SERIES: Views From A Trip Around The World
ILLUSTRATIONS: Solis Theatre; Club House; Street Scene; Slave; Slave Woman
SIZE: 3" x 5"
DATE: 1891
LITHOGRAPHER: Joseph P. Knapp, N.Y.
CONDITION: Just good, I'd say. This card is lightly soiled with somewhat worn edges and rounded corners. There's a large vertical crease running down the middle of the card, with small creases at each corner and along the lower right edge. There are tiny tears in the top and right margins. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY, S.A.
The Republic of Uruguay, of which Montevideo is the Capital, is locally called the Banda Oriental, from its position on the eastern side of the large river Uruguay. Montevido lies on the easterly side of a semi-circular bay on the northern shore of the estuary of the La Plata, 120 miles from Buenos Ayres, with which it connects by steamers. The small peninsula on which the city is built is only about 95 feet above the sea level, but the headland of Cerro, 505 feet high, forming the western side of the bay, is notable enough on that low-lying coast to justify the name of Montevideo. It is crowned by a lighthouse and an old Spanish fort. The city's area is about 620 acres; the suburbs extend for miles into the country. The plan of both the old and the new town is regular; they are separated by the Calle de la Cindadela on the line of the old ramparts. The low houses with their flat terraced roofs and watchtowers, from which the merchants look out for their ships, produce a somewhat Oriental impression. On the whole, the place has a rather overdone aspect, for immense wealth has been squandered in Italian marbles and other forms of architectural decoration. The streets are generally well built, and there is an extensive tramway system.
The so-called "Cathedral" on the south side of Plaza de la Constitucion--the principal square of the old town--is a somewhat imposing building with a dome and two side towers 133 feet high, which form one of the best landmarks of the bay. On the north side of the square is the cabildo--the law courts, senate house and the prison. In the line of the old ramparts, an old Spanish citadel formerly stood, built by the seven years forced labor of 2,000 Quarani Indians. It was removed in 1877 and the area united with the fine Plaza de la Indepencia. Montevideo owes its origin less to its commercial position than to the jealousy of the Spaniards toward the Portuguese, which led Zabala, Viceroy of Buenos Ayres, to erect a fort at this point in 1717.
Population 1887, 134,346--one-
third being foreigners.
