Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America, located in the eastern part of the South American Cone. It borders to the northeast with Brazil -state of Rio Grande do Sul-, to the west with Argentina -provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes- and has coasts in the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast and on the Río de la Plata to the south. It covers 176,000 km², being the second smallest country in South America in terms of territory, after Suriname. According to the data of the INE, census of 2011, the population of Uruguay is 3.29 million inhabitants, 3 4 being in the tenth position among the countries of South America.

​

It is a presidentialist republic subdivided into 19 departments and 89 municipalities. The capital and most populous city of the country is Montevideo, with 1.3 million inhabitants, 5 and whose metropolitan area reaches 1.7 million, which represents 53% of the national total. It is a member of the United Nations, Mercosur, of the OAS, of the UNASUR and of the G77, among other international organizations.

​

The current Uruguayan territory was initially known as Banda Oriental, which also included part of the current Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. This denomination comes from its geographical location, since it is located to the east -or east- of the Uruguay River and to the north of the Rio de la Plata, being the easternmost land of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. On August 28, 1828, the Preliminary Peace Convention was signed, establishing the creation of an independent state, although without an official denomination. The first denomination of the current Oriental Republic of Uruguay was "Oriental State of Uruguay". This denomination was given to the country by the first Constitution promulgated on June 28, 1830 and sworn by the people on July 18 of the same year.