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History
The oldest human remains probably date back to 15000 - 9000 BC. These are remains of 'Homo Catalanien', found in the North of Uruguay, in the department of Artigas
The indians of Uruguay were i.e. the Charrúa, people of hunters, fishers and gatherers. They were very hostile towards the Spanish invaders and conquistadores and lived through the Spanish occupation until the 19th century and even played an important role in the battle of independence.
Charrúa
Other tribes that lived in these regions during the Spanish occupation were the Chaná and the Guaraní.They swiftly disappeared after the Spanish colonised the land. Estimates are, that around 1500 during first contact with Europeans, there lived around 9.000 Charrúa and 6.000 Chaná en Guaraní in Uruguay. There were three probable causes why the indian population disappeared from Uruguay:
In 1840 there lived only about 18 Charrúa in Uruguay.
The territory that nowadays is called Republic of Uruguay has been discovered by Juan Diaz de Solis in 1516, leader of the Spanish expedition which, in search for a route to India through the New Continent, sailed up the Rio de la Plata. Because of the presence of inhibitants at the shore, he decided to go ashore. He was killed instantly. Then, and through the entire time of conquests, the indians gave fierce resistance. That why Uruguayans today proudly call themselves "Charruas", in remembrance of the tameless spirit and the total denial to surrender to the invasion, fought by the tribe which lived in the South of Uruguay.
It took a long time to conquer to total territory. Not only because the fierce resistane of the indians, but also because of the lack of interest of the Europeans who did not find the precious metals which they found in Peru. In 1617 Hernando Arias de Saavedra (Hernandarias), gouvenor of the region Rio de la Plata, realised that the regions real asset were the vast grasslands and the inexhaustible supply of water, together with the relative flat landscape and great climate. Alltogether an optimal combination for cattle. It was the gouvenor himself who introduced 'bovines' for the first time. They bread amazingly fast, occupying all the territory giving the basis for the future economy. Later England and Portugal got jealous at this flourishing Spanish colony.
Through the years the descendants of the first colonists - criollos - felt restricted in there freedom under the Spanish Autority, which denied them own government and prohibited the advantages of a growing economy and improving social status. Slowly, and under the influence of the American and French revolutions, this unhappiness lead to a revolutionairy movement which erupted in 1811. Then Jose Gervasio Artigas, a military officer who got popular and became leader of the revolution, stood up. His ideas about independence, republic and democracy gave him the status of one of the greatest Heads of State of the American continent.
These irregularities took several years, first against the Spanish, who after a series of victories were defeated in 1814, and then against the Portugese. Betrayed by several allies Artigas stayed the rest of his life in Paraguay, where he died far from the battlefields. But the patriotic flame he had lit, was reborn in the harts of 33 men who, led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, started a crusade for the liberation, supported by the entire population. This led to the Declaration of Independence in 1825 and the creation of the state Uruguay in 1828.
In 1830 the first Constitution was proclaimed and general Fructuoso Rivera was chosen to be the first President. During the first years of it's existence the new state had, like almost all other American countries, to cope with large difficulties, like maintaining internal stability and peace, development of the economy and solving a large number of international problems. But with time passing the country became more stable and started to flourish in all areas, reaching its peak at the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth century. At that point in time a very progressive social system was introduced, and production was promoted so that the national currency became stronger than the US dollar. At cultural level, people stood up who became world famous.
This strong economical and social situation made it possible that Uruguay could stand the crisis of 1929 without serious difficulties which were influencing the rest of the world.
The second World War mainly went by without any turmoil for Uruguay; it was involved in only one episode, 'the Battle of the River Plate' which resulted in sinking the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
The output of Uruguay's traditional products - meat, leather and wool - continued untill after the Korean War (1950-54), holding up the stability of the country.
The following period a serious crisis arose, sparing none of the sectors of the Uruguayan economy. This lead to stagnation of production, growing foreign debts, uncontrolled intervention of the State and paternalism, an unproportional growth of bureaucraty and permanent inflation. The social consequences were unempolyment, unrest under workers and students, constants strikes, growing aggression and social and economic turmoil.
In 1973, amidst the growing economic and political unrest, the army took over government and started a civil-militar regime. A new constitution, writen by the army, was denied by referendum in 1980. Following this, negotiations were started with representatives of the political parties and a plan was developed to transfer the regime to a civil government. National elections were held in november 1984 and november 1989.
The political process has strengened itself and Uruguay has returned to a tradiontal system of freedom and constitutional government. The last elections were held in november 1999 and november 2004. During the last elections of november 2004 the everlasting political two party system between the Blancos and the Colorados was broken by the Frente Amplio, which received a large mayority of the support of the people.
