Locator map of Barra do Quaraí in Rio Grande do Sul

Brazilian Island ( pt, Ilha Brasileira; in Standard es, Isla Brasileña; in

Portuñol Portuñol (Spanish spelling) or Portunhol (Portuguese spelling) () is a portmanteau of the words portugués/português ("Portuguese") and español/espanhol ("Spanish"), and is the name often given to any non-systematic mixture of Portuguese and ...

/Portunhol: ''Isla Brasilera'') is a small uninhabited

river island River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online. Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isla ...

at the confluence of the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

and the Quaraí (Cuareim) River, between the borders of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

, which is disputed by the two latter countries. The island is approximately long by wide, and it is located at .

Overview

The island has long been claimed by both Brazil and Uruguay. Brazilian officials claim that the island is within their

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

Barra do Quaraí Barra do Quaraí (also ''Quarahim'' in archaic Portuguese spelling) is a Brazilian municipality located near the border with Uruguay (on the Rio Quaraí) and Argentina on the Uruguay River. The town became the westernmost city in the state of Rio ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

. Uruguayan officials claim that the island is part of their

Bella Unión Bella Unión is a city in the north part of Artigas Department of Uruguay. History The original settlement was founded on 13 May 1829 under the name "Santa Rosa". It was started by Fructuoso Rivera, who played a prominent role in the early histo ...

, in Artigas

Department 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, ...

.''....uncontested dispute (between Brazil and Uruguay) over certain islands in the Quarai/Cuareim.....and the resulting tripoint with Argentina'' However, neither country has shown interest in actively enforcing its claims to the island, for example by sending troops there. Like the other territorial dispute between Brazil and Uruguay in the vicinity of

Masoller Masoller is a village or populated centre of the Rivera Department in northern Uruguay, next to the ''de facto'' border with Brazil, in an area where that border is disputed. Geography The village is located on Route 30, on the tripoint with Salt ...

, it has not prevented close and friendly diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries. From 1964 to 2011, the island had a single house and a single inhabitant, a Brazilian farmer called José Jorge Daniel. In 2011, suffering from health problems, Mr. Daniel moved out of the island to live with relatives in the nearby city of

Uruguaiana Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the eastern shore of the Uruguay River bordering Argentina. Opposite to Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of P ...

, Brazil, where he died shortly afterwards, aged 93 or 95 (sources differ). Since then, the island has been uninhabited and unoccupied. On 7 August 2009, the island suffered severe damage by a

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

caused by unknown reasons (though

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

was suspected), which burned at least 40% of the island's area. The fire was eventually put out by a joint transnational effort by the

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s from Barra do Quaraí and Bella Unión. Mr. Daniel, who still lived there at the time, and his house were unscathed. Since then, teams of

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

s and students from nearby Brazilian universities, supported by Brazilian and Uruguayan

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, have gone on occasional expeditions to the island to study the fire damage to local

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

and try to restore its former

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

Note

In standard

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, the word "Brazilian" is , but in the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...

, most particularly in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the ''

portuñol Portuñol (Spanish spelling) or Portunhol (Portuguese spelling) () is a portmanteau of the words portugués/português ("Portuguese") and español/espanhol ("Spanish"), and is the name often given to any non-systematic mixture of Portuguese and ...

'' term is more commonly used.

References

{{Reflist Argentina–Uruguay border Border tripoints Borders of Brazil Borders of Uruguay Brazil–Uruguay border Disputed islands Islands of the Uruguay River River islands of Brazil River islands of Uruguay Territorial disputes of Brazil Territorial disputes of Uruguay

Overview

See also

Note

References