Argentina

Argentina is a nation in southern South America, formally known as the Argentine Republic. Argentina is the second biggest nation in South America, after Brazil, the fourth largest in the Americas, and the eighth largest in the globe with a land area of 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,500 sq mi).

Along with Chile to the west, it borders Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. It also shares the majority of the Southern Cone with Chile. Argentina is a federal state with twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which serves as both the country’s capital and biggest metropolis.

Despite having separate constitutions, the capital and the provinces are part of a federal government. The Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, and a portion of Antarctica are all claimed by Argentina.

The Paleolithic era is when humans were first known to have lived in what is now Argentina. In pre-Columbian times, the Inca Empire grew to the northwest of the nation. The Spanish colonization of the area in the sixteenth century is the origin of the nation.

The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish foreign viceroyalty established in 1776, was succeeded by Argentina. Following the proclamation of independence and the subsequent battle for independence (1810–1818), a protracted civil war ensued until 1861, at which point the nation was reorganized as a federation.

Following that, the nation experienced a period of comparatively calm and stability while waves of European immigrants, mostly from Italy and Spain, shaped its demographics and culture.

President Juan Perón passed away in 1974, and his wife, Vice President Isabel Perón, took over as leader of the country until her removal in 1976. In the Dirty War, a period of state terrorism and civil unrest that lasted until Raúl Alfonsín was elected president in 1983, thousands of political critics, activists, and communists were imprisoned and executed by the military dictatorship that followed, with US help.

Argentina continues to hold its historical position as a medium state in international affairs while also being a regional force. Argentina, a significant non-NATO ally of the US, is a developing nation that has the second-highest human development index (HDI) in Latin America, after Chile.

It is a G-15 and G20 member and maintains the second-biggest economy in South America. In addition, Argentina was a founding member of the World Bank, the Organization of Ibero-American States, Mercosur, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the United Nations.

Etymology

The term “Argentina” was first used to describe the region on a Venetian map in 1536.

Although the name Argentina is derived from Spanish in English, the Italian naming convention predates Spanish linguistic usage. Derived from the Latin argentum, which meaning silver, Argentina (masculine argentino) implies “(made) of silver, silver coloured” in Italian. It is called “l’Argentina” in Italian when the adjective or proper noun is employed independently as a substantive and takes its place.

Giovanni Caboto and other Venetian and Genoese navigators are said to have given Argentina its name initially. Although there are terms for “silver” and “covered in silver” in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively, plata and prata mean “silver” and plateado and prateado mean “(made) of silver.” The mythology of the Silver Mountains, which was initially popularized by early European explorers of the La Plata Basin, was first connected to Argentina.

The earliest recorded citation of the term in Spanish dates back to Martín del Barco Centenera’s 1602 poem, La Argentina, which describes the area. The nation was officially designated “Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata” by the Spanish Empire, and “United Provinces of the Río de la Plata” after independence, even though the term “Argentina” was already widely used by the 18th century.

The term “Argentine Republic” was first used in official papers in the constitution of 1826. In addition, the term “Argentine Confederation” was widely used and officially adopted in the 1853 Argentine Constitution. A presidential decree in 1860 established the “Argentine Republic” as the official name of the nation; the following year, a constitutional amendment declared all names used since 1810 to be legally recognized.

The nation was once referred to in English as “the Argentine,” possibly as a result of the longer term “Argentine Republic” being mispronounced, as was the case with the customary Spanish use of la Argentina. In the mid-to-late 20th century, “the Argentine” went out of style; nowadays, the nation is just called “Argentina”.

In the past

Pre-Columbian era

The Paleolithic era is when the earliest signs of human habitation in what is now Argentina were found, followed by the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Argentina was very sparsely populated by a wide range of distinct civilizations with various social systems prior to the era of European invasion. These cultures may be broadly categorized into three groupings.

The first category, which includes the Selk’nam and Yaghan in the far south, are primitive hunters and gatherers who have not developed pottery. The second group, comprised of the Puelche, Querandí, and Serranos in the center-east, the Tehuelche in the south (all subjugated by the Mapuche extending from Chile), and the Kom and Wichi in the north, are sophisticated hunters and food gatherers.

