Editing Montevideo (section)

=== Early history ===
Between 1680 and 1683, Portugal founded the city of [[Colonia do Sacramento]] in the region across the bay from [[Buenos Aires]]. This city met with no resistance from the Spanish until 1723, when they began to place fortifications on the elevations around Montevideo Bay. On 22 November 1723, Field Marshal {{interlanguage link|Manuel de Freitas da Fonseca|pt}} of Portugal built the Montevieu fort.
[[File:Los Primeros Pobladores de Montevideo.png|thumb|259x259px|Arrival of the first families from the Canary Islands in 1726.]]
A Spanish expedition was sent from Buenos Aires, organized by the Spanish governor of that city, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala. On 22 January 1724, the Spanish forced the Portuguese to abandon the location and started populating the city, initially with six families moving in from Buenos Aires and soon thereafter by families arriving from the [[Canary Islands]] who were known as [[Guanches]] or [[Canarians]]. There was also one significant early Italian resident by the name of Jorge Burgues.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carlos Maggi |title=La Paloma, la historia y el futuro |trans-title=La Paloma, the history and the future |url=http://200.40.120.164/08/08/24/predit_365682.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429050121/http://200.40.120.164/08/08/24/predit_365682.asp |archive-date=29 April 2011 |access-date=17 November 2009 |website=El País |language=es}}</ref>

A census of the city's inhabitants was performed in 1724 and then a plan was drawn delineating the city and designating it as ''San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo'', later shortened to Montevideo. The census counted more than 100 families of [[Galician people|Galician]] and Canary Islands origin, more than 1000 indigenous people, mostly [[Guarani people|Guaraní]], as well as some [[Atlantic slave trade|trafficked slaves]] of [[Bantu peoples|Bantu origin]].<ref name=SextMon />

A few years after its foundation, Montevideo became the main city of the region north of the Río de la Plata and east of the [[Uruguay River]], competing with Buenos Aires for dominance in maritime commerce. The importance of Montevideo as the main port of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata brought it in confrontations with the city of Buenos Aires in various occasions, including several times when it was taken over to be used as a base to defend the eastern province of the Viceroyalty from Portuguese incursions.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In 1776, Spain made Montevideo its main naval base (''Real Apostadero de Marina'') for the South Atlantic, with authority over the Argentine coast, [[Bioko|Fernando Po]], and the [[Falkland Islands|Falklands]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Armada Nacional a través del tiempo |url=http://www.armada.mil.uy/general/historia/historia-armada.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514003200/http://www.armada.mil.uy/general/historia/historia-armada.html |archive-date=14 May 2011 |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=www.armada.mil.uy}}</ref> Until the end of the 18th century, Montevideo remained a fortified area, today known as [[Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo|Ciudad Vieja]].