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Travel to Uruguay — Unbiased reviews and great
deals from TripAdvisorUruguay
| Oriental Republic of Uruguay National name: República Oriental del
Uruguay President: Tabaré Vázquez
(2005)
Current government officials
Land area: 67,035 sq mi (173,621 sq km);
total area: 68,039 sq mi (176,220 sq km) Population (2007 est.): 3,447,496 (growth
rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 13.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.3/1000;
life expectancy: 76.5; density per sq mi: 51
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Montevideo, 1,745,100 (metro. area), 1,347,600
(city proper) Monetary unit: Uruguay
peso
Languages:
Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero
Ethnicity/race:
white 88%, mestizo 8%, black 4%
Religions:
Roman Catholic 66%, Protestant 2%, Jewish
1% Literacy rate: 98% (2003
est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP
(2007 est.): $37.19 billion; per capita $1,600. Real growth
rate: 7%. Inflation: 8.1%. Unemployment: 9.2%.
Arable land: 8%. Agriculture: rice, wheat, corn, barley;
livestock; fish. Labor force: 1.587 million; agriculture 9%,
industry 15%, services 76%. Industries: food processing,
electrical machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum products,
textiles, chemicals, beverages. Natural resources: arable land,
hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries. Exports: $3.55 billion
f.o.b. (2005 est.): meat, rice, leather products, wool, fish, dairy
products. Imports: $3.54 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery,
chemicals, road vehicles, crude petroleum. Major trading partners:
U.S., Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, China (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 929,141 (2001); mobile cellular: 350,000 (2001). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 91, FM 149, shortwave 7 (2001). Radios:
1.97 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 20
(2001). Televisions: 782,000 (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 14 (2001). Internet users: 400,000
(2002). Transportation: Railways:
total: 2,073 km (2002). Highways: total: 8,983 km; paved: 8,081
km; unpaved: 902 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 1,600 km; used by
coastal and shallow-draft river craft. Ports and harbors:
Colonia, Fray Bentos, Juan La Caze, La Paloma, Montevideo, Nueva
Palmira, Paysandu, Punta del Este, Piriapolis. Airports: 64
(2002). International disputes:
uncontested dispute with Brazil over certain islands in the
Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada streams and the resulting tripoint with
Argentina.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Uruguay, on the east coast of South America south of Brazil and east of
Argentina, is comparable in size to Oklahoma. The country consists of a
low, rolling plain in the south and a low plateau in the north. It has a
120-mile (193 km) Atlantic shoreline, a 235-mile (378 km) frontage on the
Rio de la Plata, and 270 mi (435 km) on the Uruguay River, its western
boundary.
Government
Constitutional republic.
History
Prior to European settlement, Uruguay was inhabited by indigenous
people, the Charrúas. Juan Díaz de Solis, a Spaniard, visited Uruguay in
1516, but the Portuguese were first to settle it when they founded the
town of Colonia del Sacramento in 1680. After a long struggle, Spain
wrested the country from Portugal in 1778, by which time almost all of the
indigenous people had been exterminated. Uruguay revolted against Spain in
1811, only to be conquered in 1817 by the Portuguese from Brazil.
Independence was reasserted with Argentine help in 1825, and the republic
was set up in 1828.
A revolt in 1836 touched off nearly 50 years of factional strife,
including an inconclusive civil war (1839–1851) and a war with Paraguay
(1865–1870), accompanied by occasional armed intervention by Argentina and
Brazil. Uruguay, made prosperous by meat and wool exports, founded a
welfare state early in the 20th century under President José Batlle y
Ordóñez, who ruled from 1903 to 1929. A decline began in the 1950s as
successive governments struggled to maintain a large bureaucracy and
costly social benefits. Economic stagnation and left-wing terrorist
activity followed.
A military coup ousted the civilian government in 1973. The military
dictatorship that followed used fear and terror to demoralize the
population, taking thousands of political prisoners. After ruling for 12
years, the brutal military regime permitted election of a civilian
government in Nov. 1984 and relinquished rule in March 1985; full
political and civil rights were then restored.
Subsequent leaders contended with high inflation and a mammoth national
debt. Presidential and legislative elections in Nov. 1994 resulted in a
narrow victory for the center-right Colorado Party and its presidential
candidate, Julio Sanguinetti Cairolo, who had been president in 1985–1990.
He pushed for constitutional and economic reforms aimed at reducing
inflation and the size of the public sector, including tax increases and
privatization. In Nov. 1999 Jorge Batlle, of the Colorado Party, won the
presidency.
In 2002, Uruguay entered its fourth year of recession. Economic
troubles in neighboring Argentina caused a staggering 90% drop in tourism.
Batlle also faced a sizable budget deficit, a growing public debt, and a
weakening of the peso on international markets. The country's economic
outlook began improving in 2003. In a Dec. 2003 referendum, 60% of the
electorate voted against opening up the state oil monopoly to foreign
investment. In Oct. 2004, Tabaré Vázquez of the Socialist Broad Front won
50.7% of the vote; he took office in March 2005. It was the left’s first
national victory in Uruguay.
See also Encyclopedia: Uruguay.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Uruguay
Statistical Department (In Spanish only) www.ine.gub.uy/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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