1. Urugauy Tre Tipton

2. Colonial de Sacremento: 1680

3. Portugal

4. Capital City: Montevideo

5. Spain 18th Century

6. Colonization Tensions arose as the three powers Spain, Portugal and the British fought for control over the surrounding territory of Brazil In 1807, in an attempt by the British army to seize Montevideo, it was occupied for six months by Britain

7. Struggle for Independence 1811 Jose Gervasio Artigas launched a revolt against the Spanish The revolution was successful as they defeated them on May 18 th at the Battle of Las Pierdras

8. Struggle for Independence 1816 about 10,000 Portuguese troops invaded and took Montevideo in January of 1817. After about 4 more years of colonization, Brazil gained independence from Portugal and founded a province called Cisplatina. After the 500 day long Cisplatine War, Uruguay was granted its independence in the 1828 Treaty of Montevideo

9. Conflicts after Independence Following independence, tensions rose in Uruguay between the two political parties: the Blancos and the Colorados Blancos represented the agricultural interests of the country while the Colorados focused more on the business interests of Montevideo

10. Guerra Grande As the conflict continued between the two, Rivera the leader of the Colorados, declared war on Oribe the Blancos leader The war lasted thirteen years and took the name Guerra Grande, for the Great War

11. Post Guerra Grande After the war, there was a huge rise in the number of immigrants primarily from Italy and Spain By 1879 the total population of the country was over 438,000

12. Uruguay’s Motto “Libertad o Muerte”

13. Montevideo Became a major economic center of the area

14. Uruguay Today Is a representative democratic republic with a presidential system. Members of government are elected for a five year term by a universal suffrage. Is a unitary state: justice, education, health, security, foreign policy and defense are all administered nationwide

15. Uruguay Today Cont’d Adopted its current constitution in 1967, where many of its provisions were suspended in 1973 and re-established in 1985 The Uruguayan Constitution also allows citizens to repeal laws or to change the constitution by popular initiative which culminates into a nation wide referendum

16. Economically Today Uruguay is one of the most economically developed countries in South America with a high GDP per capita and the 48 th highest Human Development Index in the world