Uruguay (officially, República Oriental del Uruguay; formerly known as the Banda Oriental or 'Eastern Bank'—i.e. of the Uruguay) is the smallest of the South American republics, although its area—72,110 sq. m.—is three-fifths that of the United Kingdom and exceeds that of the New England states and Maryland together. Its general outline is that of a pear, the sides marked by the Uruguay River and the rivers and chain of hills which, with the Lagoa Mirim, form the boundary line with Brazil. The Atlantic washes its shores for 120 miles, the Plate and Uruguay for nearly 600 miles. The most important of the numerous rivers of the interior is the Rio Negro, which flows across the central portion. The country is not mountainous, but full of low hills, often forming long ranges, the highest reaching only 1650 feet. Gneiss and granite predominate in the north, and elsewhere porphyry and sandstone. Gold and copper mines are being worked, and other minerals more or less abundant are silver, iron, tin, mercury, mica, beautiful marbles, slate, gypsum, cobalt, and columbite; diamonds also have been found in Minas. But little has been done so far to exploit the mineral wealth of the country. Uruguay enjoys on the whole a delightful climate; the temperature normally does not fall below 35° nor rise much above 90° F. The flora includes many useful trees, amongst them the palm, brilliant flowers, and a host of medicinal plants. Of the fauna may be mentioned the jaguar and puma, the wild cat, tapir, deer, rhea, parakeets, humming-birds, plentiful waterfowl in the lagoons, and snakes (rattlesnake, a cross-marked viper, &c.), lizards, and venomous spiders.
The population, estimated at 684,000 in 1889, and again at 830,000 in 1898, is made up mainly of half-breeds, from whom the Gauchos (q.v.) are drawn; but the foreign element, in which Basques and Italians are most prominent, is rapidly increasing. In 1891 more than two-thirds of all the children born had foreign blood on the side of one at least of their parents. The leading industry is still the raising of cattle and sheep, the latter mainly in the south and west. Six-sevenths of all the exports are embraced under the head of pastoral and saladero produce. Liebig's factory is at Fray Bentos (q.v.). Uruguay possesses some 16,000,000 head of sheep and 6,000,000 of cattle, valued at over 76,000,000. Agriculture takes up only 1,500,000 acres, mostly under wheat and maize, though tobacco, grapes, and olives also are grown. There are several agricultural colonies, chiefly Swiss, Spanish, and Italian. The manufactures are limited to those of Montevideo and a few breweries, flour-mills, &c. throughout the country. The foreign trade on the whole has largely increased within late years; but it fluctuates with the sense of public security, and unfortunately financial as well as political scares have helped to unsettle this. In 1890 the imports reached 32,364,627, and the exports 29,085,519; compare with these the figures for 1896—imports 25,500,000, and exports $30,400,000—the fall being due to a financial crisis involving the readjustment of the public debt. Yet even the latter year shows an average of £12, 12s. per head of population, as against £9 for the Argentine Republic. Even without taking into account its mineral wealth, which at present is estimated according to the individual imagination, the country is very rich in natural products, and has nothing against it except its government.
This may be summed up as a sham constitutionalism, in spite of the honest efforts of many of the senators and representatives. Uruguay is divided into nineteen departments, for each of which a senator is returned by an electoral college chosen by the people. Senators are elected for six years, members of the lower house (in the proportion of one for every 3000 male adults who can read and write) for three years. The president is elected for four years, and with a strong military force he is practically master of the country: arbitrary arrests and imprisonment without trial are endured; and even the scandal connected with the sacking of the National Bank failed to unseat President Herrera in 1892. The army, whose influence with the executive is very great, numbers 3500 men, well armed; and there is an armed police force of 4000, besides a citizen force. The navy has only 185 men and officers, manning three gunboats, seven steamers, &c. The revenue in the years 1885-95 crept up from 13,719,693 to 15,350,000, while the expenditure remained between 13,000,000 and 16,000,000. But financial incapacity raised the public debt within even fewer years from 81,000,000 to 120,000,000 in 1899; the debt was partly converted in 1892, but a new loan was raised in 1897. Primary education is compulsory: there are about 15,000 children inscribed in the public schools (7-1, with 300 teachers); and there are besides numerous private schools, religious seminaries, a military college, a normal school, school of arts and trades, and a university in Montevideo. The state religion is Roman Catholic, but all are tolerated; Catholics outnumber Protestants as eighty to one. Over 1000 miles of railway were open in 1900, and 90 of tramways; and there were 4400 miles of telegraph lines. The chief towns, Montevideo, Paysandú, Colonia, Minas, &c., have separate articles.
The history of all the Plate states is woven of the same materials, mostly in the same colours and patterns, and largely in one piece. Uruguay is mainly distinguished as in its earliest years a bone of contention between the Portuguese and Spaniards, and afterwards between Brazil and Argentina. The Portuguese founded the town of Colonia, opposite Buenos Ayres, at the beginning of the 17th century, when the king of Spain, to protect the trade of Peru, had limited the Buenos Ayres exports to 16,000 bushels of wheat and 25 tons each of salted beef and of tallow; and by this means much contraband trade was drawn off to Brazil, until in 1724 the governor of Buenos Ayres founded Montevideo to checkmate the Portuguese colonists. This city was carried by assault by General Whitelocke in 1807, but evacuated after his defeat at Buenos Ayres; and, during the years of revolt from the mother-country, the royal forces held it until 1814, in which year Uruguay was recognised by the congress of Tucuman as independent. Brazil, however, had at once after the Spanish evacuation seized on Montevideo, and occupied the country as the Cisplatine Province until 1825. Then Argentina, resenting this occupation, laid claim to the territory, and in the war which followed, aided by the Uruguayans (see TREINTA Y TRES), defeated both the Brazilian army and navy, till in 1828 the two powers agreed to guarantee the independence of the little republic. But its proximity to Buenos Ayres made it too easy and popular a refuge from the tyranny of the dictator Rosas, and drew down upon it his vengeance (see ROSAS). In the long wars which followed 1839 the chief event is the more than eight years' siege desperately but successfully endured by Montevideo, to whose aid came Garibaldi (q.v.). Rosas fled in 1852, and in the next eight years Uruguay enjoyed eight changes of governors. Then Brazil intervened and placed General Flores at the head of affairs; and from 1864 to 1870 the republic joined with Brazil and Argentina in the disastrous war against Paraguay, Flores being assassinated in 1868. For nearly twenty years after the republic was misgoverned by a succession of political gangs who shamelessly plundered it during their more or less brief periods of power: how far matters have improved since it might be rash to say. There was a rebellion in 1897; yet with the help of immigration and private enterprise, something has been done, in spite of misrule, to develop the country.
See Mulhall's Handbook of the River Plate, and Levey's Handy Guide to the River Plate (2d ed. 1890); Diaz, Notice Historique (Paris, 1878); Van Bruyssel, La République Orientale de l'Uruguay (Brussels, 1889); also histories by F. Banza (Spanish period; Montevideo, 1880) and De María (ib. 1864). The Purple Land that England Lost, by W. H. Hudson (1885), is readable, and gives a picture of the country in the period after Rosas.