Small
Country, Rich History
 The
first explorers to what is now Uruguay were Spanish arrived in
the very early 1500's. It was quickly apparant that there were
no precious metals in the area and the local indians were very
hostile. It was not for another hundred years before a permanent
European settlement was in place. The first was in what is now
Colonia and was founded by the Portuguese in an attempt to rival
the Spanish in Buenos Aires. In the early 1700's Spain responded
to this threat by founding Montevideo, which became a very important
commercial port.
Please note
that additional info (prices, activities, etc) are found to the
right of this pages. 
 For
a period of time the area that today is Uruguay was part of a
political and miltary tug of war between the Spanish and Portuguese.
Jose Artigas declared Uruguay to be independent in 1815. Shortly
afterwards Brazil attacked and after a number of years of fighting,
Uruguay was annexed into Brazil in 1821. Hostilities continued
and this brought Argentina and Brazil into conflict as well. Hostilities
ran from 1825 through 1828. At that time the British helped put
together a peace treaty between Argentina and Brazil that also
ended up guaranteeing Uruguay's independence.
In the mid 1800's two political (warring) factions
emerged that have evolved into today two modern political parties,
the Blancos and the Colorados. Uruguay has been plagued by civil
war, dictatorships and economic instability. However in the early
1900's under Jose Batlle y Ordonez things began to take a turn
for the better.
In 1984 Julio Maria Sanguinetti became president
and his government embraced democratic traditions and worked hard
to reconcile the differences between the two political parties.
While economically Uruguay has still experienced
problems, today the politics are stable enough so that economic
progress is on the rise. Today Uruguay has one of the freest political
environments in South America.
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