The country name of Uruguay derives from the namesake Río Uruguay, from the indigenous Guaraní language. There are several interpretations, including "bird-river" ("the river of the urú", via Charruan, urú being a

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Pre-colonial
Uruguay was first inhabited around 13,000 years ago by hunter-gatherers. It is estimated that at the time of the first contact with Europeans in the 16th century there were about 9,000 Charrúa and 6,000 Chanáand

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With 176,214 km (68,037 sq mi) of continental land and 142,199 km (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional water and small river islands, Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation

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Uruguay experienced a major economic and financial crisis between 1999 and 2002, principally a spillover effect from the economic problems of Argentina

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Uruguayans are of predominantly European origin, with over 87.7% of the population claiming European descentin the 2011 census. Most

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Uruguayan culture is strongly European and its influences from southern Europe are particularly important. The tradition of the gaucho has been an important element in the art and folklore of both Uruguay and Argentina.
Visual arts

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Uruguay is a representative democratic republic with a presidential system. The members of government are elected for a five-year term by a universal suffrage system. Uruguay is a unitary state: justice, education, health, security, foreign policy and defense are all

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