Avenida 18 de Julio

You’ve probably noticed by now that you’re walking along the city’s main road, Avenida 18 de Julio. It stretches from Plaza Independencia all the way to the Obelisk of the Constituents, about three kilometers down the road, in the Tres Cruces neighbourhood near the main bus station. The avenue gets its name from the date Uruguay’s first national constitution was sworn in: July 18, 1830. That constitution remained in effect until 1918 and established a unitary republican state with Catholicism as the state religion. Citizenship was only granted to the literate and landowning elite, so if you were a worker or couldn’t read, you didn’t qualify. This marked the beginning of what is now known as the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. A quick reminder of how we got there: back in 1820, after Artigas went into exile in Paraguay, Uruguay became a province of Brazil, much to the locals’ dismay. Early uprisings didn’t change much, but in 1825 came the famous Insurrection of the 33 Orientals, led by Juan Lavalleja, which finally forced the Brazilian armies to retreat and paved the way for Uruguay’s declaration of independence.