Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In 1811, José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolt against the Spanish authorities, defeating them on 18 May at the Battle of Las Piedras. . . . In 1816, a force of 10,000 Portuguese troops invaded the Banda Oriental from Brazil; they took Montevideo in January 1817. . . . In response to the annexation, the Thirty-Three Orientals, led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, declared independence on 25 August 1825 supported by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina). This led to the 500-day-long Cisplatine War." [Wikipedia]
"Montevideo, the coastal capital, contains half of the country’s population of 3.4 million; from here, railroads and roads radiate outward into the productive agricultural hinterland." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 135-6]