River · Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay
Uruguay River
The Uruguay River flows from the mountains of southern Brazil to the Río de la Plata. On its way it forms long stretches of the borders between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, so three countries share its water.
Picture credit: Deyvid Setti (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Dario Alpern (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Hrenek80 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Uruguay River?
The river starts here: Confluence of the Pelotas and Canoas rivers, Serra Geral, Brazil.
It ends in the Río de la Plata, together with the Paraná.
Countries on the river: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay.
The story behind it
The Uruguay River begins in the Serra Geral mountains of Brazil, where the Pelotas and Canoas rivers meet. The Pelotas rises only 64 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean, yet its water takes a very long detour inland before it reaches the sea. On the border between Argentina and Brazil lie the Moconá Falls, also called Yucumã Falls. They are special because the water does not fall across the river but along it, over a drop of about 10 to 12 metres and a length of up to 3 kilometres. On about 150 days a year the falls disappear under high water. Further south, the Salto Grande Dam, finished in 1982, makes electricity. Ocean ships can sail upstream as far as Paysandú in Uruguay. Nobody knows for sure where the river's name comes from; one explanation from the Guaraní language is 'river of the colourful bird'.
Questions children ask
How long is the Uruguay River?
The Uruguay River is about 1 838 km long. Depending on how it is measured, some sources give a shorter length of about 1 600 km.
Why are the Moconá Falls so unusual?
Most waterfalls stretch across a river from one bank to the other. The Moconá Falls run along the river instead, because the water tumbles into a deep canyon in the middle of the riverbed.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: