characteristic of the population
Uruguay has a population (according to estimates for 1993) of 3.175.050 inhabitants, with an approximate density of 18 hab/km2, concentrated on its majority on the coast. The population's 14% is only rural.
Main cities
The main Uruguayan cities are the capital, Montevideo, with a population estimated in 1992 of 1.383.660 inhabitants, main port and economic center; I jump (80.823 inhabitants in 1985), I center of trade, sailing and of the saladeros and meat envasadoras; Paysandú (76.191 inhabitants), fluvial port and I center of the industries of having packed and freezing of meats, and Tip of the East (6.000 inhabitants), one of the main tourist centers of the South Cone.
Official and spoken languages and religion
The official language is Spanish, but also diverse languages obstruct-Guarani are spoken. The Uruguayan Constitution establishes the cult freedom. Approximately the population's 60% professes the Catholic religion.
Education
Uruguay has one of the lowest rates of illiteracy in Latin America (5%). The primary education is obligatory, and Uruguay is one of the few countries of the western hemisphere in that the whole education, also the university student, is gratuitous. At the end of the decade of 1980, there were some 2.380 primary schools in those that studied 355.000 students approximately; in the same period, 275 high schools had about 175.500 students. Among the institutions of superior education it highlights the University of the Republic (1849) and some 40 schools of teaching.
Culture
In the current Uruguay the European cultural tradition prevails. In the XIX century, most of the natives were supplanted by the Europeans, fundamentally Spanish and Italian; from then on, the country has adopted the cultural institutions of these immigrants. The same as in Argentina whose music and dances folclóricas are similar to the Uruguayans, the gaucho is the main reason. The colonial literature was limited fundamentally to the science, the education and the religion. At the end of the XIX century and principles of the XX one, Juan Zorrilla of San Martin wrote Tabaré, considered as one of the most outstanding epic poems in America. The music folclórica and popular reflective feeling of the town and of the earth. As much the government as the middle class support the theatrical, musical activities and museísticas, as well as the literary publications. Among the most popular sports the soccer, the pole, the swimming, the tennis and the golf are counted. See you Uruguayan Literature; Spanish American literature.
Cultural institutions
All the important libraries of Uruguay are in Montevideo: the National Library, the Library of the National Historical Museum (famous for their collection of engravings, maps, currencies and indigenous material), the Library of the National Congress and the Library of the National File.
Among the main museums the National Historical Museum, the National Museum of fine arts and the Museum of Natural History are counted, all in Montevideo. The Museum of the Indian and of the Gaucho, in Tacuarembó, it presents collections of works of art, weapons and indigenous devices and gauchos.
Economy
The agricultural production, especially the livestock breeding, is of fundamental importance in the economy, although the importance of the industry has been increased. Most of the economy is deprived, although the government administers the railroads, the electric power, the telephones and the national service of radio and television. In 1991, the National Product Bruto (GNP) it reached the 8.895 million dollars, what supposes a rent per cápita of 2.800 dollars (according to figures of the World Bank, with prices of 1989-1990).
Agriculture and cattle raising
The breeding of the livestock is the main agricultural activity of Uruguay and the pillar of her economy, since you/he/she constitutes more than 40% of the annual exports in meat form, wool and skins. The moderate climate, with few local variations of temperature, and the homogeneous distribution of the precipitations, they allow the livestock upbringing during the whole year. At the beginning of the decade of 1990, Uruguay had about 9,6 million heads of bovine livestock, 26 million sheep, 475.000 horses and 215.000 heads of swinish livestock. At the end of the decade of 1980, the wool production some 54.000 annual t totalled. Although 8% of the territory is dedicated to cultivations, the cultivated surface increases gradually. The main agricultural production is centered in the cane of sugar, the sugar beet, the wheat, the rice, the potatoes (potatoes), the sorghum and the corn.
Forestry and she/he fishes
At the end of the decade of 1980 some wooden 3,3 millions of m3 were obtained. Approximately 90% of the production was devoted to fuel. The fishing sector expanded in an impressive way during the decade of 1970. Toward 1991, the captures arrived approximately to 193.800 t.
Mining and industry
The mining production in Uruguay is very small; the main mining activity is the quarries of sand and clay. The government has promoted the development of industries guided toward the exports, being the main ones the procesadoras of wool cloths, cotton and synthetic, and the nutritious ones, especially of meat. The refined of petroleum, the cement production and the textile, steel production, of aluminum, electric teams and chemical products are also important. At the beginning of the decade of 1980 a steel plant opened up in New Palmira.
Currency, banking and external trade
The monetary unit of the Uruguay is the weight, divided in 100 hundredth (10 pesos were equal to 1 American dollar in 1998). Uruguay has an advanced bank system, with numerous private banks. The Bank of the Republic (1896) she/he is a state bank and the government's financial agent; the Central Bank of the Uruguay (1967) she/he has the monopoly of currency emission and it regulates the private banking.
