General information about Uruguay
|
|
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is named after its geographic location to the east of the Uruguay River. This geographical reason as well as historical reasons caused the Uruguayans to be called "Orientals", even though Uruguay is situated in the Western Hemisphere. The word Uruguay, coming from the Guarani language, means "river where the painted birds live"
|
|
At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional water and small river islands,[12] Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the Río de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna Merín and the Río Negro. The major internal river is the Río Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast.
The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 514 meters (1,685 ft) in the Sierra Carapé hill range. To the southwest is the Río de Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the Paraná River. A longstanding border dispute with Brazil involving territory in the north of Uruguay has not harmed close diplomatic relations with Brazil in recent years.
| |
Climate
The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters (variable weather). The predominantly gently undulating landscape is somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains to act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes.
Snow is not very common, frosts yes. One of the coldest winters (since 1951) was 2007: July averaged 7-8°C in Montevideo, and 6-7°C (42-44F) in Florida city.
National extreme temperatures sea level are, Paysandú city 44.0°C (01-20-1943) and Melo city -11.0°C (06-14-1967).[13]
|
Economy
Uruguay economy relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained more stable than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating—one of only two in South America.[14] In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America.[15]
A worsening economic condition played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt,[16] has also promised to undertake an emergency plan to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment.[17] In May 2008, the unemployment rate was below 7.2%.
|
|
|
|
|