The final group consists of farmers who make pottery, like the Huarpe in the center-west who raised llama cattle and were heavily influenced by the Incas; the advanced Diaguita sedentary trading culture in the northwest, which was conquered by the Inca Empire around 1480; and the Charrúa, Minuane, and Guaraní in the northeast who lived a semisedentary life.

Colonial era

Amerigo Vespucci’s expedition in 1502 brought the first European settlers to the area. In 1516 and 1526, respectively, the Spanish navigators Juan Díaz de Solís and Sebastian Cabot made landfall in the region that is now Argentina. The little town of Buenos Aires was established in 1536 by Pedro de Mendoza and abandoned in 1541.

Additional attempts at colonization occurred from Chile, Peru, and Paraguay, which established the Governorate of the Río de la Plata. In 1553, Francisco de Aguirre established Santiago del Estero. Mendoza (1561), San Juan (1562), Londres (1558), and San Miguel de Tucumán (1565) were all founded. In 1573, Juan de Garay established Santa Fe, while Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera created Córdoba in the same year. In 1580, Garay ventured even farther south and refounded Buenos Aires. The city of San Luis was founded in 1596.

The Argentine territory’s economic potential was subjugated by the Spanish Empire to the immediate wealth of the silver and gold mines in Bolivia and Peru. As a result, it was incorporated into the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1776, when Buenos Aires became the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

In 1806 and 1807, Buenos Aires successfully resisted two misguided British invasions. The absolutist monarchy that controlled the nation was criticized for its ideals from the Age of Enlightenment and for following the model set by the first Atlantic Revolutions. The toppling of Ferdinand VII during the Peninsular War caused enormous worry, as it did across Spanish America.

Independence and civil wars

The May Revolution of 1810 installed the First Junta, a new local administration in Buenos Aires, in place of Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, starting a process that would eventually lead to Argentina becoming the Viceroyalty’s successor state. The Junta defeated a royalist counterrevolution in Córdoba during the early stages of the Independence War, but it was unable to defeat similar uprisings in Banda Oriental, Upper Peru, and Paraguay, which went on to become independent republics. Then, in order to conduct war against Spain abroad, French-Argentine Hippolyte Bouchard deployed his navy and launched attacks against Spanish California, Spanish Peru, and Spanish the Philippines.

Due to shared grievances between Argentina and the Philippines over Spanish colonization, he was able to win the loyalty of escapee Filipinos at San Blas who had turned against the Spanish and joined the Argentine navy. Before this, Juan Fermín de San Martín, the brother of Jose de San Martin, was already in the Philippines inciting revolutionary enthusiasm.

Later, the Sun of May, an Argentine emblem with Inca origins, was adopted by the Filipinos as a symbol in the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule. Additionally, he succeeded in getting King Kamehameha I of the Kingdom of Hawaii to recognize Argentina diplomatically. According to historian Pacho O’Donnell, Hawaii was the first state to acknowledge Argentina’s independence. Finally, in 1819, he was taken into custody by Chilean patriots.

The Centralists and the Federalists, two opposing factions of the revolutionaries, would come to characterize Argentina’s early decades of independence. Argentina’s first Supreme Director was named Gervasio Antonio de Posadas by the Assembly of the Year XIII.

The Declaration of Independence was formally adopted by the Congress of Tucumán on July 9, 1816, and is still observed as a national holiday on that day. After a year, General José de San Martín and General Martín Miguel de Güemes defeated the royalists in the north.

Along with Bernardo O’Higgins, he led a joint force across the Andes to guarantee Chile’s freedom. O’Higgins then gave the command to send the army to Lima, the Spanish bastion, where they announced Peru’s independence. Federalists quickly overthrew Buenos Aires’ centralist constitution, which had been approved in 1819.

The Inca plan of 1816, put up by some of the most influential personalities in Argentine independence movements, called for the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina) to be ruled as a monarchy under the leadership of an Inca descendent. The half-brother of Túpac Amaru II, Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru, was suggested as the heir apparent. Among those who backed this idea were Martín Miguel de Güemes, José de San Martín, and Manuel Belgrano. In the end, the Tucumán Congress chose to reject the Inca proposal and establish a republican, centralist state in its place.

