URUGUAY. -
I. GEOGRAPHY
South American state, landlocked between Brazil and Argentina and facing the estuary of the Río de la Plata.It is a country of plains, on which rise modest (600 m in height) hilly elevations, both covered by grasslands and thus marked by a strong pastoral vocation. Livestock farming remains to this day the basic activity of Uruguay’s economy (22 million sheep and 7 million cattle; from these come meat, hides, fats, and dairy products), but
it tends increasingly to be complemented by agriculture: the warm-humid climate permits cereal crops (wheat, maize) and oil-bearing crops (flax, sunflower) and does not hinder those of the vine, citrus fruits, and fruit trees. Mineral resources are lacking, and for this reason industrial development is still insignificant.
The area is 186,926 sq. km.; the population (2.4 million inhabitants; 12 per sq. km.) is almost entirely white (95%; among these about 70,000 Italians), and one-third is concentrated in the capital, Montevideo (900,000 inhabitants), which is the country’s chief industrial and commercial center.
Uruguay is a unitary republic with a bicameral parliamentary government and a president renewable every four years.
II. HISTORY
The first to reach the coasts of Uruguay were: Juan Díaz de Solís, who, following in the footsteps of Balboa, seeking in 1515 the passage to the South Sea, was slaughtered by the natives on an islet facing the Uruguayan shore; Magellan, whose ships entered in 1520 the Río de la Plata as far as the latitude where Montevideo would later arise; Sebastián Caboto, who in 1526 sailed up the river without exploring II. Only in 1559 did colonization begin; in 1564 the first colony was founded at the mouth of the Río Negro: it was Santo Domingo de Soriano, which still exists. The complete exploration of the country was accomplished only in the 19th century.The Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, by which Spain and Portugal accepted the famous “line” devised at the suggestion of Pope Alexander VI, caused a series of struggles between Portuguese and Spaniards for possession of Uruguay, over which both nations claimed rights. This state of affairs ended only with the Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1777, after which, from 1726 onward, the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, de Zabala, had founded Montevideo by populating it with elements from his own city. Charles III included Montevideo and its territory in the intendancy of Buenos Aires at about that time.
After the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), England sent to American waters a naval squadron under the command of Commodore Home Popham, conqueror of the Dutch colony at the Cape, to seize the countries of the Río de la Plata. After occupying Buenos Aires for two months (6 Aug. 1806), he blockaded the coasts of Uruguay, took Maldonado, and from there, having received reinforcements, advanced on Montevideo, which after a fierce defense surrendered (3 Feb. 1807). During the seven months of their occupation the English spread in the country the ideas of political and commercial liberty, which led to the first organized revolutionary attempt on 11 Feb. 1811 by a local parish priest, Don Silverio Antonio Martínez. His leadership was taken up by José Gervasio Artigas. Attacked by the Spaniards of Buenos Aires and by the Portuguese of Brazil themselves, Artigas and
his companions, about 16,000 men, determined to make themselves independent of Spain, retreated into the interior of Uruguay in that march remembered as the “Exodo del Pueblo Oriental.” Artigas dreamed of a confederation between Uruguay, the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Córdoba, and the territory of the Missions included in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul; but he was opposed by the Argentines, the Portuguese, and the Brazilians. Despite their perfect knowledge of the terrain, the total dedication of his men, their proverbial courage, and the many acts of heroism performed by all, it was not possible to resist the continually renewed offensive action; forced by the superiority of his adversaries to declare himself defeated, Artigas, having freed his men, took refuge in Paraguay, where he remained until his death (23 Sept. 1850), in a certain sense a prisoner of the dictator Francia.
The war against the Portuguese first, then the Brazilians, lasted from 1820 to 1828, and the Portuguese succeeded in subduing Uruguay, which became their Cisplatine Province (1821). Then the patriots of the region, led by one of Artigas’s principal lieutenants, General Rivera, aided by the Argentines under General Alvear, succeeded in defeating the enemy at the Battle of Ituzaingó (Feb. 1827), while the small Argentine flotilla under the Irishman Brown prevailed over the Brazilian squadron. A successful offensive by General Rivera into Brazilian territory led to peace in 1828, thanks to the intervention of the British minister at Rio de Janeiro, Lord Ponsonby.
Having definitively declared its independence in the Assembly of La Florida on 25 Aug. 1825, on 18 July 1830 it gave itself a constitution from which there arose, within its present boundaries, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. Two parties that had brought the country to independence dominated the state: the Colorados (liberals) and the Blancos (nationalists), which still make a valid contribution to the country’s development. However, until the Peace of Uruguay in 1851
III. EVANGELIZATION OF URUGUAY
The missions established by the Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries on the Uruguay River, belonging to the famous “Reductions” (v.) of Paraguay, extended only in their estancias to the northwest part of the present state of Uruguay. The few tribes of Indians, numbering about 4,000, in the territory of present-day Uruguay probably did not experience the direct influence of the Franciscan and Jesuit missions.The Charrua Indians held the first place among the native peoples, known for their fierce resistance to Portuguese and Spanish colonization in the 18th century, and were finally exterminated in 1832 by General Rivera. Only after the foundation of the State of Uruguay in 1825 was an apostolic vicariate established in Montevideo in 1830 and then definitively in 1832, elevated to a diocese in 1878 and to an archdiocese in 1897.
In 1897 the dioceses of Salto and Melo were created, the latter since 1931 as Florida y Melo, but only in 1919 were they separated and given their own bishops.