The trade with the foreigner has an important paper in the Uruguayan economy. At the beginning of the decade of 1990, the annual exports reached a value of about 1.700 million dollars, with some almost equivalent imports. The main commercial partners are Brazil, Argentina, Germany, United States and Mexico. Making, cloths, meats, fish, rice and skins are the main exports. The tourism, especially the coming from Argentina, is an important generator of foreign currencies. Uruguay cares matters cousins, fuels and lubricant, nutritious, chemical and pharmaceutical products, construction materials, plastics and synthetic resins, machinery and reserves, and vehicles.
Transport and communications
Approximately 90% of the Uruguayan railroads was British up to 1947, when the government acquired them. The rail system has about 2.990 kms. of roads. Several foreign airlines maintain flights toward and from Uruguay, and a government agency maintains an internal air service. Of those almost 52.000 km. of highways, about 11.960 kms. they are paved. The fluvial transport is abundant, and the navigable roads total 1.250 km. approximately.
Uruguay has more than 100 radio radio stations and 20 television channels. 14 newspapers are published, 10 of them in Montevideo.
Work
The main one central union, the National Convention of Workers, contains to about 200 unions with about 900.000 workers.
Government
According to the Constitution of 1966, Uruguay has government's republican system, with a president and a system legislative chosen by popular vote. However, in 1973 the military ones dissolved the National Congress, and in 1976 they deposed the elect president. Starting from then the country was governed by a régime supported by the military ones until November of 1984, when the elections that marked the return to the democracy took place.
To be able to executive
From half-filled of the decade of 1970, during one decade, the power in Uruguay was in an elected president's hands for the Council of the Nation, compound organism for the Council of State (that had the power legislative) and 25 high military controls. The electoral system restored in 1984 an elected president contemplates for universal vote for a five year-old command.
To be able to legislative
In 1984, a Camera of Deputies of 99 benches and a Senate of 30 they substituted to the Council of State, of 35 members that from 1973 the power legislative had exercised.
To be able to judicial
In 1977, the judicial power was subjected to the central government's direct control. The superior instance, the Supreme Court of Justice, has five members named by the executive for a five year-old period. The administrative tribunals take charge of the cases in those that the public administration is implied. The inferior instances consist on 19 civil tribunals and 10 criminals and reformatories in Montevideo, and tribunals in the department heads and important cities.
Political Party
Uruguay has a system dominated by the parties calls: to) Wide Front, left coalition, (she/he obtained the wide majority of votes in the national elections of 1999) and b) Colorado (that won the national elections of 1999 with the support of the almost missing White party in the balotaje). in general, the red ones lean toward the liberalism, while the targets are more conservative. The Communist Party (integral of the Wide Front) it was legalized in 1985 again (after the bloody military dictatorship).
I govern local
Uruguay is divided in 19 administrative departments whose holders are chosen democratically.
Health and social well-being
The Ministry of Public Health and their diverse commissions have created sanitary and clinical centers, controlling the tuberculosis buds and reducing the rate of infantile mortality. At the end of the decade of 1980, Uruguay had about 6.680 doctors and more than 23.000 hospital beds. The hope of life is of 68,26 years for the men and 72,75 for the women (according to estimates of United Nations for the period 1984-1986).
The country stands out for its advanced programs of social well-being whose covering includes accidents, labor illnesses, inability, jubilation, maternity and subsidy to the childhood. A special bottom provides loans to the families and laws have been approved to protect the woman and the minor in the work.
Defense
Does Uruguay have a professional Army? with about 17.200 troops. The Armada and the air forces are small, with about 4.500 and 3.000 troops, respectively. The military service is not obligatory.
History
The territory that today forms part of Uruguay was discovered in 1516 by the Spanish scanner Juan Díaz of Solís, first European that navigated for the river of the Silver; that same year, their expedition died at the hands of the aboriginal ones, the charrúas, tribe that was opposed to the intents of colonization of the territory during the XVI century. The first permanent establishment was the one carried out by the Spaniards in 1624, in Soriano, in the Black river.
International rivalry during the colony
Between 1680 and 1683, to challenge the Spanish sovereignty of the region, the Portuguese settlers from Brazil established diverse establishments on the costs of the river of the Silver, in front of Buenos Aires, as the Nova Colony do Sacramento. However, the Spaniards didn't make any intent to evict the Portuguese up to 1723, when these began to fortify the heights that surround the bay of Montevideo. A Spanish expedition coming from Buenos Aires forced the Portuguese to abandon the place, in which the Spaniards were founded in 1726 the city of Montevideo.
