Uruguay River

This important South American river, which supports fishing and tourism, flows through the territories of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina before it joins the Río de la Plata. With a length of 1,600 kilometers and a basin measuring 370,000 kilometers, the Uruguay River rises 1,800 meters above sea level in the Serra Peral of Brazil and, along with the Paraná River, flows into the Río de la Plata (Argentina and Uruguay). From its source to the mouth of the Piratini River, the water is not very navigable, but it is possible for mid-draft ships to navigate up to the town of Concepción del Uruguay, Argentina, and for smaller crafts to travel to the town of Concordia, Argentina. There its course is interrupted by a large waterfall, which is the site of the Uruguay-Argentine hydroelectric power plant of Salto Grande, which began operations in 1983.

The Uruguay River is the border between the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, between Argentina and Brazil, between Argentina and Uruguay, and between Brazil and Uruguay. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Uruguay's plans to install two cellulose paste production plants at Fray Bentos, across from the Argentine town of Gualeguaychú, led to a diplomatic conflict between the two nations with an uncertain outcome.

See alsoArgentina, Geography; Brazil, Geography; Paraná River; Río de la Plata; Uruguay, Geography.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Serrano, Antonio. Los tributarios del río Uruguay. Buenos Aires. Imprenta de la Universidad, 1936.

                                            Vicente Palermo