Argentina (ärjəntē'nə, Span. ärhāntē'nä) , officially Argentine Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 39,538,000), 1,072,157 sq mi (2,776,889 sq km), S South America. Argentina is bordered by Chile on the west, Bolivia and Paraguay on the north, Brazil and Uruguay on the northeast, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Buenos Aires is the country's capital and largest city.
Land and People
Argentina is triangular in shape and stretches c.2,300 mi (3,700 km) from its broad northern region near the Tropic of Capricorn to Tierra del Fuego, an island shared with Chile, in the south. On the northeast, Argentina fronts on the Río de la Plata (an estuary and one of the major waterways of the Western Hemisphere), which separates Argentina from S Uruguay; its tributaries also act as international boundaries—the Uruguay River, with W Uruguay and S Brazil, and the Paraná, Paraguay, and Pilcomayo rivers, with Paraguay. The northwest boundary with Bolivia lies in the Gran Chaco and the Andes Mts. The western boundary with Chile follows the crestline of the Andes. The Atlantic Ocean borders Argentina on the east; there, off S Argentina, are the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), and the South Georgia, South Sandwich, and South Orkney islands, all dependencies of Great Britain that are claimed by Argentina.
Argentina also claims a sector of Antarctica. The climate of Argentina varies from subtropical in the north to cold and windswept in the south, with temperate and dry areas found throughout much of the country. Precipitation, lowest along the E Andean slopes, increases markedly N and E across Argentina. The chief rivers of Argentina are the Paraná with its tributary, the Salado; the Colorado River; the Río Negro; and the Chubut.
Argentina may be divided into six geographical regions—the Paraná Plateau, the Gran Chaco, the Pampa (see under pampas), the Monte, Patagonia, and the Andes Mts. The Paraná Plateau in the extreme northeast is an extension of the highlands of S Brazil. It is the wettest part of Argentina and has a dense forest cover; tobacco, timber, and yerba maté are the chief products there. The spectacular Iguaçu Falls are in a national park located at the point where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet.
In N Argentina the Gran Chaco, with the physiographically similar Mesopotamia (between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers), is a predominantly flat alluvial plain with a subtropical climate. The region is seasonally flooded, and marshlands remain for long periods during the year because of poor drainage. Livestock, cotton, and wood from the quebracho tree are the main products.
South of the Gran Chaco is the Pampa, a vast, monotonous natural grassland that extends to the Colorado River (roughly from lat. 30°S to 40°S) and is c.400 mi (640 km) wide from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andean foothills. The Pampa's deep, rich soil is the basic wealth of the country. The “Wet Pampa,” the more humid eastern part of the region, is Argentina's principal agricultural area and produces most of the nation's exports. It is the granary of South America, with wheat, alfalfa, corn, and flax the principal crops. Cattle ranching is prevalent throughout the Pampa and especially in the southeast and north; sheep are also raised there. Dairying is important in the vicinity of Buenos Aires. The Pampa has the densest transportation network of roads and railroads in South America.
Most of the principal cities of Argentina and most of its industry are found in the region. Buenos Aires, a port city on the Río de la Plata, is one of the largest cities of South America and the chief industrial center and transportation hub of S South America; it is surrounded by smaller industrial cities. Elsewhere on the Pampa are La Plata, a meatpacking and oil-refining center; Rosario, the third largest city of Argentina, an iron and steel and oil-refining center, and a huge grain port on the Paraná River; Santa Fe, a northern commercial and industrial center at the junction of the Salado and Paraná rivers; Mar del Plata, a resort and fishing center on the Atlantic Ocean; and Bahía Blanca, the largest Argentine port directly on the Atlantic Ocean, a gateway to the S Pampa and the oil fields of Neuquén prov., and a meatpacking and wool-processing center. On the western edge of the Pampa is Córdoba, the nation's second largest city, which reflects the transition from the “Dry Pampa” to the Monte, the desolate Andean foothills.
