The New York Times, April 27, 1894:
NOT A BAD PLACE TO LIVE INMONTEVIDEO IS CLEAN, HEALTHY,
AND OTHERWISE ATTRACTIVE.
Picturesquely Built on the Slope of a Mountain--
A Quarantine System Which is Almost Perfect
Under the Direction of the Navy Department--
Old Broadway Cars Running on the Streets of the City.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Feb. 27.--This is known as the cleanest city in the world. It is also said to enjoy greater immunity from disease than any other city in the Western Hemisphere. It is built upon the easy-rising slope of a mount. The base of this mount is exposed, for the greater portion, to strong tidal effects, supplemented by the natural current of the Rio de la Plata River. Dirt and filth find no lodgment in the harbor of Montevideo, while in the streets one finds an absence of dirt only remarkable when compared with European and North American cities. The streets are paved with granite blocks.
The immunity enjoyed by Montevideo from contagious diseases, exposed as the city is to close relations with Brazilian ports, is mainly attributed to the rigid quarantine regulations which are enforced. It is pretty safe to say that the Montevideo authorities are better posted concerning the health of foreign ports than are the inhabitants of many of those ports...
Here in Montevideo it is possible the year round to count twenty vessels in quarantine and sometimes fifty or more.
At present Montevideo is quarantining against all South American ports to the northward of here. If the steamers of the regular lines running from Europe to the Rio de la Plata make a practice of touching at Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Santos they invariably pay the penalty on arrival at Montevideo of ten to twelve days quarantine, followed by a fumigation of passenger and crew effects...
The quarantine patrol boats are in command of Lieutenants of the Uruguayan Navy, and Surgeons of the navy constitute the members of the Quarantine Medical Board...
Next to Buenos Ayres, Montevideo imports more American manufactured goods than any other city in the world south of the equator. Valparaiso is close after Montevideo in this respect; so, also, are Rio de Janeiro and Santos.
In Montevideo one finds American street cars, American-built cabs and coaches, and considerable American machinery, particularly electric generating machines. Of late, a number of Broadway street cars have found their way to Montevideo, and Americans here have been treated to the sight of the unmistakable Broadway sign on a number of cars to which have been applied only a light paint.
It is a curious commentary in Uruguayan administration that raw material for use in manufacturing goods is taxed more heavily than the manufactured goods. The raw material for the manufacture of steam boilers is subject to a duty of about 20 per cent. Boilers imported ready for use pay a duty of about 2½ per cent. The only explanation is offered by American merchants, who declare that British influence has secured this discrimination. Whether true or not, one finds little or no manufacturing here of goods for home consumption.
A large beef extracting house has a main plant here and exports extensively, but aside from this establishment there are practically no manufactures. The business of the place is mainly the exporting of hides and the natural products of the country.
Montevideo has for many years served as a coaling station for United States ships of war. At the time of the threatened Chilean outbreak of war with the United States, a fleet of United States war vessels occupied an anchorage in Montevideo ready for a dash at the Straits of Magellan and the Chilean coal depot at Sandy Point. At present the Chilean government controls the coal output in the Straits of Magellan and supplies coal to merchant craft and men-of-war at about $21 per ton.
Among seafaring men the Rio de la Plata is termed a "blowhole." Winds, and high winds, are the rule, and the monotony is only relieved occasionally by a much stronger wind termed a pamperos. Fortunately, the bed of the Rio de la Plata furnishes an excellent holding ground. All vessels make a practice of mooring to two anchors when off Montevideo, and for precautionary reasons light yards are usually sent on deck and topgallant masts housed and jibbooms run in.
The seaport of Montevideo is protected by seawalls of enormous height in places, and this sea wall, from a distance, gives to the place the appearance of a fortified city. Lying at the docks is out of the question, and all loading and unloading is out of necessity done by lighters.
The United States corvette Yantic is doing duty here at present. She cruises between the ports of Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, Rosario, and other points. Before the Yantic's turn the Essex and the Tallapoosa did duty here. The cruise of the Yantic will end in June. The British force at Montevideo usually numbers four ships of war. Just now all the British warships in the southeast coast of South America are at Rio de Janeiro.
The Yantic has done good service in the Rio de la Plata. The little vessel is kept in excellent condition, but a new and modern typed craft is demanded in these waters. As a light draught vessel only can be expected to do efficient cruising work in the Rio de la Plata, there is needed a vessel of the type of the Machias, or of the gunboats now building at Newport News. A large draught vessel is unsuited to these waters, and such a craft cannot be expected efficiently to care for United States interests.
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The New York Times, January 7, 1883:
GOOD AND BAD WORDS FOR URUGUAY.
From the Pall Mall Gazette.
Mr. Monson, the British Chargé d'Affaires at Montevideo, gives a very checkered picture of the condition fo the Republic of Uruguay. On one side he places an extravagant and wasteful Government, a growing debt, never likely to be paid, and an Army which, small though it looks, is far too large for the necessities of the little State, and whose chief occupation is to make good government impossible...
On the other hand, and in spite of all these drawbacks, the community is advancing in prosperity... Twenty-two years ago, in 1860, the total number of live stock in Uruguay was put at 8,583,000 head, of which 3,219,000 head were beeves and 5,295,000 head sheep, the gross value being about £6,500,000; 16 years later the total number had increased to 19,191,000, of which 6,092,000 head were beeves and 12,190,000 head sheep.
This seem to be the highest total reached, and that for 1880 is a trifle smaller, only 18,059,000 all told. But this includes nearly 7,000,000 head of breeding cattle and oxen, and the value of the whole is placed at about £11,250,000...
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see also: Brazil News - Argentina News - Chile News - Paraguay News
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All of Uruguay
is one time zone at GMT-3,
with no Daylight Savings time.
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Uruguay News
Oriental Republic of Uruguay: Montevideo, founded by the Spanish in 1726 as a military stronghold, soon took advantage of its natural harbor to become an important commercial center. Claimed by Argentina but annexed by Brazil in 1821, Uruguay declared its independence four years later and secured its freedom in 1828 after a three-year struggle.
The administrations of President Jose BATLLE in the early 20th century established widespread political, social, and economic reforms that established a statist tradition. A violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement named the Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to cede control of the government to the military in 1973. By year's end, the rebels had been crushed, but the military continued to expand its hold over the government.
Civilian rule was not restored until 1985. In 2004, the left-of-center Frente Amplio Coalition won national elections that effectively ended 170 years of political control previously held by the Colorado and Blanco parties.
The left-of-center retained the presidency and control of both chambers of congress until 2019. Uruguay's political and labor conditions are among the freest on the continent.
CIA World Factbook: Uruguay
Area of Uruguay:
176,220 sq km slightly smaller than the state of Washington
Population of Uruguay:
3,460,607 July 2007 estimate
Languages of Uruguay:
Spanish, Portunol or Brazilero
Portuguese-Spanish mix near Brazil border
Uruguay Capital:
Montevideo
MONTEVIDEO WEATHER
Uruguay Reference Articles and Links
Wikipedia: Uruguay - History of Uruguay
BBC Country Profile: Uruguay
US State Department: Uruguay Profile
Embassy of Uruguay, Washington, D.C.
WikiTravel: Uruguay
Uruguay News Websites
El Pais in Spanish
Observa in Spanish
La Republica in Spanish
Monte Carlo TV 4 in Spanish
ABYZ: Uruguay News Links
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