IV. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH
The Uruguayan Constitution declares all cults free and asserts that the state supports no religion in particular (Art. 5).The Catholic Church is recognized as a juridical person under private law. The same recognition is granted to the dioceses currently in existence (that is, the archdiocese of Montevideo [v.] with its suffragans of Salto and Florida y Melo). The ordinary, to be recognized by the state as the representative of the diocese, must present to the government a certificate from the Apostolic Nunciature declaring him legitimately appointed. The state takes no part in the appointment of bishops. Other moral persons contemplated by canon law may obtain juridical personality according to the norms of common Uruguayan law.
The Church may, subject to certain restrictions, acquire, possess, and administer temporal goods. The Constitution recognizes its ownership of all buildings used for worship that were constructed in whole or in part with public funds, with the exception of chapels serving asylums, hospitals, prisons, and other public institutions (art. 5). The same article exempts from taxation buildings used for the worship of any religion, and a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice on July 29, 1940, extended this privilege to annexed buildings. Sacred and religious objects are inalienable, and objects intended for worship are not subject to customs duties.
Priests are equated with other citizens in the exercise of political rights, and the penal code protects ministers of any religion in the exercise of their ministry. Regarding religious, the so-called Ley de conventos of July 13, 1885, which has never been explicitly repealed, is in practice not enforced.
The law of February 12, 1879, which established the civil registry, also stipulates that “parish priests shall not record any baptismal entries in their parish books until presented with a certificate of birth registration from the civil registry by those concerned.” This provision was confirmed by a law of May 10, 1886, but no penalties are imposed on violators.
The only marriage recognized by the State is the civil marriage, introduced by a law of May 22, 1885; religious rites may be celebrated only after the civil act. The civil code, which fully adopted the law, imposes penalties on a minister of religion who assists at a marriage before the civil act is completed; an exception is made for marriages in extremis, which, however, produce no civil effects. Divorce is permitted for multiple causes. A law of April 1909 prohibited religious instruction in public schools.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of education and recognizes the right of parents and guardians to choose the school they wish for their children or wards. State intervention in private schools pertains to hygiene, morality, safety, and public order (art. 68).
Municipal regulations require that corpses be transferred directly from the residence to the cemetery. Authorities rarely grant exceptions to this rule. The Republic of Uruguay maintains diplomatic relations with the Holy See through, respectively, an Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister and the Apostolic Nuncio in Montevideo.
V. For literature: V. ISPANO-AMERICANA LETTERATURA, XI.
VI. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
It can be said that in Uruguay the organization of schools has, for many years, been moving toward a greater degree of stability and closer alignment with the needs of the times and the nation’s growing cultural level.
a) Preschool education is provided for children aged 3 to 6 in kindergartens.
b) Primary education begins at age 7 and comprises two levels: the first lasts 4 years, the second 2. Schools that cover both levels and are located in urban centers are called urban schools; those that cover only the first level and are located in rural centers are called suburban schools. Attached to primary schools are other types of schools that are more practical than theoretical, such as music initiation schools, agricultural or rural schools established in inland centers suited to the mentality of local populations, itinerant schools (where teaching is provided sporadically by teachers visiting groups of workers’ children), and auxiliary schools aimed at combating illiteracy. All these types share some common curriculum with urban schools, but the rest must adapt to the abilities and character of the populations they serve.
c) Secondary education (baccalaureate) is the level that has undergone the most radical transformations over the years to achieve a true and solid preparation for the various university faculties. Initially, courses were designed solely to meet the demands of the faculties students aspired to, without regard for prior studies, and programs were not aligned with contemporary needs. Until 1912, secondary education or baccalaureate lasted 6 years, divided into two cycles: the first, 4 years, with common programs, and the second, 2 years, with specialized programs. The 1912 reform created 18 lyceums in the capitals of the various departments, maintaining the two cycles, with the second offering specializations in law, notary studies, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, architecture, and agriculture. In 1942, the specializations were revised and merged, reducing to six: 1) medicine, pharmacy, industrial chemistry, dentistry, and veterinary medicine; 2) law and notary studies; 3) economic sciences; 4) engineering and surveying; 5) architecture; 6) agronomy. However, not all lyceums have the second cycle, nor did this school model gain favor among students, as it increasingly diverged from the 1912 model, which conceived the first cycle as an extension of primary education and a preparation for life, developing intelligence and physical fitness without focusing exclusively on preparation for university faculties. Hence the need for a radical reform, which, made flexible through modifications and additions, would introduce differentiated lyceums with 4 years (first-degree lyceum) of common subjects, after which students could proceed to a second-degree lyceum that, in addition to common subjects, includes technical subjects. Technical schools fall under the University of Labor, while others fall under the common-type university.
d) Higher education. The University of Labor was reconstituted in 1942 as an autonomous entity and aims to comprehensively train technicians for various industries. The other university (in Montevideo), founded in 1833, now comprises ten faculties: law and social sciences, medicine in its various branches, humanities, sciences, etc., and is organized in line with other South American universities. Noteworthy is the Institute of Professors, established in 1949, for the training of secondary school teachers.
e) Regarding school assistance, in 1933 the Child Code was enacted, from which the Council for Children and its various sections emerged: prenatal, early childhood (1–3 years), middle childhood (4–14), working adolescence (15–21), hygiene, social services, and legal services.