The Supreme Director rule came to an end in 1820 as a result of the Centralists’ defeat over the Federalists at the Battle of Cepeda. Another centralist constitution was passed in Buenos Aires in 1826, and Bernardino Rivadavia was named the nation’s first president. But shortly after, the interior regions rebelled against him, forcing him to quit and toss out the constitution.

The civil war was renewed by Federalists and Centralists; the latter won and, under Juan Manuel de Rosas’ leadership, established the Argentine Confederation in 1831. He faced three blockades throughout his reign: the War of the Confederation (1836–1839), the Anglo-French blockade (1845–1850), and a French blockade (1838–1840). Despite these challenges, he managed to stay unbeaten and stop further loss of national territory.

But his trade restrictions infuriated the interior provinces, and another strong caudillo, Justo José de Urquiza, ousted him from office in 1852. Urquiza enacted the liberal and federal 1853 Constitution in his capacity as the Confederation’s new president. After losing the Battle of Cepeda in 1859, Buenos Aires broke away from the Confederation but was eventually compelled to return.

Rise of the modern nation

Bartolomé Mitre established Buenos Aires’ supremacy and was chosen as the nation’s first president after defeating Urquiza in the Battle of Pavón in 1861. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Nicolás Avellaneda succeeded him, laying the groundwork for the current Argentine State.

Ten federal governments in a row, beginning with Julio Argentino Roca in 1880, prioritized liberal economic policies. Second only to the United States, they fostered a large surge of European immigration that nearly completely transformed Argentine society and the economy, making it the seventh richest developed nation in the world by 1908.

Argentina’s population increased five times and its economy fifteen times between 1870 and 1910, driven by a wave of immigration and declining mortality. The country’s wheat exports increased from 100,000 to 2,500,000 t (110,000 to 2,760,000 short tons) annually, while its frozen beef exports increased from 25,000 to 365,000 t (28,000 to 402,000 short tons) annually, ranking it among the top five exporters in the world.

The railway’s length increased from 313 to 19,327 miles, or 503 to 31,104 kilometers. With the help of a brand-new public, free, obligatory education system, literacy rose rapidly from 22% to 65%—a number that other Latin American countries would not even approach until fifty years later.

Furthermore, between 1862 and 1920, per capita income increased from 67% of developed nation levels to 100% due to the real GDP’s rapid growth, even in the face of a massive influx of immigrants: Argentina was among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of per capita GDP in 1865. It had overtaken Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands by 1908, and was now ranked seventh, after the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Australia.

Argentina outperformed Italy by 70%, Spain by 90%, Japan by 180%, and Brazil by 400% in terms of per capita income. Notwithstanding these noteworthy accomplishments, the nation struggled to reach its initial industrialization targets: in the 1930s, a sizable portion of the manufacturing sector was still heavily dependent on labor, following the sharp rise of local, capital-intensive sectors in the 1920s.

The so-called Conquest of the Desert took place between 1878 and 1884, with the aim of doubling the area of Argentine territory through the annexation of indigenous regions and ongoing conflicts between natives and Criollos along the border. The first conquest was a sequence of military assaults into indigenous-populated Pampa and Patagonian lands, which were then divided among the expedition’s backers, the Sociedad Rural Argentina. Chaco was not fully integrated into the national economy until cotton production supplanted the extraction of wood and tannin, hence the conquest continued until the century’s conclusion.

The indigenous population of Argentina was viewed by the government as less than human and did not have the same rights as Europeans or Criollos.

Because of the unrestricted and secret male suffrage that President Roque Sáenz Peña instituted in 1912, Hipólito Yrigoyen, the head of the Radical Civic Union (or UCR), was able to win the 1916 election. He helped small farms and enterprises and implemented social and economic changes. Argentina did not side with any side in World War I. The Great Depression created an economic catastrophe that Yrigoyen’s second government had to deal with.

Yrigoyen lost his position of authority in 1930 when José Félix Uriburu headed the military. Even though Argentina was one of the richest nations in the world until the middle of the 20th century, this coup d’état signaled the beginning of the nation’s long-term social and economic downfall, which drove Argentina back into underdevelopment.

