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(Opposite) Penguins wade into the surf at Punta del Este. Oil pollution along the coast of Uruguay is an environmental problem that kills hundreds of penguins each year. (Right) Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is known for its beaches, including fashionable Playa Pocitos, which is rimmed by high-rise buildings. 1

Land of Green Rolling Plains

URUGUAY, THE SMALLEST Spanish-speaking nation in South America, is about the size of the state of Washington. The Río Uruguay forms its western border with Argentina. Brazil lies to the north and east. The Atlantic Ocean and the Río de la Plata, an estuary of the Atlantic, border Uruguay in the south. Most of Uruguay is a green rolling plain, interrupted at two points by highlands of low hilly ridges. The narrow Atlantic coastal plain is sandy and marshy, occasionally broken by shallow lagoons. Two Land Regions Uruguay can be divided into two major land regions: the coastal plains and the interior lowlands. The coastal plains curve along the Río Uruguay, the Río de la Plata, and the Atlantic Ocean. They cover about one-fifth of Uruguay. But most of the

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