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.

The village is located on Route 30, on the tripoint with Salto and Artigas departments, in the municipality of Tranqueras.

In 1904 a notable battle was fought at Masoller between the opposing forces of the Colorados, led by José Batlle y Ordóñez, and the Blancos, led by Aparicio Saravia, resulting in a victory for the former. The Battle of Masoller is reckoned to mark the end of the intermittent civil war which occurred throughout much of 19th century Uruguay.

A longstanding border dispute involving territory in the vicinity of Masoller exists between Uruguay and Brazil, although this has not harmed close diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries; Brazil and Uruguay have not actively asserted overt measures to reinforce their respective claims to the area such as by sending troops to the vicinity. The disputed area is called Rincón de Artigas (Rincão de Artigas), and the dispute arises from the fact that the treaty that delimited the Brazil Uruguay border in 1851 determined that the border in that area would be a creek called Arroyo de la Invernada (Arroio da Invernada), but the two countries disagree on which actual stream is the so named one. So far, Rincón de Artigas is effectively under Brazilian control. The village of Masoller itself is in undisputed Uruguayan territory, just a few hundred metres from the largely unmarked and unimpeded de facto international border.