After two years of Uriburu’s administration, Agustín Pedro Justo was elected through a rigged election and went on to make a contentious treaty with the United Kingdom. Argentina chose to remain neutral during World War II, a course of action that was endorsed by the British but was rebuffed by the US following the assault on Pearl Harbor. General Arturo Rawson’s military coup of état overthrew Ramón Castillo’s democratically elected administration in 1943. Later, on March 27, 1945—roughly one month before the conclusion of World War II in Europe—Argentina declared war on the Axis Powers in response to pressure from the United States.

Juan Perón, a relatively obscure military colonel, led the Labor Department under the Rawson dictatorship. Perón made swift political ascents, and by 1944 he was designated Minister of Defense. He was compelled to quit in 1945 after being seen as a political danger by the conservative camp and competitors in the military, and he was jailed a few days later. Under increasing pressure from his supporters and many associated unions, he was eventually freed. Later on, as the Laborioust candidate, he would win the 1946 general election with a resounding victory over the UCR and go on to become president.

Years of the Peronists

When Juan Perón was elected president of Argentina in 1946, the Labour Party (later called the Justicialist Party) became the most powerful and prominent political organization in the country’s history. He claimed to have achieved virtually full employment, nationalized critical industries and services, raised wages and improved working conditions, and paid off the whole foreign debt.

He created a social assistance program for the most disadvantaged members of society and lobbied Congress to grant women the right to vote in 1947. 1950 saw the start of the economy’s downturn, partly because of government spending and protectionist economic measures.

Additionally, he carried out a campaign of political repression. Physical violence, intimidation, and harassment were all directed toward anyone who was seen to be a possible rival or political dissident. Particularly problematic groups were teachers, university students, the middle class, and the intellectuals in Argentina. More than 2,000 academics and staff personnel were let go by Perón from all of the country’s top public schools.

In an attempt to subjugate the majority of trade and labor unions, Perón frequently used violence when necessary. For example, once elected labor movement officials were forcibly removed by Peronist Party puppets, Cipriano Reyes, the leader of the meatpackers union, coordinated strikes against the government. Reyes was apprehended shortly after on suspicion of terrorism, even though the accusations were never verified. Reyes spent five years being tortured in prison without ever being convicted; he was finally set free following the overthrow of the dictatorship in 1955.

In 1951, Perón succeeded in winning reelection. In 1952, his spouse Eva Perón, who was influential in the party, passed away from cancer. Perón began to lose popularity from the public as the economy collapsed and he was perceived as a danger to the country’s political system. Because of Perón’s waning political influence, the Navy bombarded the Plaza de Mayo in 1955. Perón escaped the attack, but he was overthrown and sent into exile in Spain following the coup that took place during the Liberating Revolution a few months later.

Revolución Libertadora

Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, the new head of state, outlawed Peronism and disallowed the party from running in any further elections. The winner of the 1958 general election was Arturo Frondizi of the UCR. Reversing a long-standing trade imbalance and lifting the ban on Peronism, he promoted investment to attain industrial and energy self-sufficiency.

However, his attempts to maintain good relations with the military and the Peronists resulted in his rejection by both, and a fresh coup drove him from office. Against this backdrop of political unrest, Senate leader José María Guido moved quickly to enact anti-power vacuum laws and even took the president; elections were canceled and Peronism was outlawed once more.

After Arturo Illia was elected in 1963 and brought about widespread prosperity, he was deposed in 1966 by another military coup d’état in the self-declared Argentine Revolution, headed by General Juan Carlos Onganía. This resulted in the establishment of a new military administration that wanted to reign forever.

Perón’s comeback and demise

In 1971, the military junta named Alejandro Agustín Lanusse president after imposing martial law for a number of years. In 1973, Lanusse called for elections as political pressure for the restoration of democracy grew. The Peronist party was permitted to compete, but Perón was prohibited from running.

Left-winger Hector Cámpora, who was elected as Perón’s proxy, was victorious in the presidential contest and assumed office on May 25, 1973. A month later, in June, Perón returned from Spain. Amnesty was one of Cámpora’s first acts as president, given to individuals who had been convicted and given jail sentences by courts, as well as members of groups that had committed terrorist attacks and political killings. Throughout the months that Cámpora was in power, social and political instability plagued his administration.

