URUGUAY. The republic of Uruguay, officially known as the ORIENTAL REPUBLIC OP THE URUGUAY, and long locally called the BANDA ORIENTAL (meaning the land on the eastern side of the large river from which the country takes its modern name), is the smallest independent state Bound- in South America. It runs conterminous with the south-aries. ern border o. the empire of Brazil and lies between 30° 1 Born 1470, died 1540, canonized 1807.
Flora. The pastoral wealth of Uruguay as of the neighbouring Argen-tine Republic is due to the fertilizing constituents of "pampa mud, " geologically associated With gigantic antediluvian animals, whose fossil remains are found abundantly in those regions. The country is rich in hard woods, suitable for cabinet work and certain building purposes. Thej principal trees are the alder, aloe, palm, poplar, acacia, wdllow, and eucalyptus (recently introduced). The "montes," by which are understood plantations as well as native thickets, produce amongst other woods the algarrobo, a poor imita-tion of oak ; the guayabo, a substitute for boxwood ; the quebracho, of which the red kind is compared to sandalwood ; and the urunday, black and white, not unlike rosewood. Indigenous palms grow in the valleys of the Sierra José Ignacio, also to some extent in the departments of Minas, Maldonado, and Paysandú. The myrtle, rosemary, mimosa, and the scarlet-flowered ceibo are amongst the plants commonly seen. The valleys within the hill ranges are fragrant with aromatic shrubs. In rhe plains below the swards are gay with the scarlet and white verbena and other wdld flowers of brilliant hues. The country abounds in medicinal plants. The sarsaparilla even colours the water of the Rio Negro and gives to it its name—the "black river." Fauna. Amongst the wdld animals the tiger or ounce — called in the Guaraní language the "ja-guá" or "big dog"—and the puma are found on the frontier of Brazil and on the wooded islets and banks of the larger rivers. The tapir, fox, deer, wdld cat, wdld dog, carpincho or water hog, and a few small rodents nearly complete the list of quadrupeds. A little armadillo, the mulita, must be mentioned as the living representative of the antediluvian giants, the mylodon, mastodon, megatherium, &c. The ostrich—Ehea americana—roams everywhere in the plains ; and there are a few specimens of the vulture tribe, a native crow (lean, tall, and ruffed), partridges, and quails. Parakeets are plentiful in the "montes," and the lagoons swarm with waterfowl of all descriptions. The most esteemed is the "pato real," a large duck. Of the birds of bright plumage the humming bird and the cardinal—the scarlet, the yellow, and the white—are the most attractive. The fish of the lagoons and streams are coarse, and some of them primitive in type ; but two or three kinds, found generally in the large rivers, are much prized. The varieties of fish on the sea coast are many and excellent ; 130 species are known. More than 2000 species of insects have been classified. The scorpion is rarely seen ; but large and venomous spiders are common. The principal reptiles are a lizard, a tortoise, the " vivora de la cruz," a dangerous viper, so called from marks like a cross on its head, and the rattlesnake, this last in Maldonado and the stony lands of Las Minas. Popula- At the commencement of the 19th century the population of tion. Montevideo and the surrounding territory was estimated by Azara at 30,000, one-half of these being given to the city of Montevideo. This total seems not to have included what remained of the in-digenous inhabitants in the north and west, though the Indian population of the Jesuit missions before these were destroyed, about the year 1767, was known to be very numerous. But the aborigines have now completely disappeared. They have been supplanted by half-breeds, from whom the class known as gauchos are mostly re-cruited. The gauchos are now being supplanted by European im-migrants and their progeny. In 1829, the epoch of the declaration of independence, the population is stated to have numbered 74,000, and in 1852, after the great war, 131,969. In 1860 the number had risen to 221,300 and in 1873 to 450,000. Comparatively recent