The Hispanic-Portuguese rivalry continued during the XVIII century, putting an end in 1777 to the setting-up of the Spanish sovereignty on the territory, under the viceroy's jurisdiction that had its headquarters in Buenos Aires. In 1810 and 1811, the Uruguayan revolutionaries to the general José Gervasio Artigas control united to the patriots from Buenos Aires in their lift against Spain. The Spanish governor was expelled of Montevideo in 1814, but in 1816 the Portuguese from Brazil, when perceiving that the new well-known emancipated territory as Oriental Band of the Uruguay had weakened after its fight against Spain, it invaded the territory, presumably to reestablish the order.
The Portuguese conquest was completed in 1821, moment in that the Oriental Band was annexed by Brazil. The rebels directed by Juan Antonio Lavalleja celebrated —los ' Thirty Three Orientales'—they reestablished the independence of the country in 1825 and, with the collaboration of Argentina, they liberated a successful war against Brazil that in 1828 it recognized the Uruguayan independence.
Independence and civil war
In 1825 the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay was proclaimed, although very soon it was divided in hostile factions as a result of the rivalry among the leaders of the rebellion against Brazil. In 1836 the confrontation exploded then among the followers of the president Manuel Oribe and those in favor of who had been first president of the Republic, Fruitful Rivera, car being denominated those targets and these colored by the color of its respective flags. During the conflict, the targets, helped by Argentinean forces, put place to Montevideo, where the red ones resisted from 1843 up to 1852. The red ones, helped by Brazil and other opponents to the Argentinean régime, defeated Oribe and their followers, after that which Rivera and the red ones assumed the power. The two factions renewed their confrontations in 1855, staying the hostilities in an intermittent way; the red ones maintained the control almost continually after 1865. Between that year and 1870, Uruguay allied with Brazil and Argentina in the war of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay.
First years of the XX century
At the beginning of the XX century, the ownership to the two groups political rivals stopped to be merely a question of traditional loyalties. The targets became party conservative, attracting the rural population and the clergy fundamentally, while the red ones adopted progressive postures and they proposed an advanced social legislation. During the red José Batlle's presidency and Ordóñez (between 1911 and 1915) a wide body of social laws was promulgated, with that that soon Uruguay became in the most progressive country in America.
In 1917, during the I World War, Uruguay broke up relationships with Germany and it leased United States the German ships that it seized in the port of Montevideo. That same year a new Constitution was promulgated that divided the authority of the executive power between the president and the National Administrative Council, as well as the separation between Church and State. In 1920, Uruguay incorporated to the Society of Nations.
In 1931 it assumed later the presidency Gabriel Terra, and two years it demanded the amendment of the Uruguayan Constitution to enlarge the presidential powers; before the protests that originated their demands, it established a dictatorship. In 1934, the Constituent Assembly edited a new Constitution. During the II World War, Uruguay broke up its diplomatic, financial and economic relationships with the powers of the Axis. In 1945, the country was one of the members founders of the United Nations (UN).
The decade of the postwar period
In 1946 she/he was elected president the candidate of the Partido Colorado and old minister of Public Works, Tomás Berreta, although she/he died few months after assuming the position; vice-president Luis Batlle Berres completed the rest of the presidential command. The presidential elections and legislativas of 1950 took to the power to the red Andrés Martínez Trueba. Two years later, the constitutional reformation promoted by the president and approved one year before, abolished the presidency and it transferred the executive power to the nine members of a collegiate organism, Government's National Council.
In reprisal for the Uruguayan politics of granting asylum to the political refugees from Argentina, the dictator of this country, Juan Domingo Perón, imposed restrictions to the trips and the commercial relationships with Uruguay. In protest, the government broke up the diplomatic knots with Argentina in 1953.
Meantime, the fall of the prices of the wool and the reduction of the meat exports caused the increase of the unemployment and the inflation. To improve their situation, in 1956 Uruguay it signed several commercial agreements with the Popular Republic of China and other communist countries. However, these measures didn't prevent that the economic deterioration continued.
In 1958, after 93 uninterrupted years of red government, the targets won the elections for overwhelming majority. The new government started, but he should face the leftist and union mobilization.
Political deterioration
The targets remained in the power up to 1966. That year, as much them as the red ones approved the restoration of the system presidencialista, approved by referendum in November. In the presidential elections that took place soon after, the red ones won and it assumed the presidency an old general of the air forces, Oscar Daniel Gestido; after their death it was happened by the vice-president, Jorge Pacheco Areco. The political antiinflacionista of Pacheco caused great social uneasiness, and the guerilla group of the tupamaros intensified its actions to overthrow the government and to destroy the capitalist system. From June of 1968 until March of 1969, Uruguay stayed under a modified form of martial law (those denominated prompt measures of security"). The tour for Latin America that took to Uruguay to the American politician Nelson Rockefeller in June of 1969, was protested with violent manifestations. Pacheco imposed the place state again.