In the course of one month, there were almost 600 instances of social unrest, strikes, and workplace occupations. Despite the fact that far-left terrorist groups had given up on using force, the right-wing Peronist faction saw their integration into the democratic process as a direct danger.

Cámpora and Vice President Vicente Solano Lima resigned in July 1973 in a condition of political, social, and economic turmoil, calling for fresh elections with Perón as the Justicialist Party nominee. With his wife Isabel serving as vice president, Perón won the election.

The third term of Perón was characterized by growing hostility between left and right-wing factions within the Peronist party and the reappearance of armed terror guerrilla organizations such as the state-backed far-right Triple-A, leftist Peronist Montoneros, and Guevarist ERP. In 1974, following several heart attacks and symptoms of pneumonia, Perón’s health rapidly declined. On Monday, July 1, 1974, he had his last heart attack and passed away at 13:15. His age was 78 years.

His wife and vice president, Isabel Perón, took over as president after his passing. During her administration, the de facto head of state was once again a military dictatorship led by the far-right fascist part of the Peronists. Argentina’s president Isabel Perón held office from 1974 until her military overthrow in 1976. During her brief president, the political and social structures of Argentina collapsed, resulting in a constitutional crisis that set the stage for a decade of unrest, left-wing terrorist guerrilla assaults, and state-sponsored terrorism.

National Reorganization Process

Operation Condor, in which other right-wing dictatorships in the Southern Cone took part, including the “Dirty War” (Spanish: Guerra Sucia). During the Dirty War, political dissidents were targeted by state terrorism in Argentina and other Southern Cone countries. The military and security forces used violence in both urban and rural areas to suppress left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone else they thought to be connected to socialism or in some way opposed to the regime’s neoliberal economic policies.

An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 left-wing activists and militants, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas, and purported supporters, were among the victims of the violence in Argentina alone. State terrorism claimed the lives of the majority of the victims.

Up to 230 civilians and between 500 and 540 military and police officers were killed by the opposing insurgents. Under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan, the United States provided Argentina with military assistance and technological support.

Although the precise timing of the repression is still up for question, trade unionists may have been the target of assassinations by Peronist and Marxist paramilitaries in 1969, which may have laid the groundwork for the protracted political conflict.

One may further link specific instances of state-sponsored terrorism against Peronism and the left to the 1955 Plaza de Mayo bombing. Possible events that indicate the start of the Dirty War include the Trelew massacre of 1972, the activities of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance starting in 1973, and Isabel Perón’s “annihilation decrees” against left-wing guerrillas during Operativo Independencia (Operation Independence) in 1975.

Onganía disbanded labor and student groups, closed down Congress, and outlawed all political parties. Two large-scale demonstrations in 1969—the Cordobazo and the Rosariazo—were the result of public unrest. Montoneros, a terrorist guerrilla group, abducted and killed Aramburu. In an attempt to alleviate mounting political pressure, Alejandro Agustín Lanusse, the recently appointed president of the state, permitted Héctor José Cámpora to replace Perón as the Peronist candidate. After winning the election in March 1973, Cámpora pardoned guerrilla fighters who had been found guilty and arranged for Perón’s return from his exile in Spain.

The Ezeiza Massacre was the product of a conflict between right-wing union officials and left-wing youth from the Montoneros on the day Perón arrived to Argentina. Cámpora resigned due to political violence, and Perón won the next election in September 1973 while holding the vice presidential position with his third wife, Isabel. He kicked Montoneros out of the celebration, turning it back into a covert group. To combat them and the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), José López Rega founded the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA).

After Perón passed away in July 1974, his widow approved a covert proclamation giving the military and police the authority to “annihilate” left-wing subversion. This action put an end to ERP’s plan to launch a rural uprising in Tucumán province. A junta of the unified armed forces, headed by army general Jorge Rafael Videla, removed Isabel Perón from office one year later. They started what is known as the National Reorganization Process, or Proceso for short.

