It is part of the Southern Cone region of South America. Uruguay covers an area of approximately , square kilometres 68, sq mi. The area that became Uruguay was first inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers 13, years ago.
The Spanish founded Montevideo as a military stronghold in the early 18th century due to competing claims over the region, while Uruguay won its independence between and , following a four-way struggle between Portugal and Spain, and later Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the first half of the 19th century.
In , Uruguay was categorized as being a "full democracy" in the The Economist Democracy Index , [ 17 ] and is highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, economic freedom, social progress, income equality , per capita income , innovation, and infrastructure. In Spanish colonial times and for some time thereafter, Uruguay and some neighboring territories were called Banda Oriental [del Uruguay] "Eastern Bank [of the Uruguay River]" , then for a few years the " Eastern Province ".
However, it is officially translated either as the " Oriental Republic of Uruguay " [ 25 ] [ 26 ] or the " Eastern Republic of Uruguay ". Uruguay was first inhabited around 13, years ago by hunter-gatherers. There is an extensive archeological collection of man-made tumuli known as " Cerritos de Indios " in the eastern part of the country, some of them dating back to 5, years ago.
Very little is known about the people who built them as they left no written record, but evidence has been found in place of pre-Columbian agriculture and of extinct pre-Columbian dogs.
