Masoller is a village or populated centre of the

Rivera Department Rivera Department () is a Departments of Uruguay, department of the northern region of Uruguay. It has an area of and a population of 109,300. Its capital is the city of Rivera. It borders Brazil to the north and east, Cerro Largo Department to t ...

in northern

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, next to the ''de facto'' border with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, in an area where that border is disputed.

Geography

The village is located on Route 30, on the tripoint with Salto and Artigas

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Tranqueras.

History

In 1904 a notable battle was fought at Masoller between the opposing forces of the Colorados, led by

José Batlle y Ordóñez José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez ( or ; 23 May 1856 – 20 October 1929), nicknamed ''Don Pepe'', was a prominent Uruguayan politician who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. The son of a former president, ...

, and the Blancos, led by

Aparicio Saravia Aparicio Saravia da Rosa (August 16, 1856 – September 10, 1904) was a Uruguayan politician and military leader. He was a member of the Uruguayan National Party (Uruguay), National Party and was a revolutionary leader against the Uruguayan ...

, resulting in a victory for the former. The

Battle of Masoller The Battle of Masoller, which occurred on September 1, 1904, was the final battle of the Aparicio Saravia, Aparicio Saravia revolt, resulting in the victory of the Colorado Party (Uruguay), Colorado forces. Location and historical background Ma ...

is reckoned to mark the end of the intermittent civil war which occurred throughout much of 19th century

Uruguayan-Brazilian border dispute

A longstanding border dispute involving territory in the vicinity of Masoller exists between

and

, although this has not harmed close diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries;

and

have not actively asserted overt measures to reinforce their respective claims to the area such as by sending troops to the vicinity. The disputed area is called ''Rincón de Artigas'' (), and the dispute arises from the fact that the treaty that delimited the Brazil-Uruguay border in 1851 determined that the border in that area would be a creek called ''Arroyo de la Invernada'' (), but the two countries disagree on which actual stream is the so-named one. So far, Rincão de Artigas is effectively under Brazilian control. The village of Masoller itself is in undisputed Uruguayan territory, just a few hundred metres from the largely unmarked and unimpeded ''de facto'' international border.

Population

In 2011 Masoller had a population of 240. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

References

*Chasteen, John Charles; 'Heroes on Horseback: A Life and Times of the Last Gaucho Caudillos', University of New Mexico Press, 1995

External links