esti-mates place it between 450,000 and 700,000, the latest official estimate being 551,768 ; but no formal census has yet been taken. In the eighteen departments of the state the proportion of foreigners is 25'41 per cent, of the population (in the department of Monte-video 42'29 per cent, and in the others 24'66 per cent.), consisting of 39,780 Spaniards, 36,303 Italians, 20,178 Brazilians, 15,546 Argentinians, 14,375 French (principally Basques), 2772 English, 2125 Germans, and 9143 of other nations. The density of the population in the metropolitan department is 365 inhabitants per square mile ; in the whole republic it is 4'83, in the agricultural department of Canelones 27'37, and in the remote departments of Tacuarembó and Rivera about l-6. In respect of numbers the males have a slight preponderance over the females. Of the child-ren 20'23 per cent, are illegitimate, in the metropolitan depart-ment 7'73 and in the rural departments 23 '24. Illegitimate births have recently decreased, a fact which may be explained by the insti-tution of civil marriage and by the appointment of registrars in the remote country districts. Marriages take place at the rate of 6'8 per 1000. The death-rate is only 16'5 per 1000. Adminis- The country is divided into eighteen departments, of which that trative of Montevideo is the smallest, although it contains one-fourth of divisions, the total population. Adjoining this is Canelones ; and in a northerly direction are those of Florida, Durazno, Tacuarembó, and Rivera, the last-named bordering on Brazil. To the eastward on the Atlantic are Maldonado and Rocha, and north and west of these Minas, Treinta y Tres, and Cerro Largo. To the west, along the Plate and Uruguay, are San José, Colonia, Soriano, Rio Negro, and Paysandú ; and farther north towards the Brazilian frontier are
Salto and Artigas. The principal inland town is San José. The chief ports, besides Montevideo, are Salto, Paysandú, Fray Bentos, Mercedes. Colonia, and Maldonado.
More than two centuries ago the Banda Oriental was looked upon Agricul-by the Spanish colonies on the opposite banks of the Plate and ture and Uruguay as a station for the breeding of live stock and the cutting industry, of timber and firewood. And at this day, in spite of the thriving foreign trade of Montevideo, it still partakes largely of this char-acter. It boasts of 20,000,000 sheep—perhaps 14,000,000 would be nearer the mark—and 8,000,000 head of cattle. The country being in general pastoral, sheep and cattle grazing is the main occupation of the people; the sheep flourish best in the southern and western departments, whilst the principal cattle districts are towards the north and east. More than two-thirds of the public wealth, estimated variously between £80,000,000 and £120,000,000, consist of land, live stock, and rural properties. Ninety-six per cent, of the exports of the country consists of live stock and their produce—wool, hides, horus, hair, sheepskins, tallow, grease, bones, bone-ash, and jerked beef. More thtan half the fixed property and commercial capital is in the hands of foreigners. At Fray Bentos, in the department of Rio Negro, is the Liebig factory of extract of meat; at Colonia there is a branch of the River Plate Frozen Meat Company. But, apart from these, and some breweries, flour-mills, tanneries, establishments in Montevideo for the making of boots and shoes and clothing, and a few local industries, unnaturally fostered by high import duties, there are no manufactures to speak of. Agriculture is still in a promising infancy. Latterly it has made great strides ; yet the export of agricultural produce appears to be relatively insignificant. At intervals during the last twenty years agricultural settlements (colonies) have been established with great success in different departments, but principally in Colonia, where the settlers are mostly Italians and Swiss. These prosperous colonies have already in Colonia outgrown the space originally allotted ; but owing to the irregular and illegal appropriation of the public lands there is no more land to bestow on settlers, native or foreign, except at the exorbitant rates demanded by private owners and speculators.
