Uruguay: Background & Geography

Introduction Uruguay
Background:
 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.
Geography Uruguay
Location:
 Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Argentina and Brazil
Geographic coordinates:
 33 00 S, 56 00 W
Map references:
 South America
Area:
 total: 176,220 sq km
land: 173,620 sq km
water: 2,600 sq km
Area - comparative:
 slightly smaller than the state of Washington
Land boundaries:
 total: 1,564 km
border countries: Argentina 579 km, Brazil 985 km
Coastline:
 660 km
Maritime claims - as described in UNCLOS 1982 (see Notes and Definitions):
 territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
contiguous zone: 24 NM
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
Climate:
 warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown
Terrain:
 mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland
Elevation extremes:
 lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m
Natural resources:
 arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries
Land use:
 arable land: 7.21%
permanent crops: 0.27%
other: 92.52% (1998 est.)
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 - current issues:
 water pollution from meat packing/tannery industry; inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal
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

See Also: