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Argentina |
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In 1816, the United Provinces of the Rio Plata declared their independence from Spain. Eventually, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay went their own way, but the area that remained became Argentina. The country's population and culture were subsequently heavily shaped by immigrants from throughout Europe, but most particularly Italy and Spain, which provided the largest percentage of newcomers from 1860 to 1930. Up until about the mid-20th century, much of Argentina's history was dominated by periods of internal political conflict between Federalists and Unitarians and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, an era of Peronist authoritarian rule and interference in subsequent governments was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976. Democracy returned in 1983, and has persisted despite numerous challenges, the most formidable of which was a severe economic crisis in 2001-02 that led to violent public protests and the resignation of several interim presidents. The economy has since recovered strongly since bottoming out in 2002. The government renegotiated its public debt in 2005 and paid off its remaining obligations to the IMF in early 2006.
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Understand
Argentina is the second-largest country in South America, and the eighth-largest in the world. It is also the highest and the lowest of the continent; at 6.960m Cerro Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in the whole American continent, while Salinas Chicas, at 40m below sea level, is the lowest point.
At the southern tip of Argentina there are several routes between the South Atlantic and the South Pacific Oceans including the Strait of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, and the Drake Passage as an alternative sailing around Cape Horn in the open ocean between South America and Antarctica.
Climate
Buenos Aires and the Pampas are temperate; cool in the winter, hot and humid in the summer.
The deserts of Cuyo are extremely hot and dry in the summer and moderately cold and dry in the winter. Spring and fall often exhibit rapid temperature reversals; several days of extremely hot weather may be followed by several days of cold weather, then back to extremely hot.
The Andes are cool in the summer and very cold in the winter, varying according to altitude.
Patagonia is cool in the summer and cold in the winter. Extreme temperature shifts within a single day are even more common here; pack a variety of clothes and dress in layers.
Don't forget that seasons are reversed from those of the Northern Hemisphere.
Terrain
The central region of Argentina is mostly the rich plain known as La Pampa. There is jungle in the extreme northern areas, especially on the east. The southern half of Argentina is dominated by the flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia. The western border with Chile is along the rugged Andes mountains, including the Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. The western Cuyo regions at the base of the Andes are mostly rocky desert.
History
Following independence from Spain in 1816, Argentina experienced periods of internal political conflict between conservatives and liberals. In the first decade of the 20th century, Argentina became the richest nation in Latin America, its wealth symbolized by the opulence of its capital city.
European immigrants flowed into Argentina, particularly from Italy; by 1914 nearly 6 million people had come to the country.
After World War II, a long period of Peronist rule in subsequent governments was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976.
Democracy returned in 1983 after the abortive attempt to wrest the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) from United Kingdom sovereignity.
A painful economic collapse at the turn of the 21st century devalued the Argentine peso by a factor of three and ushered in a series of weak, short-lived governments along with social and economic instability. As of 2006, the country has stabilized under President Nestor Kirchner, and the economy has begun to recover.
Language
The official language is Spanish. The regional dialect, Rioplatense Spanish, is subtly different from both the language of Spain and that of Central America; most notably, the pronoun "tu" is replaced by "vos" (with separate verb conjugations, sometimes significantly different for irregular verbs); "y" and "ll" are pronounced ranging from an English "sh"...
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