Editing Uruguay (section)

=== Colonial rule ===
[[File:PortugueseMuseum-Colonia4 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] established [[Colonia del Sacramento|Colonia do Sacramento]] in 1680.]]
The [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese were]] the first Europeans to enter the region of present-day Uruguay in 1512.<ref name=Spate>{{cite book|author=Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate|title=The Spanish Lake|publisher=Canberra: ANU E Press, 2004|page=37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JH9SIogNd3sC&q=San+Matias|isbn=9781920942168|date=1 November 2004|access-date=30 September 2020|archive-date=11 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211030451/https://books.google.com/books?id=JH9SIogNd3sC&q=San+Matias|url-status=live}}</ref><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 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_w0kAPYQ5xMC&q=1511 |isbn = 9780521232234 |access-date = 7 October 2020 |archive-date = 11 December 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201211002802/https://books.google.com/books?id=_w0kAPYQ5xMC&q=1511 |url-status = live }}</ref> The [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] arrived in present-day Uruguay in 1515 but were the first to set foot in the area, claiming it for the crown.<ref name="dept-state">{{cite web|author=Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs|title=Background Note: Uruguay|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2091.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194621/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2091.htm|archive-date=22 January 2017|access-date=23 February 2011|publisher=US Department of State}}</ref> The indigenous peoples' fierce resistance to [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|conquest]], combined with the absence of valuable resources, limited European settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref name="dept-state"/> Uruguay then became a zone of contention between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. In 1603, the Spanish began introducing cattle, which became a source of regional wealth. The first permanent Spanish settlement was founded in 1624 at [[Villa Soriano|Soriano]] on the [[Río Negro (Uruguay)|Río Negro]]. In 1669–71, the Portuguese built a fort at [[Colonia del Sacramento]] (Colônia do Sacramento).

[[Montevideo]], the current capital of Uruguay, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial area competing with [[Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata|Río de la Plata]]'s capital, [[Buenos Aires]].<ref name="dept-state"/> Uruguay's early 19th-century history was shaped by ongoing fights for dominance in the [[La Plata Basin|Platine region]]<ref name="dept-state"/> between British, Spanish, Portuguese, and other colonial forces. In 1806 and 1807, the [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata|British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires and Montevideo]] as part of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Montevideo was occupied by British forces from February to September 1807.