The Monte, an arid region in the rain shadow of the Andes, has natural vegetation varying from short grasses in the east to cacti in the west. Scattered throughout the great arid stretches are small but highly productive oases such as Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, San Juan, and Mendoza, which were settled from Peru and Upper Peru (Bolivia) in the second half of the 16th cent. The oases, whose growth and importance greatly increased after they were linked by railroad to the east coast, produce wine, sugar, fruits, and corn; stock raising is also carried on there. The varied mineral deposits of this region (especially oil, lead, zinc, tin, copper, and salt) are being exploited. Mendoza and Tucumán are major industrial areas engaged in food processing, oil refining, and chemical production.
Occupying the southern part of Argentina is Patagonia, a vast, bleak, and windswept dissected plateau. Several large rivers flow in deep valleys eastward across Patagonia to the sea. Sheep raising (chiefly for wool) and oil and natural gas production (the area around Comodoro Rivadavia is the chief oil-producing region of Argentina) are the principal economic activities of Patagonia. The poor soils of Patagonia and its cool and dry climate do not favor cultivation, although irrigated agriculture is practiced in the Negro and Colorado river valleys. Patagonia is sparsely populated and largely undeveloped, with a few small river-mouth ports on the Atlantic coast such as Viedma, Rawson, Puerto Deseado, and Río Gallegos. Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, on Canal Beagle, is the world's southernmost town.
The Andes Mts. region of Argentina, broad in the north, where it is similar to the Bolivian altiplano, and becoming narrower toward the south, extends along the length of Argentina's western border. The region, which contains some of the world's highest elevations outside Asia—including Aconcagua (22,835 ft/6,960 m high; the highest point of the Western hemisphere), Bonete, Tupungato, Mercedario, and Llullaillaco—acts as a barrier to the moist westerly winds, thus giving the eastern slopes of the Andes a desert condition that contrasts with the heavy snowfall on the higher elevations. There are timber and mineral resources, but they are not readily exploitable because of the region's inaccessibility. Cattle are raised on the grassy Andean foothills. There are many beautiful lakes in the region, especially where it merges with the Patagonian plateau; Lake Nahuel Huapí in Nahuel Huapí National Park, adjoining the Chilean lake district, is an attractive resort area.
Argentina, unlike most Latin American nations, has a population that is principally of European descent, especially of Italian and Spanish origin. The mestizo portion of Argentina's population is very small, except in the northwest, because there has been little mixture between European and indigenous peoples. The native population, which has steadily declined since the coming of the Europeans, who decimated its ranks and its culture, is still strong only in parts of the Gran Chaco and the Andean highlands. Italian, Spanish (including Basque), French, German, British, Swiss, and East European immigrants came to Argentina during the 1880s; other large in-migrations of Europeans occurred in the 1930s and following World War II. There has also been some in-migration of Chileans, Bolivians, and Paraguayans.
The gaucho, or Argentine cowboy, the nomadic herder of the Pampas—depicted in Martín Fierro, the great Argentine folk epic by José Hernández—is still a legendary national symbol. Many gauchos were people of mixed Spanish and black descent who had crossed the border from Brazil to escape slavery. By the 1990s, however, Argentina had a predominantly urban population with about four fifths of its people living in cities and towns; more than a third of the total population lives in and around Buenos Aires.
About 90% of the population is at least nominally Roman Catholic. The Jewish population, while only accounting for about 2% of the people, is the largest in Latin America and the fifth largest in the world. Spanish is the country's official language, although Italian is spoken as well. Argentina has one of South America's lowest population growth rates (1.1%) and one of its highest literacy rates (96%). Education is required until students become 15.
Economy
Argentina's economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, but the industrial and service sectors have also grown in importance in recent years. Livestock (cattle and sheep) and grains have long been the bulwark of its wealth; its cattle herds are among the world's finest. As an exporter of wheat, corn, flax, oats, beef, mutton, hides, and wool, Argentina rivals the United States, Canada, and Australia. Its other agricultural products include oilseeds, sorghum, soybeans, and sugar beets. Argentina is the world's largest source of tannin and linseed oil. The Pampa is the nation's chief agricultural area; however, since the 1930s there has been a great rise in production in other areas, especially in the oases of the Monte and the irrigated valleys of N Patagonia.