At Cuñapirú in Tacuarembó gold was accidentally discovered in Minerals. 1842. The mines have been worked at intervals since 1867, but, partly owing to difficulties of communication, wdth indifferent suc-cess. But gold-mining seems to have lately assumed a inore hope-ful aspect, owing to the employment of improved and economical machinery introduced by a French company. The metals of Uruguay are found in two quite distinct systems of hills. The Cuñapirú mines are in the Santa Ana range, the auriferous quartz being found in thin layers embedded in rocks of red porphyry. The formation of the system in general resembles that of the gold - producing regions in Brazil, California, and Australia. The Pan de Azúcar (Sugar-Loaf Mountain), near the south coast of Maldonado, forms the extremity of a second system, which has its origin as far north as Pernambuco in Brazil; as developed in Uruguay it is Huronian, limestone and slate being superposed on the gneiss and granite. The metals of this system are principally silver, lead, copper, and an argentiferous lead, which in earlier times the Spaniards mistook for silver. Two copper mines at the foot of the Pan de Azúcar are now in active operation.
Since the beginning of the 19th century the value of the exports Com-and imports has increased twenty-fold, and wdth some relapses has merce. more than doubled in the last twenty years. In 1881 the total value was £8,116,680, and in 1885 £10,750,747. The value of the exports is always a little in excess of that of the imports. Within the last ten years the number of vessels entering the port of Montevideo has increased only about 10 per cent., whereas the total tonnage has increased 100 per cent., owing to the large ocean steamers which trade with the port or make it a place of call. A few years ago the imports from Great Britain amounted to about a third of the whole, and the exports to the same country to about one-fourth of the whole. But much of the produce from the river Plate countries in general which formerly was shipped to England or to Antwerp now goes direct to France or to Hamburg and Bremen.
Telegraph lines, with a total length of 661 miles, exist in most Commu-of the departments. Submarine cables communicate with Buenos nication. Ayres and the ports of Brazil, and thence with Europe. The rail-ways are comprehended in three main systems, the central, north-western, and eastern ; their combined length barely reaches 300 miles. There are no public roads in the country ; but communica-tion in the more inhabited parts is easily effected over the nearly level grassy plains.
The system of national education is gratuitous and compulsory. Educa.-. The number of school children is over 30,000, about 5'4 per cent, of tion. the total population. The teaching at the national schools is irre-spective of religious creed or denomination. In higher education much has yet to be accomplished. There is a school of arts and trades in the capital. The university of Montevideo, founded in 1838, numbers about 1300 students. The state religion is Roman Catholic ; but all sects enjoy complete toleration, unless a decided non-toleration of the Jesuits be regarded as an exception to the rule.
270 miles along the Uruguay on the west. The boundaries separating it from Rio Grande do Sul, a province of Brazil, are Lake Mirim, the rivers Chuy, Yaguaron, and Cuareim, and a cuchilla or low range of hills called Santa Ana. The extent of the northern frontier from the Cuareim to the bar of the Chuy on the coast of the Atlantic is 450 miles. Uruguay is intersected nearly from Rivers, west to north-east by the river Negro and its affluent the Yi. The Uruguay (see PLATE RIVER, vol. xix. p. 187) is navigable all the year by steamers from the island of Martin Garcia at the mouth to Salto (200 miles). Above this place the navigation is interrupted by rapids. The ordinary volume of water in the Uruguay averages 11 millions of cubic feet per minute. The Negro, of which the principal port is the city of Mercedes, is the only important and to any practical extent navigable inland river. Others are navigable for short distances and by steamers of light draught. Besides the rivers mentioned, the chief streams are the Santa Lucia, which falls into the Plate a little west of Montevideo ; the Queguay in Paysandu ; and the Cebollati, rising in the sierras in Minas and flowing into Lake Mirini. These rivers as well as the Uruguay are fed by innumerable smaller streams or " arroyos," many of which have the importance and sometimes the names of rivers, such as the Arapey in Salto, the Dayman in Paysandu, the Yaguary (an affluent of the Negro) in Tacuarembó, the Arroyo Grande between the departments of Soriano and San José, and the San José (an affluent of the Santa Lucia). None of the sierras or mountains in Moun-UrUguay exceed (or perhaps even attain) a height of tains. 2000 feet ; but, contrasting in their tawny colour with the grassy undulating plains, they loom up high and are often picturesque. They are ramifications of a range .which, breaking away from the Andes in about 20° S. lat., reaches the frontier of Uruguay in 32°. Here the chain divides, forming the Cuchilla de Haedo on the north and west and the Cuchilla Grande on the south and east. In the departments of Minas and Maldonaclo the second range takes the name of the Ghost Mountains. No accurate geological survey has yet been made, but it is known that the hills in the north are chiefly gneiss and granite and in other parts porphyry and sandstone. The hilly districts in the north and east contain minerals of many kinds, including gold, lead, copper, agate, amethyst, alabaster, and marble. The limestone, granite, and marble quarries have some commercial value ; but so far little progress has been made in the working of metallic veins. For the gold mines, see below.
