Martín García is in Uruguayan waters and was disputed between Argentina and Uruguay, but in 1973 they reached an agreement establishing it as Argentine territory to be used solely as a nature reserve.

The historical island of Martín García was strategically located, and was the site of a fortification built in the 1820s by Argentine forces to deny the Brazilian navy access to the Uruguay River.

Several Argentine political figures have been held under arrest at the island by military governments, including presidents Hipólito Yrigoyen (1930), Juan Perón (1945), and Arturo Frondizi (1962).

In 1814, Admiral William Brown, commanding a fleet, landed on the island and defeated the royalists, leaving Martin Garcia in the hands of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

In 1838, during the government of Buenos Aires Province Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas, Martín García was also attacked by Anglo-French forces.

President Domingo Sarmiento proposed a base on the island in 1850, with Argirópolis City as the capital of a micro state administered jointly by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

[6] Most of the German survivors of the SMS Cap Trafalgar rescued by the collier Eleonore Woermann in September 1914 and taken to Buenos Aires were interned for the duration of the war on the Argentine-controlled island.

The jurisdictional status of the island was formally established by the Treaty of Río de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay on November 19, 1973.

Among its notable sights are the old Chinatown, a center of immigrants; the remains of the fortifications, the prison infirmary, and the forest inhabited by red deer.

The island is also home to a variety of reptiles, lizards, geckos, turtles, frogs, coypu (or pseudonutrias), capybaras, alligators, red deer.