Southern Cone Under the
British
Montevideo
Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay, having 1,725,000 people in its metropolitan area in Auchmuty-Whitelocke World (AWW). It casts a very big shadow over all of Uruguay, having about a third of the country’s population; Uruguay feels kind of like a city-state in this sense. Certainly, it dominates the whole country economically and culturally as well as politically, and the vast majority of non-British and non-Spanish peoples in the country live in Montevideo. Being not as big as Buenos Aires, it does not spread out as much as Buenos Aires; it is also less flat, what with the Montevideo Hill looming across from downtown and the old port. Juan de Solis certainly saw it this way when he first spotted the area in the 1510s. The local area code for calling is 02, within the +598 country code.
The city was founded in 1726 as a Spanish reaction to Portuguese incursions into the Uruguay area – to counter the influence of Colonia do Sacramento, across the River Plate from Buenos Aires. When the city was conquered by the British in early 1807, they immediately took control of the city after just one fight. From that time onwards, Montevideo has been a predominantly British city, and has emerged as the centre of first the Uruguay Colony, then the Dominion of Uruguay, and now the Republic of Uruguay. In 1928, there was the Uruguay Centennial International Exposition, to commemorate the centennial of the Uruguay Colony's formation. Centennial Stadium was built for that purpose. The city hosted the 1958 Commonwealth Games, along with the 1984 Summer Olympic Games; Montevideo co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games with Stoke Mandeville, England.
Montevideo is not as ethnically or linguistically diverse as Buenos Aires, but there are still lots of cultures in the city. First of all, English-speakers make up 69.5% of the population of the Montevideo area, while Spanish-speakers (at 13%) and alloparlants (17.5%) make up the rest – though many are fluently bilingual in English and Spanish nowadays. Among virtually every single ethnic group that is not American Indian, British, or Spanish, almost all of its Uruguayan inhabitants live in Montevideo. There are modest Japanese, Korean, and Chinese communities in the city, with a small Chinatown. You have 250,000 or so Italians in the city, along with 46,500 Jews, 15,000 Armenians and Greeks each, and some Arabs also. Montevideo has attracted some recent immigrants from Asia and Africa, though not as much as Buenos Aires. The city has also drawn a large number of Brazilian and Paraguayan immigrants, some legally but many illegally. The city is home to various religious groups, as well as a large secular and atheist population. The people in Montevideo are known as Montevideans in English, and as montevideanos in Spanish.
The city is the leading transportation centre of Uruguay. It is served by Carrasco International Airport, which handles the vast majority of international flights to and from Uruguay. The port near downtown is a major terminal for freight to be exported or imported, as well as for ship passengers and the ferries to Argentina, such as Shipbus. The train station is the Hardy Central Station, and the bus station is Crosston (at Hardy Blvd. and Itford Ave.). Public transit within Montevideo includes a city bus network, plus two metro lines and two light rail lines (all opened in 1984), and two commuter rail lines (opened in 1995).
There is a fair share of tourist attractions in Montevideo. Probably the number one draw is Commonwealth Square (formerly Britannia Square), site of the Hardy Memorial, the Citadel Gate, and the Salford Building (26-story art-deco building from 1927). To the right is the busiest thoroughfare in the city – Houlihan Avenue. Nearby sites include the Solis Theatre, Montevideo’s leading theatre, and Victoria Square, with the Municipal Archive/Historical Museum and Iglesia Matriz. As well, there is the sleek and new 35-story NTA Tower, one of the tallest in Uruguay. The most prominent Protestant cathedrals in the city are Holy Trinity (Anglican) and Saint Andrew’s (Presbyterian).
The leading museums in Montevideo other than those already mentioned include the National Historical Museum, National Museum of Plastic and Visual Arts, Museum of the Gaucho and Coins, and the Museum of Decorative Arts. Others include the Pedagogical Museum, the Automobile Museum, the Military Museum, and the Blane Museum of Arts (the latter in the suburb of Meadowbrook). Some politically-oriented attractions are the Legislative Building (aka the Parliament Building - at the north end of Campbell Ave.), President's House (formerly Government House) near Meadowbrook), and the Surrey Residence (where the Prime Minister lives) in Meadowbrook. Other attractions consist of Montevideo Hill (132 metres above sea level), the Port Market (at the foot of Percy St.), and the Rambla (coastal promenade - often known in English as the Rambla Promenade).
Some of the main celebrations are Carnaval (February and/or March), the Uruguay International Film Festival (in April), the International Festival of Children's Cinema (in July), the Montevideo Fringe Festival, and the Shakespeare Festival.
In Montevideo, the favourite sports (in descending order) are cricket, rugby, soccer, and basketball. The leading cricket teams are the Montevideo Cricket Club and the Wanderers, and the top rugby teams are the River Plate Rugby Club and the Bellevue Rugby Club. As far as soccer is concerned, it is played at Centennial Stadium, and is represented by the National Club of football (traditionally angloparlant), Club Atletico Peñarol, and Defensor Sporting Club (both hispanoparlant) teams. Horse racing is also very popular in the city, like elsewhere in the River Plate area; the main racetrack is Marion Entertainment, formerly the Marion Racetrack. Montevideo offers a lot of golf too, with the most prestigious courses being the Uruguay Golf Club (formerly the Montevideo Golf Club) and the Hill Golf Club.
As well as being the capital, Montevideo is the top financial centre on the east bank of the River Plate. It is headquarters to most Uruguayan banks and other financial institutions, plus has the Montevideo Stock Exchange (with the Top 150 Index). As well, the city and its region has most of the industries in Uruguay, including heavy manufacturing as well as high-tech. Some workers are attracted to Uruguay, mostly from lower-income countries in South America, but many more emigrate to Argentina, especially Buenos Aires. Uruguay, including Montevideo, is also a major offshore financial centre, owing to greater financial and political stability in Uruguay than anywhere else on the continent except Argentina, plus more honest financial dealings than even Argentina and certainly elsewhere on the continent.
