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| Uruguay Country Studies index | |
Uruguay - GeographyGeographyUruguay is located in the Southern Hemisphere on the Atlantic seaboard of South America between 53 and 58 west longitude and 30 and 35 south latitude. It is bounded on the west by Argentina, on the north and northeast by Brazil, and on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it fronts the R�o de la Plata, a broad estuary that opens out into the South Atlantic. Montevideo, the capital and major port, sits on the banks of the R�o de la Plata and is on approximately the same latitude as Capetown and Sydney. Uruguay is the smallest Spanishspeaking nation in South America with a land area of 176,220 square kilometers, slightly smaller than North Dakota. Climate Most of Uruguay is a gently rolling plain that represents a transition from the almost featureless Argentine pampas to the hilly uplands of southern Brazil. The country itself has flat plains on its eastern, southern, and western edges. The narrow Atlantic coastal plain is sandy and marshy, occasionally broken by shallow lagoons. The littorals of the R�o de la Plata and the R�o Uruguay are somewhat broader and merge more gradually into the hilly interior. The remaining three-quarters of the country is a rolling plateau marked by ranges of low hills that become more prominent in the north as they merge into the highlands of southern Brazil. Even these hilly areas are remarkably featureless, however, and elevations seldom exceed 200 meters. Uruguay is a water-rich land. Prominent bodies of water mark its limits on the east, south, and west, and even most of the boundary with Brazil follows small rivers. Lakes and lagoons are numerous, and a high water table makes digging wells easy. Three systems of rivers drain the land: rivers flow westward to the R�o Uruguay, eastward to the Atlantic or tidal lagoons bordering the ocean, and south to the R�o de la Plata. The R�o Uruguay, which forms the border with Argentina, is flanked by low banks, and disastrous floods sometimes inundate large areas. The longest and most important of the rivers draining westward is the R�o Negro, which crosses the entire country from northeast to west before emptying into the R�o Uruguay. A dam on the R�o Negro at Paso de los Toros has created a reservoir--the Embalse del R�o Negro--that is the largest artificial lake in South America. The R�o Negro's principal tributary and the country's second most important river is the R�o Y�. The rivers flowing east to the Atlantic are generally shallower and have more variable flow than the other rivers. Many empty into lagoons in the coastal plain. The largest coastal lagoon, Laguna Mer�n, forms part of the border with Brazil. A half-dozen smaller lagoons, some freshwater and some brackish, line the coast farther south. |
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You can read more regarding this subject on the following websites: Geography of Uruguay, Landforms - World Atlas |
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