1516		Juan Díaz de Solís entered the Río de la Plata by mistake and thus discovered the region.
1520		The Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan cast anchor in a bay of the Río de la Plata at the site that would become Montevideo.
1680		The Portuguese, seeking to expand Brazil's frontier, founded Colonia del Sacramento on the Río de la Plata, across from Buenos Aires.
1726		With the founding of San Felipe de Montevideo, Montevideo became the port and station of the Spanish fleet in the South Atlantic.
1776		The establishment of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, with Buenos Aires as its capital, took place. Montevideo was authorized to trade directly with Spain instead of through Buenos Aires.
1807		A 10,000-member British force captured Montevideo in early 1807 and occupied it until that July, when it left and moved against Buenos Aires.
18 May 1811		Artigas's army won its most important victory against the Spaniards in the Battle of Las Piedras.
June 1814		Montevideo surrendered to the troops of Buenos Aires.
1821		Portuguese Brazil annexed the Banda Oriental as its southernmost Cisplatine Province.
25 August 1825		Representatives from the Banda Oriental declared independence from Brazil and its incorporation into the United Provinces of Río de la Plata.
4 October 1828		Uruguay became an independent state.
18 July 1830		The constitution was approved, after having been ratified by Argentina and Brazil. It established a representative unitary republic--the República Oriental del Uruguay (Oriental Republic of Uruguay),
1836		The first political groups, known as Colorados and Blancos because of the red and white hatbands, were formed.
1843-52		The Great War centered on the nineyear-long siege of Montevideo.
1903		José Batlle y Ordóñez became president.
1910		Civic Union of Uruguay (Unión Cívica del Uruguay--UCU) and the Marxist-inspired Socialist Party of Uruguay (Partido Socialista del Uruguay--PSU) were founded.
1931		Gabriel Terra became president.
1939		The badly damaged German battleship Graf Spee, cornered by a British naval force was blown up and scuttled by its own crew just outside the harbor.
1943		Juan José Amézaga became president.
1952		The new constitution was approved by plebiscite in 1951 and went into effect in 1952.
1962		Raúl Antonaccio Sendic, formed the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros--MLN-T), a clandestine urban guerrilla movement.
1967		General Oscar Gestido became president.
27 June 1973		President Bordaberry dissolved the General Assembly and replaced it with the Council of State.
1981		Retired Lieutenant General Gregorio Alvarez Armelino became president.
November 1999		Jorge Batlle became president.
March 2005		Tabaré Vázquez became president.