As mentioned earlier, the main theatre in Montevideo is the Solis Theatre, which has concerts, ballet, operas, and plays. Classical music and ballet are world-class in Montevideo as well as Buenos Aires; the best classical music orchestras are the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Montevideo Symphony Orchestra) and the UBC/EDREU Radio Orchestra, with the best ballet company being the Montevideo Chamber Ballet. Other such companies include the Ars Musicae Chamber Orchestra and the Montevideo Baroque Orchestra. Also, there are ballet, chorus, and chamber music groups under the auspices of the UBC (Uruguayan Broadcasting Corporation).
There is plenty of shopping at places like the Punta Carretas, Carrasco Doors, and Wells Shopping Centres, plus at the Port Market and the Nalley Fair (both large outdoor markets in downtown).
Hospitals in Montevideo, like in much of the Southern Cone, are divided along linguistic lines. The main Spanish-language hospital is the Hospital Maciel, while angloparlant hospitals include the Prince Albert Memorial Hospital, the Montevideo General Hospital, and the Jewish Hospital of Uruguay.
The main newspapers in Montevideo (and Uruguay in general) are the English-language Star and Country, the Spanish-language El Diario, and the bilingual financial daily Economic Observer/Observador Económico (i.e. one edition in English, the other in Spanish). There was once another angloparlant daily – The Montevideo Daily – but that folded in the early 1990s.
Education is divided mainly between English and Spanish schools, with a handful of parochial/ethnic schools. There are over 15 English-language private schools in Montevideo; they include Webster Academy, Uruguay Preparatory School, Saint Andrew’s School, Saint Patrick’s College, Wells Day School, Saint George’s School, River Plate Collegiate, Stella Maris College, and Lester House College. Options for higher education include the University of Montevideo (founded in 1849), Drysdale University (1894), the Institute of Advanced Studies (scientific, 1931), and the Labour University of Uruguay (1878) on the English side; and Universidad de la República (formerly Universidad del Dominio, 1905) and Universidad Católica de Uruguay (1985) on the Spanish side. The University of Montevideo and the Universidad de la República are the most prestigious universities on each side. Angloparlant liberal-arts colleges in Montevideo are Doogan and Brickdale Colleges.
Montevideo is the home of a very vibrant gay community, the biggest in the Southern Cone after Buenos Aires. It has a much bigger such community than other Southern Cone cities of similar size, because the political climate in Uruguay is incredibly liberal, much more so than in Argentina. In fact, it ranks up there with Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro on the South American gay scene. Montevideo has a very big gay pride parade every year, as well as a host of gay bars, nightclubs, bathhouses, and the like.
Luxury hotels include the Radisson Victoria Plaza (the most important), the London Palace Hotel, Balmoral Plaza Hotel, Ambassador Hotel, and the Lafayette Hotel.
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Nearby
East of Montevideo is a string of internationally known beach resorts, collectively referred to as the Uruguayan Riviera, much of which is in Maldonado County. First of all, there is Atlantic Beach, in Canelones County; these and other resorts within Canelones County are collectively known as the Gold Coast.
Further down is Piriapolis. Named after the businessman Francis Piria and 100 kilometres from Montevideo, it is an old-fashioned beach resort, with the leading hotel being the Argentino Hotel. Nearby hills include English Hill (aka Mount San Antonio) and Sugarloaf Hill (at 493 metres above sea level, one of Uruguay’s highest points).
Thirty kilometres further east is the fanciest resort in Uruguay (and possibly the Southern Cone as a whole), East Point. In Spanish, it is known as Punta del Este. A place to see and be seen, it caters especially to Argentine vacationers, and is also home to lots of international banks. Hotels and casinos, the fanciest of which is the Conrad Hotel and Casino, are in the north side; the south side is exclusively residential. Situated on a peninsula, East Point is blessed with many beaches; among them, Mansa Beach is on the west side (with a yacht harbour just below), English Beach is in the southeast, and Emir and Wild Beaches are further northeast. Among other festivals there is the East Point International Jazz Festival.
Near East Point are Goreham Island, home to the ruins of the Santa Ana Batteries, and Wolf Island, home to 200,000 Southern sea lions. It is in this area that the River Plate meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Also in the vicinity of East Point is the town of Maldonado, population 40,000, where the British invaded in 1807 along with Montevideo and Buenos Aires. For many purposes, Maldonado and East Point have practically merged. In the centre of Maldonado is San Fernando Square, with Maldonado Cathedral (Catholic) and Saint John the Divine Church (Anglican), along with the Mazzoni Museum. Other museums in the area are the Ardleigh Didactic Museum and the McGreevey Museum (specializing in art). The street layout is made up of grids in the centre but becomes irregular as one approaches East Point to the south. Festivals taking place there include the Maldonado-East Point Shakespeare Festival. Hospitals include the hispanoparlant Hospital Maldonado and the angloparlant Maldonado County General Hospital.
Around East Point and Maldonado, in Whale Point, is the Casa Pueblo (or People’s House), which was whimsically created by Carlos Páez Vilaró.
To the east of East Point/Maldonado, the beach town of La Paloma is similar to East Point, except much quieter. Its main attractions include the Cape Santa Maria Lighthouse, along with Cape Polonio (one of Uruguay’s wildest areas, with sand dunes, seals, and penguins). Close by is Santa Teresa National Park.
Much of the information on this page, especially about the tourist attractions, shopping, hospitals, theatres, and hotels, is derived from the Lonely Planet Guide - Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, Lonely Planet Publications, 4th edition, 2002, and other sources, and is altered for AWW conditions.
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