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Uruguay Evolution of the Economy and Society
After the Great War, immigration increased, primarily
from
Spain and Italy. Brazilians and Britons also flocked to
Uruguay
to snap up hundreds of estancias (ranches). The
proportion
of the immigrant population in Uruguay rose from 48
percent in
1860 to 68 percent in 1868. Many were Basques of Spanish
or
French nationality. In the 1870s, another 100,000
Europeans
settled in Uruguay. By 1879 the total population of the
country
was over 438,000. Montevideo, where approximately
one-fourth of
the population lived, expanded and improved its services.
Gas
services were initiated in 1853, the first bank in 1857,
sewage
works in 1860, a telegraph in 1866, railroads to the
interior in
1869, and running water in 1871. The creation in 1870 of
the
typographers' union, the first permanent workers'
organization,
was soon followed by the establishment of other unions.
Montevideo remained mainly a commercial center. Thanks to
its
natural harbor, it was able to serve as a trade center for
goods
moving to and from Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. The
cities of
Paysandú and Salto, on the Río Uruguay, complemented this
role.
After the Great War, livestock raising recovered and
prospered. Improvements in breeding techniques and fencing
were
introduced, and between 1860 and 1868 sheep breeding,
stimulated
by European demand, expanded from 3 million head to 17
million
head. A group of modernizing hacendados (landowners), a
large
number of whom were foreigners, was responsible for this
change.
In 1871 they established the Rural Association (Asociación
Rural)
to improve livestock-raising techniques. The association
developed a reputation for defending rural traditions and
exerting considerable influence on policy makers.
Meat-salting enterprises were the main stimulus for the
industrialization of livestock products. In 1865 the
Liebig Meat
Extract Company of London opened a meat-extract factory at
Fray
Bentos on the Río Uruguay to supply the European armies,
thus
initiating diversification in the sector. This type of
meat
processing, however, was dependent on cheap cattle. As the
price
of cattle increased, the meat-extract industry declined,
along
with the saladeros, which prepared salted and
sun-dried
meat. Cuba and Brazil were the main purchasers of salted
meat;
Europe, of meat extract; and the United States and Europe,
of
leather and wool.
Data as of December 1990
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