It was discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition of 1903–05, under J.B. Charcot who named it after the Argentine corvette ARA Uruguay.

The island was recharted in 1935 by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) under John Rymill.

The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a breeding colony of about 200 pairs of imperial shags.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from "Uruguay Island".

This Wilhelm Archipelago location article is a stub.