Uruguay is a small, calm country in the southeast of South America, tucked between Argentina and Brazil. To the south lies the wide Río de la Plata, and to the southeast the Atlantic Ocean. There are no high mountains: the land is mostly rolling grassland and low hills called cuchillas, and the highest point is only about 514 m. It is the only country in South America that lies entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn, so it has four real seasons.
The Charrúa and other peoples lived here long before Europeans arrived. The Portuguese founded Colonia del Sacramento in 1680 and the Spanish founded Montevideo as a fortress in the 1720s, and the two empires fought over the land for a century. After the struggles led by José Gervasio Artigas, the national hero, Uruguay became independent in 1828 and adopted its first constitution in 1830. Large waves of immigrants, above all from Spain and Italy, shaped its food and its way of speaking.
Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.
Uruguay's story runs from hunter-gatherers and mound builders, through a long tug of war between Spain and Portugal, to independence in 1828 and a wave of European immigration. In the early 1900s it became known for bold social reforms and was called the 'Switzerland of the Americas'. A civic-military dictatorship ruled from 1973 to 1985; since then Uruguay has been one of the most stable democracies in Latin America.
The navigator Juan Díaz de Solís, sailing for Spain, reached the wide estuary later called the Río de la Plata and is said to be the first European to land in what is now Uruguay. He and several of his men were killed soon after going ashore. At that time the Charrúa, the Chaná and some Guaraní groups lived in the region.
In 1724 the Spanish governor Bruno Mauricio de Zabala drove a small Portuguese garrison away from the bay of Montevideo and began to settle the site, first with families from Buenos Aires and then from the Canary Islands. His diary gives 24 December 1726 as the date of the city's founding. Its fine natural harbour soon made it a rival to Buenos Aires.
In April 1825 a small band of exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, the Thirty-Three Orientals, crossed the Uruguay River to free the land from Brazil, which had annexed it as the province of Cisplatina. On 25 August 1825 independence was declared, and 25 August is Uruguay's Independence Day.
On 18 July 1830 the new Oriental State of Uruguay adopted its first constitution. It divided power between a president, a two-chamber General Assembly and the courts. Montevideo's main avenue, 18 de Julio, is named after this date.
In July 1927 women were allowed to vote in a local plebiscite in the small town of Cerro Chato. It is remembered as the first time women cast votes in Uruguay. A decree of 1932 gave women the vote nationally, and they took part in a national election for the first time in 1938.
On 16 July 1950 Uruguay met host country Brazil in the deciding match of the World Cup at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, in front of at least 173,850 people. Brazil needed only a draw, but Uruguay won 2 to 1, one of the greatest upsets in football history, and took its second world title.
In November 1980 the regime put a new constitution, drafted by the military, to a referendum. Uruguayans voted it down. After this defeat the armed forces announced a plan to return the country to civilian rule.
In December 2013, under President José Mujica, Uruguay passed a law to regulate the growing, sale and use of cannabis, making it the first country in modern times to legalise it fully. The aim was to take the trade away from criminal gangs. Same-sex marriage was also legalised in 2013.
Cook one of the recipes, print the large-print pack about Uruguay, and finish with the big-screen quiz or the words crossword. Grandchildren can colour the flag.
