The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrua, a small tribe driven south by the Guaraní of Paraguay. There have also been identified examples of ancient rock art, at locations such as Chamangá, and elsewhere.
The Spanish arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in 1516, but the people's fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Soriano on the Río Negro. In 1669-71, the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold.
In 1811, José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolt against Spain, defeating them on May 18. The Portuguese forces, thanks to their numerical and material superiority, occupied Montevideo on January 20, 1817, and finally after a struggle for three years in the countryside, defeated Artigas. In 1821, the Provincia Oriental del Río de la Plata (present-day Uruguay), was annexed by Brazil.
Only in 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state.
Regional strife continued for several decades, as Uruguay's two major political parties emerged. The liberally inclined Colorado Party, associated with Montevideo's business owners, and the right-wing National Party, representing rural interests, came to be known as Colorados ('Reds') and Blancos ('Whites') – terms that survive to this day. The Great War of 1843-52 and the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) pitted the two parties against one another, prompting continued interventions by Argentina and Brazil until the Blancos and Colorados finally reached a stable power-sharing agreement in 1872.
In the late 19th century, an influx of immigrants helped transform Uruguay into an agricultural powerhouse. Under the progressive Colorado administrations of José Batlle y Ordonez between 1903 and 1915, Uruguay established Latin America's first welfare state, gave women the vote and abolished both the death penalty and the link between church and state.
As the 20th century progressed, Uruguay's economic fortunes deteriorated, sparking student and labour unrest followed by a suspension of civil liberties and a period of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s. Civilian rule resumed in 1985, accompanied by the ascendancy of the Frente Amplio, a leftist coalition that since 2005 has become Uruguay's first successful third party under Presidents Tabaré Vazquez and José Mujica.
