Uruguay is situated on South America’s Southern Cone, its eastern shore lies next on the Atlantic Ocean bordering Brazil on the north and northeast; Argentina on the west and south, the River Plate to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Uruguay covers 176,215 square kilometers, larger than Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua or Costa Rica among American countries, and larger than Greece, Portugal, Austria or Ireland, among the countries of Europe.

The territory of Uruguay features gently sloping hills and elevations of modest altitude, separated by rivers which flow down to the sea or into other and larger rivers. There are no high mountains or vast plains, no impenetrable forests or desert regions. Earthquakes are unknown. The highest point is the Cerro Catedral, altitude 513 meters. The coastal plain boasts many beaches along the Atlantic coast and on the shores of the Rio de la Plata. The climate is mild and mostly uniform in the whole country with distinct seasons. The absence of mountains exposes the region to a wide spectrum of cold and humid southeasterly winds and to the southerner or "pamperos" which blows from the Patagonia Andes. Average temperatures are 17 degrees C in spring, 25 degrees C in summer, 18 degrees C in autumn, and 12 degrees C in winter. Maximum temperatures may exceptionally attain 40 degrees C in summer, and minimum temperatures -2 degrees C or -3 degrees C in winter. Snowstorms and hurricanes are unknown.

The territory now occupied by the Republic of Uruguay was discovered in 1516 by Juan Diaz de Solis, leader of a Spanish expedition which, looking for a route to the Indies via the New Continent, sailed up the Rio de la Plata. The territory took a long time to conquer, not only because of the strong resistance of the natives, but also by reason of a lack of interest on the part of the Europeans who did not discover there the precious metals they had found in Peru. In 1617 Hernando Arias de Saavedra (Hernandarias), Governor of the Rio de la Plata, realized that the region's real assets lay in its extensive prairies and its inexhaustible reserves of water, together with its relative flatness and splendid climate, all offering great possibilities for livestock farming. It was the Governor himself who introduced the first bovines; they bred remarkably rapidly, soon spreading all over the country and establishing the bases for its future economy.