The Proceso forced the disappearance of suspected guerrilla members, particularly those thought to be connected to the left wing, shut down Congress, dismissed the Supreme Court’s judges, outlawed political parties, and banned unions. The Montoneros had lost about two thousand members by the end of 1976, and the ERP had been totally neutralized by 1977. Even so, in 1979 the badly outgunned Montoneros mounted a counteroffensive that was promptly repulsed, therefore eliminating the guerrilla threat and solidifying the junta’s hold on power.

An Argentine force seized South Georgia, a British territory, in March 1982, and on April 2nd, Argentina launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands. A task force from the UK was sent to retake control. On June 14, Argentina submitted and its soldiers were sent home. After the embarrassing defeat, there were street rioting in Buenos Aires and the military command resigned. After Reynaldo Bignone succeeded Galtieri, he started to plan the shift to democratic rule.

Going Back to Democracy

After winning the 1983 elections, Raúl Alfonsín ran on a platform of prosecuting those who had violated human rights during the Proceso. All of the coup leaders were found guilty by the Trial of the Juntas and other martial courts, but he also passed the Due Obedience and Full Stop laws due to pressure from the military, which put an end to prosecutions of people higher up the command structure. His popularity declined due to the escalating economic crisis and hyperinflation, and Carlos Menem, a Peronist, emerged victorious in the 1989 election. Soon after, Alfonsín was forced to quit early due to unrest.

Menem supported and implemented neoliberal measures, which in the short run stabilized the economy through privatization, deregulation of business, fixed exchange rates, and the removal of protectionist obstacles. He granted pardons to the officers convicted under Alfonsín’s administration. Menem’s election to a second term was made possible by the 1994 Constitutional Amendment. In 1995, the economy started to deteriorate, and as unemployment and the recession increased, Fernando de la Rúa’s UCR won the presidency again in 1999.

Despite the deteriorating situation, De la Rúa upheld Menem’s economic strategy, which fueled rising social unrest. A massive exodus of capital from the nation was met by bank account freezes, which created even more unrest. He had to resign because of the violence in December 2001.

After Menem’s fixed exchange rate was repealed by Congress and Eduardo Duhalde was named acting president, many Argentines from the working and middle classes lost a large amount of their savings. The economic situation started to ease by late 2002, but Duhalde had to call early elections because of political instability sparked by the police killings of two piqueteros. The newly elected president is Néstor Kirchner. His swearing-in date was May 26, 2003.

Kirchner resolved the economic crisis by implementing Duhalde’s neo-Keynesian economic policies, which resulted in large trade and budget surpluses as well as quick GDP growth. Under his leadership, Argentina paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, purged the military of officers with questionable human rights records, void and nullify the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, declaring them to be unconstitutional, and recommenced the legal prosecution of the Junta’s crimes.

Argentina also restructured its defaulted debt with an unprecedented discount of roughly 70% on most bonds. He chose to support his wife, Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was elected in 2007 and again in 2011, rather than seeking reelection himself.

While ties with the United States and the United Kingdom grew more tense, Fernández de Kirchner’s administration also maintained strong external relations with nations like Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba.

The GDP of Argentina increased by 2.7% in 2015, and real incomes had increased by more than 50% during the post-Menem period. The general economy had been weak since 2011 despite these economic benefits and rising output and subsidies for renewable energy.

Following a tie in the first round of the presidential elections on October 25, 2015, Mauricio Macri, a candidate for the center-right alliance, defeated Daniel Scioli of the Front for Victory and emerged as the next president of Argentina on November 22, 2015. Since 1916, Macri was the only democratically elected non-peronist president to serve out his whole time in office without being removed.

When he assumed office on December 10, 2015, the economy was in bad health and had a high rate of inflation. The Macri administration implemented neoliberal austerity measures in April 2016 with the goal of addressing inflation and excessive governmental deficits.

The economy failed to revive under Macri’s leadership; at the conclusion of his term, the GDP had shrunk by 3.4%, inflation had reached 240%, billions of US dollars had been issued in government debt, and widespread poverty had increased. In 2019, he attempted to win reelection again, but lost to Justicialist Party opponent Alberto Fernández by over eight percentage points.

