Introduction
A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement, the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to agree to military control of his administration in 1973. By yearend, the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold throughout the government. Civilian rule was not restored until 1985. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest on the continent.
Location
Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Argentina and Brazil
Geographic coordinates
33 00 S, 56 00 W
Area
total: 176,220 sq km
land: 173,620 sq km
water: 2,600 sq km
Land boundaries
total: 1,564 km
border countries: Argentina 579 km, Brazil 985 km
Maritime claims
territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
contiguous zone: 24 NM
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
Natural resources
arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries
Irrigated land
1,800 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards
seasonally high winds (the pampero is a chilly and occasional violent wind which blows north from the Argentine pampas), droughts, floods; because of the absence of mountains, which act as weather barriers, all locations are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts
Environment - international agreements
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note
second-smallest South American country (after Suriname); most of the low-lying landscape (three-quarters of the country) is grassland, ideal for cattle and sheep raising
Population
3,399,237 (July 2004 est.)