Montevideo

Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, on the northern shore of the Río de la Plata where the estuary opens toward the Atlantic. Its name refers to the lone hill across the bay, which guided ships into the harbor from the 16th century.

The Estadio Centenario, built for the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, saw Uruguay win the final against Argentina. Palacio Salvo, an office and apartment tower designed by the Italian architect Mario Palanti, rises over the main square with an eclectic crown and a lamp on top. Teatro Solís, opened in the mid-19th century, is the main stage for opera, ballet and the national comedy company. The carnival lasts more than a month each summer, with murga choirs and candombe drum groups parading through the streets of the old southern districts. Tango is shared with Buenos Aires: La Cumparsita was written in Montevideo by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez.

Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, founded the city on a peninsula in 1726 as a walled port facing the Portuguese to the north. The Ciudad Vieja, the old town on that peninsula, keeps colonial houses and gates beside the commercial buildings of the 19th century. Montevideo became the capital of independent Uruguay in the 1830s and grew with immigrants from Spain and Italy who built houses with tiled patios.

The port ships frozen beef, wood pulp and soybeans from the Uruguayan interior. Conaprole, the dairy cooperative based in Montevideo, makes milk, butter and dulce de leche. Fábricas Nacionales de Cerveza brews Pilsen and Patricia beer at its brewery in the city, and dLocal, a payments company founded in Montevideo, processes online payments for global firms in emerging markets.