Short answers, pulled from the story.
Montevideo's foundation is tied to Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, who expelled a Portuguese garrison in January 1724 and began settling the site. Zabala's own diary cites the 24th of December 1726 as the foundation date, corroborated by eyewitnesses. Full independence from Buenos Aires as a recognized city was not achieved until the 1st of January 1730.
The name Montevideo has several disputed origins, all agreeing that "Monte" refers to the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill overlooking the bay. The oldest Spanish document linking any similar name to the site is boatswain Francisco de Albo's Diario de Navegacion from January 1520, which records the hill as "Montevidi." Competing theories derive the name from a Portuguese or Latin phrase meaning "I see a mount," or from a cartographic notation marking it as the sixth hill along the coast from east to west.
After the Battle of the River Plate on the 13th of December 1939 against the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy, the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee retreated to Montevideo's neutral port. Captain Hans Langsdorff scuttled the ship on the 17th of December 1939 to avoid a battle he believed he would lose. Langsdorff committed suicide two days later, and the ship's eagle figurehead was salvaged on the 10th of February 2006.
The 2019 Mercer quality of life report rated Montevideo first among Latin American cities, a rank the city has held consistently since 2005. Montevideo is described as a vibrant city with a rich cultural life, a thriving tech sector, and an entrepreneurial culture. It is also the administrative seat of Mercosur and ALADI, anchoring a metropolitan economy with a projected GDP of $53.9 billion as of 2022.
Montevideo hosted every match of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. The Estadio Centenario in Parque Batlle was opened specifically for the tournament and also commemorated the centennial of Uruguay's first constitution. Snow fell on the 13th of July 1930 during the inaugural match, one of only four recorded snowfalls in the city's history.
Uruguayan tango originated in the neighborhoods of Montevideo toward the end of the 1800s. Notable songs composed by Montevideo musicians include La Cumparsita, written by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez in 1917 at a cafe on the future site of the Palacio Salvo. Tango, candombe, and murga are the three main musical styles of the city, and composer Miguel del Aguila, a Montevideo native, received three Grammy nominations for bringing Uruguayan tango to international classical music audiences.