In the elections of November of 1971, 28 the red candidate Juan María Bordaberry and their white competitor almost obtained the same votes. In February of 1972, the Electoral Meeting president proclaimed Bordaberry. Meantime, the violence of the tupamaros had been increased, being frequent the kidnappings and attacks. After a wave of arrests in 1971, about 150 tupamaros escaped in two massive flights. In April of 1972, the Congress declared the internal state of war and it suspended the constitutional guarantees, while a force of 35.000 policemen and soldiers rushed to the search of guerilla hiding places. The state of war rose July 11, although the constitutional guarantees remained suspended up to 1973. Very soon, Bordaberry was subjected to the pressure of the targets and of the dissident factions of its own party; the workers reacted against the hard economic and social measures with strikes that exploded continually during the whole year 1972; also, the inflation was shot and the currency was devaluated ten times.
The military dictatorship, the military ones take the power
In February of 1973, Bordaberry gave a part from its executive authority to the armed forces that had become more aggressive as they obtained successes in its actions against the tupamaros, what caused a conflict with the Congress. Bordaberry opted then to dissolve the camera legislativa and it substituted it for a Council of State of 25 members, dominated by the military ones. The National Convention of the Workers (CNT) she/he responded with a general strike that the government was able to break, after violent confrontations, July 11; one month later, arrived to its end the autonomy from the unions when being declared the CNT outside of the law. During the following years the military ones enlarged their control on most of the national institutions, a repressive military dictatorship that made disappear settling down (murdered adults and its small abducted children and adopted by people related to the dictatorship) hundred of people. In 1976, Bordaberry canceled the elections foreseen for that year.
For disagreements among the president and the armed forces, Bordaberry was deposed in June of 1976. To followed line, a new National Council of 25 civilians and 21 military controls chose president (marionette) to Aparicio Méndez, an old minister of Public Health, for a five year-old command. One of their government's first acts was to deprive from political rights to those who had acted in politics between 1966 and 1973. In 1976, it was calculated that the number of political prisoners imprisoned by the government rose to some 6.000 people, and the violations of the human rights on the part of the army they were endemic.
Some outcast politicians repurchased their rights in the following years, although most didn't get it up to 1980, when the White party and the Colorado were legalized again. A new Constitution whose approval was subjected to referendum in November of 1980, was rejected, after that which the government canceled the foreseen elections. The 1 of September of 1981 assumed the presidency the general Gregorio Álvarez for a command that should finish in 1985. The political parties approved by the military ones that nucleaban around the population's 66%, celebrated internal elections in 1982.
I govern civil
The presidential elections (made in an unconstitutional way, but accepted by the politicians to be able to enjoy the power again) they were carried out in November of 1984, having the armed forces the ability to veto the candidates. The winner, the moderate Julio María Sanguinetti of the Partido Colorado, assumed the presidency March of 1985, 1 maintaining the armed forces his power on him. In December of 1986 an amnesty was dictated (it leaves of the secret pact between political and military, so that these they passed over the power to the first ones) that covered all the members of the armed forces violators of the human rights and murderers between 1973 and 1985; then she/he was elected president Luis Alberto Lacalle, of the National Party (or White) that continued under the influence of the military ones.
Until today's day the budget of the armed forces is disproportionately immense compared with the budgets assigned to public health and teaching.
Uruguay is the second country in America, behind Cuba, in quantity of having welded by 10.000 inhabitants.
The economic stagnation and the increase of the inflation took him to apply a program of austerity, and she/he announced plans to privatize the state companies; in protest sign, the union leaders summoned a series of strikes.
The union uneasiness stayed during the first years of the decade of 1990, like protest against the galloping inflation —que it reached 81% in 1991—and the privatization program. Also many sympathetic of the official party they were opposed to this politics, considering that the privatized industries would fall low foreign control, mainly of the Argentinean and Brazilian investors; in spite of these protests, Lacalle continued ahead with the privatization, supporting the reduction of the work positions in the public sector and the limitation of the salary increments from the officials to inferior percentages to the inflation rate. The popular uneasiness continued, and in 1992 the police (the same as it had happened during the previous command) it was declared in strike demanding better wages and supporting the demands of other groups of workers. Before the pressure to the one that was subjected, president Lacalle summoned a referendum on the politics of privatizations in which the vote contrary to the same one triumphed in a clear way. At the beginning of 1993, a new currency —el Uruguayan weight—it substituted to the new weight, with a parity of 1.000 at 1. The president announced new measures of austerity to reduce the inflation.
In the elections taken place at the end of 1994 the red Julio María Sanguinetti it was reelected. The main cause of its victory was the wrong government carried out by the administration Lacalle that took to several from its members to be processed by corruption.
The last elections (1999) they were won after the balotaje by Jorge Batlle of the red party with the support of the almost nonexistent National Party (or white).
(Taken of Encarta´96, with corrections and modifications based on facts, history books and national newspapers). -
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