The seat of government is the city of MONTEVIDEO (q.v.) at the entrance of the river Plate. The harbour and roadstead of that port form the only good natural refuge for shipping for hundreds of miles south of Rio de Janeiro.
Uruguay has a healthy climate. Endemic diseases are unknown Climate, and epidemics are rare. According to the tables of mortality for 1882, out of a total of 9640 deaths 45 were of persons over 100 years of age. In the interior, away from the sea and the shores of the great rivers, the temperature frequently rises in summer as high as 86° Fahr. and in winter falls as low as 35°'6 Fahr. In the dis-tricts bordering on the coast the thermometer seldom falls below 37° ; and only for a few moments and at long intervals has it been known to rise as high as 105°. The annual rainfall is stated to be more than twice that of Paris (1968 inches). This arises not from the frequency of rain but from the greater quantity which falls in a given time. Observations made during the years 1842 to 1852 inclusive showed that there were in Montevideo in the summer season—November, December, and January—70-l fine days, 14"1 cloudy, and 61 wet ; in winter—May, June, and July—there were 54'3 fine, 27'1 cloudy, and 10'6 wet days.
Flora. The pastoral wealth of Uruguay as of the neighbouring Argen-tine Republic is due to the fertilizing constituents of "pampa mud, " geologically associated With gigantic antediluvian animals, whose fossil remains are found abundantly in those regions. The country is rich in hard woods, suitable for cabinet work and certain building purposes. Thej principal trees are the alder, aloe, palm, poplar, acacia, wdllow, and eucalyptus (recently introduced). The "montes," by which are understood plantations as well as native thickets, produce amongst other woods the algarrobo, a poor imita-tion of oak ; the guayabo, a substitute for boxwood ; the quebracho, of which the red kind is compared to sandalwood ; and the urunday, black and white, not unlike rosewood. Indigenous palms grow in the valleys of the Sierra José Ignacio, also to some extent in the departments of Minas, Maldonado, and Paysandú. The myrtle, rosemary, mimosa, and the scarlet-flowered ceibo are amongst the plants commonly seen. The valleys within the hill ranges are fragrant with aromatic shrubs. In rhe plains below the swards are gay with the scarlet and white verbena and other wdld flowers of brilliant hues. The country abounds in medicinal plants. The sarsaparilla even colours the water of the Rio Negro and gives to it its name—the "black river." Fauna. Amongst the wdld animals the tiger or ounce — called in the Guaraní language the "ja-guá" or "big dog"—and the puma are found on the frontier of Brazil and on the wooded islets and banks of the larger rivers. The tapir, fox, deer, wdld cat, wdld dog, carpincho or water hog, and a few small rodents nearly complete the list of quadrupeds. A little armadillo, the mulita, must be mentioned as the living representative of the antediluvian giants, the mylodon, mastodon, megatherium, &c. The ostrich—Ehea americana—roams everywhere in the plains ; and there are a few specimens of the vulture tribe, a native crow (lean, tall, and ruffed), partridges, and quails. Parakeets are plentiful in the "montes," and the lagoons swarm with waterfowl of all descriptions. The most esteemed is the "pato real," a large duck. Of the birds of bright plumage the humming bird and the cardinal—the scarlet, the yellow, and the white—are the most attractive. The fish of the lagoons and streams are coarse, and some of them primitive in type ; but two or three kinds, found generally in the large rivers, are much prized. The varieties of fish on the sea coast are many and excellent ; 130 species are known. More than 2000 species of insects have been classified. The scorpion is rarely seen ; but large and venomous spiders are common. The principal reptiles are a lizard, a tortoise, the " vivora de la cruz," a dangerous viper, so called from marks like a cross on its head, and the rattlesnake, this last in Maldonado and the stony lands of Las Minas. Popula- At the commencement of the 19th century the population of tion. Montevideo and the surrounding territory was estimated by Azara at 30,000, one-half of these being given to the city of Montevideo. This total seems not to have included what remained of the in-digenous inhabitants in the north and west, though the Indian population of the Jesuit missions before these were destroyed, about the year 1767, was known to be very numerous. But the aborigines have now completely disappeared. They have