Montevideo (mŏn′tḗ-vĭd′ḗ-ṓ), the capital of Uruguay, is situated on the northern shore of the Plata inlet, about 125 miles east of Buenos Aires. It is built on a low point between the ocean and a small bay.

The city covers about five square miles, and has broad, well-paved streets. A cathedral with towers and a fine dome, opera-house, town-hall, university (with 112 professors and 530 regular students besides 661 pupils receiving secondary instruction) and a museum are among the public buildings. It has large beef-salting establishments, where over 400,000 cattle are killed yearly; and other industries, mainly of articles for home use. It is the cleanest and healthiest city in South America, and has a large foreign population, brought mainly from Italy, Spain and France. The first settlement dates back to 1726. Population 291,465.