Although Argentina has a variety of minerals, they are of local importance and are not completely adequate to support the country's industries. Domestic oil and gas production has made the nation self-sufficient in energy; pipelines connect the oil and gas fields with Buenos Aires and other major refining centers. Argentina also exploits its ample hydroelectric resources. The large coal field of S Patagonia has low-grade coal.
Argentine industry, developed after World War I and long protected by a strong nationalistic policy, made the country virtually self-sufficient in the production of consumer goods and many types of machinery. Food processing (in particular meatpacking, flour milling, and canning) is the chief manufacturing industry; textiles, leather goods, and chemicals are also major products. Argentina's principal imports are machinery, metals, and other manufactured goods. The chief trading partners are the United States, Brazil, and Italy and other European Union countries. Argentina is a member of Mercosur.
In recent decades Argentina has experienced both inflation and recession. Privatization and other economic reforms begun by President Menem in the early 1990s produced unprecedented economic growth, but significant economic problems remained, including high unemployment and a massive national debt (due to freehanded government spending and widespread tax evasion). The economy was hurt by Brazil's recession and currency devaluation in the late 1990s, but the pegging of the peso to the dollar combined with Argentina's own economic problems resulted in economic collapse in 2001. The economy did not begin to grow strongly again until 2003.
Government
Argentina is composed of 23 provinces and one federal district (Buenos Aires). It is governed by the 1853 constitution as modified in 1898 and amended in 1994. It has a federal system of government. Beginning with the 1995 elections, the president and vice president are elected by popular vote for four-year terms and can be reelected once. The popularly elected bicameral national congress is composed of 72 senators (three from each province, the federal district, and the national territory), who serve six-year terms, and 257 deputies (based on proportional representation), who serve four-year terms. The supreme court of justice, the nation's highest court, has nine members. Each province has its own elected governor and legislature and its own judicial system. The chief political parties of Argentina are the Justicialist party (Peronista), the Radical Civic Union, the Union of the Democratic Center, and the Frepaso party.
History
Early History
Little is known of the earliest inhabitants of the region. Only in NW Argentina was there a native population with a material culture. They were an agricultural people (recalled today by ruins N of Jujuy), but their importance was eclipsed later by the Araucanians from Chile. Europeans probably first arrived in the region in 1502 in the voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. The southern inhabitants at that time primarily hunted and fished, while the northwestern Incas were agricultural and quite advanced, having built a highway before the arrival of the Spanish. The search for a Southwest Passage to Asia and the East Indies brought Juan Díaz de Solís to the Río de la Plata in 1516. Ferdinand Magellan entered (1520) the estuary, and Sebastian Cabot ascended (1536) the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. His delight in native ornaments may be responsible for the names Río de la Plata [silver river] and Argentina [of silver].
Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 founded the first settlement of the present Buenos Aires, but native attacks forced abandonment of the settlement, and Asunción became the unquestioned leading city of the Río de la Plata region. Buenos Aires was refounded in 1580 by Juan de Garay. His son-in-law, Hernando Arias de Saavedra (Hernandarias), secured the division of the Río de la Plata territories, and Buenos Aires achieved (1617) a sort of semi-independence under the viceroyalty of Peru.
The mercantilist system, however, severely hampered the commerce of Buenos Aires, and smuggling, especially with Portuguese traders in Brazil, became an accepted profession. While the cities of present W and NW Argentina grew by supplying the mining towns of the Andes, Buenos Aires was threatened by Portuguese competition. By the 18th cent., cattle (which were introduced to the Pampas in the 1550s) roamed wild throughout the Pampas in large herds and were hunted by gauchos for their skins and fat.
In 1776 the Spanish government made Buenos Aires a free port and the capital of a viceroyalty that included present Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and (briefly) Bolivia. From this combination grew the idea of a Greater Argentina to include all the Río de la Plata countries, a dream that was to haunt many Argentine politicians after independence was won.
