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Uruguay From Insurrection to State Organization, 1820-30
Following its independence from Portugal in 1822,
Brazil was
confronted by unrest in the Banda Oriental. On April 19,
1825, a
group of Uruguayan revolutionaries (the famous
Thirty-Three
Heroes) led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, reinforced by
Argentine
troops, crossed the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires and
organized an insurrection that succeeded in gaining
control over
the countryside. On August 25, 1825, in a town in the
liberated
area, representatives from the Banda Oriental declared the
territory's independence from Brazil and its incorporation
into
the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. Brazil declared
war on
them. The ensuing conflict lasted from December 1825 to
August
1828.
In 1828 Lord John Ponsonby, envoy of the British
Foreign
Office, proposed making the Banda Oriental an independent
state.
Britain was anxious to create a buffer state between
Argentina
and Brazil to ensure its trade interests in the region.
With
British mediation, Brazil and Argentina signed the Treaty
of
Montevideo at Rio de Janeiro on August 27, 1828, whereby
Argentina and Brazil renounced their claims to the
territories
that would become integral parts of the newly independent
state
on October 3. However, Argentina and Brazil retained the
right to
intervene in the event of a civil war and to approve the
constitution of the new nation.
Argentine and Brazilian troops began their withdrawal,
while
a constituent assembly drew up the constitution of the new
country, created its flag and coat of arms, and enacted
legislation. The constitution was approved officially on
July 18,
1830, after having been ratified by Argentina and Brazil.
It
established a representative unitary republic--the
República
Oriental del Uruguay (Oriental Republic of Uruguay), the
word
oriental (eastern) representing the legacy of the
original
designation of the territory as the Banda Oriental. The
constitution restricted voting, made Roman Catholicism the
official religion, and divided the territory into nine
administrative jurisdictions known as departments
(see Constitutional Background
, ch. 4).
Data as of December 1990
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