been supplanted by half-breeds, from whom the class known as gauchos are mostly re-cruited. The gauchos are now being supplanted by European im-migrants and their progeny. In 1829, the epoch of the declaration of independence, the population is stated to have numbered 74,000, and in 1852, after the great war, 131,969. In 1860 the number had risen to 221,300 and in 1873 to 450,000. Comparatively recent esti-mates place it between 450,000 and 700,000, the latest official estimate being 551,768 ; but no formal census has yet been taken. In the eighteen departments of the state the proportion of foreigners is 25'41 per cent, of the population (in the department of Monte-video 42'29 per cent, and in the others 24'66 per cent.), consisting of 39,780 Spaniards, 36,303 Italians, 20,178 Brazilians, 15,546 Argentinians, 14,375 French (principally Basques), 2772 English, 2125 Germans, and 9143 of other nations. The density of the population in the metropolitan department is 365 inhabitants per square mile ; in the whole republic it is 4'83, in the agricultural department of Canelones 27'37, and in the remote departments of Tacuarembó and Rivera about l-6. In respect of numbers the males have a slight preponderance over the females. Of the child-ren 20'23 per cent, are illegitimate, in the metropolitan depart-ment 7'73 and in the rural departments 23 '24. Illegitimate births have recently decreased, a fact which may be explained by the insti-tution of civil marriage and by the appointment of registrars in the remote country districts. Marriages take place at the rate of 6'8 per 1000. The death-rate is only 16'5 per 1000. Adminis- The country is divided into eighteen departments, of which that trative of Montevideo is the smallest, although it contains one-fourth of divisions, the total population. Adjoining this is Canelones ; and in a northerly direction are those of Florida, Durazno, Tacuarembó, and Rivera, the last-named bordering on Brazil. To the eastward on the Atlantic are Maldonado and Rocha, and north and west of these Minas, Treinta y Tres, and Cerro Largo. To the west, along the Plate and Uruguay, are San José, Colonia, Soriano, Rio Negro, and Paysandú ; and farther north towards the Brazilian frontier are
Salto and Artigas. The principal inland town is San José. The chief ports, besides Montevideo, are Salto, Paysandú, Fray Bentos, Mercedes. Colonia, and Maldonado.
More than two centuries ago the Banda Oriental was looked upon Agricul-by the Spanish colonies on the opposite banks of the Plate and ture and Uruguay as a station for the breeding of live stock and the cutting industry, of timber and firewood. And at this day, in spite of the thriving foreign trade of Montevideo, it still partakes largely of this char-acter. It boasts of 20,000,000 sheep—perhaps 14,000,000 would be nearer the mark—and 8,000,000 head of cattle. The country being in general pastoral, sheep and cattle grazing is the main occupation of the people; the sheep flourish best in the southern and western departments, whilst the principal cattle districts are towards the north and east. More than two-thirds of the public wealth, estimated variously between £80,000,000 and £120,000,000, consist of land, live stock, and rural properties. Ninety-six per cent, of the exports of the country consists of live stock and their produce—wool, hides, horus, hair, sheepskins, tallow, grease, bones, bone-ash, and jerked beef. More thtan half the fixed property and commercial capital is in the hands of foreigners. At Fray Bentos, in the department of Rio Negro, is the Liebig factory of extract of meat; at Colonia there is a branch of the River Plate Frozen Meat Company. But, apart from these, and some breweries, flour-mills, tanneries, establishments in Montevideo for the making of boots and shoes and clothing, and a few local industries, unnaturally fostered by high import duties, there are no manufactures to speak of. Agriculture is still in a promising infancy. Latterly it has made great strides ; yet the export of agricultural produce appears to be relatively insignificant. At intervals during the last twenty years agricultural settlements (colonies) have been established with great success in different departments, but principally in Colonia, where the settlers are mostly Italians and Swiss. These prosperous colonies have already in Colonia outgrown the space originally allotted ; but owing to the irregular and illegal appropriation of the public lands there is no more land to bestow on settlers, native or foreign, except at the exorbitant rates demanded by private owners and speculators.
