1000 to 1679

Charrua country

Before Europeans, the grasslands east of the Uruguay River belong to small nomadic peoples, above all the Charrua, who hunt deer and rheas, along with the Chana, the Minuan and some Guarani. In 1516 the Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis lands on the Rio de la Plata and is killed by local people. With no gold to find, Spain long ignores the region.