Editing History of Uruguay (section)

==Colonization==
{{Main|Banda Oriental}}
[[File:Südamerika1754.png|thumbnail|right|Spanish and Portuguese control of South America in 1754&nbsp;CE]]
During the colonial era, the present-day territory of Uruguay was known as [[Banda Oriental]] (east bank of [[River Uruguay]]) and was a buffer territory between the competing colonial pretensions of [[Colonial Brazil|Portuguese Brazil]] and the [[Spanish Empire]]. The [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese]] first explored the region of present-day Uruguay in 1512–1513.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bethell |first=Leslie |title=The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 1, Colonial Latin America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |location=Cambridge |page=257}}</ref>

The first European explorer to land there was [[Juan Díaz de Solís]] in 1516, but he was killed by natives. [[Ferdinand Magellan]] anchored at the future site of Montevideo in 1520. [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]] in 1526 explored [[Río de la Plata]], but no permanent settlements were established at that time. The absence of gold and silver limited the settlement of the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1603, cattle and horses were introduced by the order of [[Hernando Arias de Saavedra]], and, by the mid-17th century, their number had greatly multiplied. The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by Spanish [[Jesuit]]s in 1624 at [[Villa Soriano]] on the [[Río Negro (Uruguay)|Río Negro]], where they tried to establish a [[Misiones Orientales]] system for the Charrúas.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}
[[File:D._Lu%C3%ADs_da_Cunha_-_Memórias_da_Paz_de_Utrecht_(Biblioteca_Nacional_de_Portugal)_(cropped).png|thumb|left|Diplomat [[Luís da Cunha]] negotiated Portugal's annexation of [[Uruguay]] at the [[Congress of Utrecht]] in 1713–15.]] 
In 1680, Portuguese colonists established [[Colonia del Sacramento|Colônia do Sacramento]] on the northern bank of La Plata river, on the opposite coast from [[Buenos Aires]]. Spanish colonial activity increased as Spain sought to limit [[Portugal]]'s expansion of [[Brazil]]'s frontiers. In 1726, the Spanish established [[Montevideo|San Felipe de Montevideo]] on the northern bank and its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with [[Buenos Aires]]. They also moved to capture Côlonia del Sacramento. The 1750 [[Treaty of Madrid (13 January 1750)|Treaty of Madrid]] secured Spanish control over Banda Oriental, settlers were given land here and a local cabildo was created.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

In 1776, the new [[Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata]] was established with its capital at Buenos Aires, and it included the territory of Banda Oriental. By this time, the land had been divided among cattle ranchers, and beef was becoming a major product. By 1800, more than 10,000 people lived in Montevideo and another 20,000 in the rest of the province. Out of these, about 30 percent were African slaves.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ciferri|first=Alberto|title=An Overview of Historical and Socio-economic Evolution in the Americas|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2019|isbn=978-1-5275-3513-8|location=United Kingdom|pages=483}}</ref>

Uruguay's early 19th-century history was shaped by an ongoing conflict between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and local colonial forces for dominance of the La Plata Basin. In 1806 and 1807, during the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)]], the British [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata|launched invasions]]. Buenos Aires was taken in 1806 and then liberated by forces from Montevideo led by [[Santiago de Liniers]]. In a new and stronger British attack in 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force. The British forces were unable to invade Buenos Aires for the second time, however, and Liniers demanded the liberation of Montevideo in the terms of capitulation. The British gave up their attacks when the [[Peninsular War]] turned Great Britain and Spain into allies against [[Napoleon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=Will |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kTPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA833 |title=Britain and the Americas [3 volumes]: Culture, Politics, and History [3 volumes] |last2=Macpherson |first2=Heidi Slettedahl |date=2005-03-01 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-85109-436-3 |page=833 |language=en}}</ref>