At Cuñapirú in Tacuarembó gold was accidentally discovered in Minerals. 1842. The mines have been worked at intervals since 1867, but, partly owing to difficulties of communication, wdth indifferent suc-cess. But gold-mining seems to have lately assumed a inore hope-ful aspect, owing to the employment of improved and economical machinery introduced by a French company. The metals of Uruguay are found in two quite distinct systems of hills. The Cuñapirú mines are in the Santa Ana range, the auriferous quartz being found in thin layers embedded in rocks of red porphyry. The formation of the system in general resembles that of the gold - producing regions in Brazil, California, and Australia. The Pan de Azúcar (Sugar-Loaf Mountain), near the south coast of Maldonado, forms the extremity of a second system, which has its origin as far north as Pernambuco in Brazil; as developed in Uruguay it is Huronian, limestone and slate being superposed on the gneiss and granite. The metals of this system are principally silver, lead, copper, and an argentiferous lead, which in earlier times the Spaniards mistook for silver. Two copper mines at the foot of the Pan de Azúcar are now in active operation.
Since the beginning of the 19th century the value of the exports Com-and imports has increased twenty-fold, and wdth some relapses has merce. more than doubled in the last twenty years. In 1881 the total value was £8,116,680, and in 1885 £10,750,747. The value of the exports is always a little in excess of that of the imports. Within the last ten years the number of vessels entering the port of Montevideo has increased only about 10 per cent., whereas the total tonnage has increased 100 per cent., owing to the large ocean steamers which trade with the port or make it a place of call. A few years ago the imports from Great Britain amounted to about a third of the whole, and the exports to the same country to about one-fourth of the whole. But much of the produce from the river Plate countries in general which formerly was shipped to England or to Antwerp now goes direct to France or to Hamburg and Bremen.
Telegraph lines, with a total length of 661 miles, exist in most Commu-of the departments. Submarine cables communicate with Buenos nication. Ayres and the ports of Brazil, and thence with Europe. The rail-ways are comprehended in three main systems, the central, north-western, and eastern ; their combined length barely reaches 300 miles. There are no public roads in the country ; but communica-tion in the more inhabited parts is easily effected over the nearly level grassy plains.
The system of national education is gratuitous and compulsory. Educa.-. The number of school children is over 30,000, about 5'4 per cent, of tion. the total population. The teaching at the national schools is irre-spective of religious creed or denomination. In higher education much has yet to be accomplished. There is a school of arts and trades in the capital. The university of Montevideo, founded in 1838, numbers about 1300 students. The state religion is Roman Catholic ; but all sects enjoy complete toleration, unless a decided non-toleration of the Jesuits be regarded as an exception to the rule.
Gorrera- The legislative power of the stace rests with the general assembly,
aient, consisting of two chambers, one of senators (18) and one of repre-sentatives (51). The deputies of the lower house are elected annually and directly by the people, one deputy for every 3000 of the population, or any fraction not less than 2000. One senator is named for each department. The executive power is exercised "by the president of the republic, who is elected by the general assembly. The judicial power is vested in a superior court, com-posed of two courts of appeal, which temporarily supply the place of a supreme court of justice, not yet created.
