historical information
From Discovery to Independence
The pre-Colombian era
1816
A territory inhabited by indigenous tribes with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
The Portuguese founded the fortified port of Colonia del Sacramento opposite the city of Buenos Aires.
1516
1723
Juan Díaz de Solís, a Spaniard, arrived in the Rio de la Plata and called it ‘Mar Dulce’, or Sweetwater Sea.
The Spanish founded the fortified port of Montevideo, a city officially established in 1726 by don Bruno Mauricio de Zabala.
1820
1777
Second stage of the revolution –now against the Portuguese-Brazilian Empire– led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Fructuoso Rivera.
1527 Sebastian Cabot founded the first fortified camp on the eastern coast of the Rio de la Plata.
1624 Jesuit missionaries established a mission town on the shores of the Negro River, and named it Santo Domingo de Soriano. xvi
Century
The first contingents of cattle and horses were introduced during the sixteenth century. They multiplied rapidly and spread throughout the territory, becoming the source of the country’s future wealth.
1680 Struggles begin between the Spanish and the Portuguese for dominion over what was known as the ‘Banda Oriental’, or Eastern Coast.
The first viceroy of the Rio de la Plata, Pedro de Cevallos, captured Colonia del Sacramento and the southern half of present-day Uruguay passed into Spanish hands. Armed confrontation persisted between Spain and Portugal in the north.
1810 Estallido de la revolución en Buenos Aires, extensión de la misma a la Banda Orientalbajo el liderazgo de José Artigas.
1814 General José Artigas, appointed Leader of the Oriental People and Protector of the Free Peoples, promoted federalism and rose against the centralist government of Buenos Aires.
The Portuguese invaded the Banda Oriental, calling themselves the ‘Peacekeeping Army’. Military defeat of Artigas, who retreated to Paraguay.
1823
1825 Declaration of Independence from Brazil and Portugal on 25 August.
1830 On 18 July, the elected Assembly adopted the Constitution of the new country, now officially known as the ‘Oriental State of Uruguay’. In 1919, the country changed its name definitively to the ‘Oriental Republic of Uruguay’.
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