Interesting Facts about Uruguay

Did You Know?

18 curious facts about Uruguay.

• The official name of Uruguay is La República Oriental del Uruguay, which means “the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.” This name refers to the country's location on the east bank of the Río de la Plata. The word “Uruguay” is thought to have come from an indigenous word meaning “the river of shellfish.”
• The ombú is a huge evergreen tree that grows in the prairies of Uruguay. It can reach great heights and provides a point of reference as well as shelter for travellers.
• The gauchos, or Uruguayan cowboys, chase rheas on horseback and throw boleadoras at them to tangle their feet. Boleadoras are leather thongs tipped with leather-covered stones. Inuit hunters in Canada use a similar weapon to snare small birds.
• In 1939, the Graf Spee, a small German battleship, after sinking several British ships in the Battle of the Atlantic, was cornered near Montevideo harbour by the British navy. The Uruguayans were not sympathetic to the Germans and insisted that the battleship leave the harbour. Rather than surrender to the British, Captain Hans Langsdorf sent his crew ashore and scuttled his ship in the Río de la Plata. This event is remembered as an important confrontation early in the Second World War.