Argentina

República Argentina Argentine Republic
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: En unión y libertad  (Spanish) "In Union and Freedom"
Anthem: Himno Nacional Argentino
Capital (and largest city)	Buenos Aires 1) 34°20′S 58°30′W
Official languages	Spanish
Government	Federal republic
- President	Néstor Kirchner
- Vice President	Daniel Scioli
Independence	from Spain
- May Revolution	25 May 1810
- Declared	9 July 1816
- Recognized	1821 (by Spain)
Area
- Total	2,766,890 1 km² (8th) 1,073,514 sq mi
- Water (%)	1.1
Population
- 2006 estimate	40,060,000 (30th)
- 2001 census	36,260,130
- Density	14 /km² (195th) 36 /sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
- Total	US $548.754 billion (22nd)
- Per capita	US $14,838 (48th)
HDI (2004)	0.863 (high) (36th)
Currency	Peso (ARS)
Time zone	ART (UTC-3)
- Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC-3)
Internet TLD	.ar
Calling code	+54
1 Argentina also has a territorial dispute with the United Kingdom over an additional 1,000,000 km² of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, for a total of 3,761,274 km² (1,452,236 sq mi).

Argentina is a country in southern South America. It ranks second in land area in South America, and eighth in the world.

Argentina occupies a continental surface area of 2,766,890  km² (1,078,000 sq mi) between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. The country claims the British controlled territories of the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Under the name of Argentine Antarctica, it claims 969,464 km² (374,312 sq mi) of Antarctica, overlapping other claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom.

The country is formally called the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina, IPA ). For many legal purposes, Nación Argentina (Argentine Nation) is used.

Origin and history of the name

"Argentina" derives from the Latin argentum (silver). When the first Spanish conquistadors discovered the Río de la Plata, they named the estuary Mar Dulce ('Sweet Sea', as in a fresh water sea). Indigenous people gave gifts of silver to the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition, who were led by Juan Díaz de Solís. The legend of Sierra del Plata – a mountain rich in silver – reached Spain around 1524, and the name was first seen in print on a Venice map from 1536. The source of the silver was the area where the city of Potosí was to be founded in 1546. An expedition that followed the trail of the silver up the Paraná and Pilcomayo rivers finally reached the source only to find it already claimed by explorers who reached it from Lima, the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

The name Argentina was first used extensively in the 1612 book Historia del descubrimiento, población, y conquista del Río de la Plata (History of the discovery, population, and conquest of the Río de la Plata) by Ruy Díaz de Guzmán, naming the territory Tierra Argentina (Land of Silver). In British English, the traditional name of the country is The Argentine but this term is no longer in common use.

History

The first signs of human presence in Argentina are located in the Patagonia (Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz), and date from 11,000 BC. Around 1 AD, several corn-based civilizations developed in the Andean region (Santa María, Huarpes, Diaguitas, Sanavirones, among others). In 1480, the Inca Empire under the rule of emperor Pachacutec launched an offensive and conquered present-day northwestern Argentina, integrating it into a region called Collasuyu. In the northeastern area, the Guaraní developed a culture based on yuca and sweet potato. The central and southern areas (Pampas and Patagonia) were dominated by nomadic cultures, unified in the seventeenth century by the Mapuches.

European explorers arrived in 1516. Spain established a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580; the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776. In 1806 and 1807 the British Empire launched two invasions to Buenos Aires, but the creole population repelled both attempts. On May 25, 1810, after confirmation of the rumors about the overthrow of King Ferdinand VII by Napoleon, citizens of Buenos Aires took advantage of the situation and created the First Government Junta (May Revolution). Formal independence from Spain was declared on July 9, 1816 in Tucumán.

In 1817, General José de San Martín crossed the Andes to free Chile and Peru, thus eliminating the Spanish threat. Centralist and federalist groups (Spanish: Unitarios and Federales) were in conflict until national unity was established and the constitution promulgated in 1853.

Foreign inv