Just months before the COVID-19 epidemic struck Argentina, in December 2019, President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner assumed office amid allegations of corruption, bribery, and misappropriation of public money throughout their terms as leaders. In midterm legislative elections on November 14, 2021, the center-left coalition of the Peronist party that rules Argentina, Frente de Todos (Front for Everyone), lost its majority in Congress for the first time in over 40 years.

During the latter two years of President Alberto Fernandez’s presidency, the authority of the center-right alliance, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), was curtailed by their electoral success. Having lost the Senate, he found it challenging to designate important people, particularly to the court.

Additionally, it made him compromise on every idea he submitted to the legislature with the opposition.

President Alberto Fernandez declared in April 2023 that he would not run for office again in the next presidential election. Libertarian outsider Javier Milei defeated governing coalition candidate Sergio Massa with about 56% of the vote in the run-off election on November 19, 2023. Javier Milei took the oath of office as Argentina’s new president on December 10, 2023.

Geography

Argentina is a country in southern South America, with a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,518 sq mi). Its land borders span 9,376 km (5,826 mi) and are shared by Chile to the west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. Its coastline boundary stretches 5,117 kilometers (3,180 mi) long, spanning the Río de la Plata and the South Atlantic Ocean.

Aconcagua, located in the Mendoza province, is the highest peak in Argentina and the Southern and Western Hemispheres, rising to a height of 6,959 meters (22,831 feet) above sea level. At -105 meters (344 feet) below sea level, Laguna del Carbón in the San Julián Great Depression Santa Cruz province is the lowest place on Earth. It is also the lowest point in both the Southern and Western Hemispheres.

In Jujuy province, the northernmost point is located at the confluence of the Grande de San Juan and Mojinete rivers; in Tierra del Fuego province, the southernmost point is Cape San Pío; in Misiones, the easternmost point is northeast of Bernardo de Irigoyen; and in Santa Cruz province, the westernmost point is located within Los Glaciares National Park. The greatest east-west distance is 1,423 km (884 mi), while the longest north-south distance is 3,694 km (2,295 mi).

Among the principal rivers are the Paraná, Paraguay, Salado, Negro, Santa Cruz, Pilcomayo, Bermejo, Colorado, and Uruguay, which combine to form the Río de la Plata. The Argentine Sea, a shallow section of the Atlantic Ocean over the Argentine Shelf, is an exceptionally large continental platform, where these rivers empty into. The warm Brazil Current and the chilly Falklands Current are the two main ocean currents that affect its waters.

Biodiversity

Argentina is a very biodiverse country that has one of the most diverse ecosystems globally, with 15 continental zones, 2 marine zones, and the Antarctic area all inside its borders. One of the highest levels of biological diversity in the world is the result of this enormous ecological variety: 9,372 vascular plant species (ranked 24th), 1,038 bird species (ranked 14th), 375 animal species (ranked 12th), 338 reptile species (ranked 16th), and 162 amphibian species (ranked 19th) are among the cataloged species.

There were hardly any trees on the original pampa; now, certain imported species, including eucalyptus and American sycamore, can be seen in towns and country estates (estancias) or along roadways. The evergreen Ombú is the only natural plant that resembles a tree. The pampa’s surface soils, which are mostly mollisols, often referred to as humus, are a deep black hue.

This makes the area among the most productive for agriculture on Earth, but it also has the unintended consequence of destroying a large portion of the native ecology to create room for industrial farming. Less rain falls on the western pampas, which are arid steppe plains with sparse grasses.

35 national parks comprise the network known as the National Parks of Argentina. From Tierra del Fuego National Park in the deep south of the continent to Baritú National Park on the northern border with Bolivia, the parks span a very diverse range of terrains and biotopes.

The organization in charge of protecting and overseeing these national parks, as well as the nation’s natural monuments and national reserves, is called the Administración de Parques Nacionales. Argentina ranked 47th out of 172 nations in the world with a mean score of 7.21/10 on the 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index.

Climate

Four basic climatic types may be found in Argentina generally: warm humid subtropical, mild humid subtropical, desert, and cold. all influenced by the terrain characteristics, variety in height, and expanse across latitude. Argentina boasts an extraordinary degree of climatic variability, ranging from subtropical in the north to arctic in the deep south, despite the fact that the majority of its areas are temperate.

