ABSTRACT
As underwater archaeology in Uruguay develops as a discipline, it will play an important role in creating a new corpus of knowledge about Uruguayan history. A major focus will be the hazardous estuary of the Río de la Plata. The first stage of European navigation in the Río de la Plata, called the discovery period, was carried out by Spanish and Portuguese sailors. Although separate Portuguese and Castilian colonial domains essentially from Lisbon still existed during that period, Spanish navigation bound to the Rí o de la Plata was carried out. Argentinean historian Z. Moutoukias notes in relation to the Portuguese and Brazilian presence in the first half of the 17th century: The reality of the daily life was an intense inter-colony trade with Brazilian ports, carried out mainly by small ships of about 20 to 50 tons that went back and forth.