Army The permanent army on a peace footing consists of 3260 men.
and The national guard numbers about 20,000. On an emergency the
aavy. Government could put into the field 30,000 men. The regular troops are well armed and accoutred after the European fashion. The navy consists of a few small steamers and gunboats.
ïïuaBce, The estimated revenue for 18S6-87 was £2,775,362 (about two-thirds from custom dues, the rest from taxes on property and from stamps, trade licences, &c. ). Of the estimated expenditure about two-fifths are devoted to the payment of the interest on the public debt, which in 1883 amounted to £11,127,000. On 1st July 1886 the debt was officially stated to be £14,718,089.
Jlistory. The history of Uruguay dates from 1512, when Juan Diaz de Solis entered the Paraná-guazú or "sealike" estuary of the Plate and landed about 70 miles east of the present city of Montevideo. Uruguay at that time was inhabited by Indians, of whom the dominant tribe was called Charrúas, a people described as physically strong and well-formed, and endowed with a natural nobility of character. Their habits were simple, and they were disfigured neither by the worst crimes nor by the primitive superstitions of savages. They are said to have revealed no vestiges of religion. The Charrúas are generally classified as a yellow-skinned race, of the same family as the Pampa Indians ; but they are also repre-sented as tanned almost black by the sun and air, without any admixture of red or yellow in their complexions. Almost beard-less, and wdth thin eyebrows, they had on their heads thick, black, lustrous hair, which neither fell off nor turned grey until the possessors reached the age of eighty. They lived principally upon iish, venison, and honey. In the Guarani language "Charrúa" means turbulent, and by their enemies the Charrúas were accounted as such, and even ferocious, although admitted to be generous to their captives. They were a curiously taciturn and reticent race. Their weapons were the bow and arrow and stones.
Solis, on his second visit, 1515-16, was slain by the Charrúas in Colonia. Eleven years later Ramon, the lieutenant of Sebastian Cabot, was defeated by the same tribe. In 1603 they destroyed in a pitched battle a veteran force of Spaniards under Saavedra. During the next fifty years three unsuccessful attempts were made by the Spaniards to subdue this courageous people. The real conquest of Uruguay was commenced under Philip III. by the Jesuit missions. It was gradually consummated by the military and commercial settlements of the Portuguese, and subsequently by the Spaniards, who established themselves formally in Montevideo under General Zavala in 1729, and finally demolished the rival Portuguese settle-ment in Colonia in 1777. From 1750 Montevideo enjoyed a pro-vincial government independent of that of Buenos Ayres. The American rebellion, the French Revolution, and the British invasions of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres (1806-7) under Generals Auchniuty and Whitelock all contributed to the final extinction of the Spanish power on the river Plate. During the war of independence Monte-video was taken in 1814 by the Buenos-Ayrean general Alvear. A long struggle for dominion in Uruguay between Brazil and the revolutionary Government of Buenos Ayres was concluded in 1828, through the mediation of Great Britain, Uruguay being declared a free and independent state. The republic was formally con-stituted in 1830. Subsequently Juan Manuel Rosas, dictator of Buenos Ayres, interfered in the intestine quarrels of Uruguay ; and Montevideo was besieged by his forces, allied wdth the native par-tizans of General Oribe, for nine years (1842-51). From the era of its independence to about 1870 the history of Uruguay is a long record of foreign invasions and intrigues, financial ruin, and politi-cal folly and crime.
See Album de la República Oriental del Uruguay, by F. A. Berro, A. de Vedia,
and M. de Pena (Montevideo, 1882) ; Anuario Estadístico for 1885 and preceding
years, official documents and reports published by the Government of Uruguay;
Bauza, La Dominación Española en el Uruguay (Montevideo, 1880) ; G. E. Bor-
doni, La Repubblica dell' Uruguay (Milan, 1885) ; M. G. and E. T. Malhall,
Handbook of the River Plate (London, 1885) ; The Republic of Uruguay (London,
1883); an official and statistical pamphlet by Lomba ; Reports by W. Gifford
Palgrave (18S5 and 18S7). (J. GR.)