As a result, the nation is home to several different types of biomes, such as frigid subantarctic areas in the south, temperate plains in the Pampas, and subtropical rainforests, semi-arid, and dry regions. In the driest regions of Patagonia, the average annual precipitation varies from 150 millimeters (6 in) to over 2,000 millimeters (79 in) in the westernmost regions and the northeastern regions of the nation.

The extreme south experiences 5 °C (41 °F) whereas the north experiences 25 °C (77 °F) on average yearly temperatures.

The chilly Pampero Winds, which blow across the flat plains of Patagonia and the Pampas, are one of the main wind currents. In the middle and late winter, warm currents from the north follow the cold front, resulting in moderate weather. While the Sudestada often delivers very heavy rains, stormy waves, and coastal floods, it also normally moderates frigid temperatures. It is particularly prevalent in the Río de la Plata estuary and along the central coast in late fall and winter.

Cuyo and the middle Pampas are impacted by the hot and dry Zonda wind. Depleted of all moisture during the 6,000 m (19,685 ft) descent from the Andes, Zonda winds can gust up to 120 km/h (75 mph) for hours at a time, igniting wildfires and causing damage; during the Zonda blows, which occur between June and November, higher elevations are typically affected by snowstorms and blizzard conditions (viento blanco).

It is anticipated that Argentina’s living circumstances would be significantly impacted by climate change.: 30 Temperatures and precipitation patterns are shifting in Argentina’s climate. The eastern regions of the nation have seen the largest increases in precipitation between 1960 and 2010. The northern sections of the nation see more unpredictability in precipitation from year to year due to increased precipitation, which increases the danger of extended droughts and negatively impacts agriculture in these areas.

Finance

Argentina’s economy is the second biggest in South America and Latin America, owing to its abundance of natural resources, highly educated populace, diverse industrial base, and export-focused agriculture sector. Argentina was among the richest nations in the world in the 20th century; in terms of GDP per capita, it was among the richest nations worldwide in 1913.

It is ranked 66th by nominal GDP per capita, has a “very high” ranking on the Human Development Index, has a sizable internal market, and is seeing an increase in its part of the high-tech industry. It is one of the top developing countries in the globe and a middle-sized emerging economy, belonging to the G-20 major economies.

Due to its high domestic mate consumption, Argentina is the world’s largest producer of yerba mate. It is also among the top five producers of soybeans, maize, sunflower seeds, lemons, and pears; among the top ten producers of barley, grape, artichoke, tobacco, and cotton; and among the top 15 producers of wheat, sugarcane, sorghum, and grapefruit. It is the biggest producer of wheat, barley, sunflower seeds, lemons, and pears in South America. Argentina often ranks in the top 10 global producers of wine.

Argentina is a conventional meat exporter as well. In 2019, it ranked fourth globally in terms of beef production (3 million tons), only trailed by the United States, Brazil, and China. It also ranked fourth globally in terms of honey production, tenth globally in terms of wool production, and other comparable outputs.

Argentina’s mining sector is not as significant as those in other nations. According to 2019 statistics, it ranks ninth in the world for silver production, seventeenth for gold production, and fourth for lithium production globally. The nation produces a significant amount of natural gas—it is the 18th largest producer in the world and the largest in South America—and petroleum—even though the Vaca Muerta field is underutilized because the nation lacks the means to extract the resources. On average, the nation produces nearly 500,000 barrels of petroleum per day.

The manufacturing sector was the largest in the country’s economy in 2012, accounting for 20.3% of GDP. Well incorporated with Argentine agriculture, rural areas account for half of industrial exports. The diverse manufacturing industry, which had a 6.5% output growth rate in 2011, is supported by an expanding network of industrial parks (314 as of 2013).

Leading sectors by volume in 2012 included: steel, aluminum, and iron; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; home appliances and furniture; industrial and farm machinery; plastics and tires; glass and cement; recording and print media; food processing, beverages, and tobacco products; automobiles and auto parts; textiles and leather; refinery products and biodiesel. Furthermore, Argentina has consistently ranked among the top five nations in the world in terms of wine production.

After being a long-standing weakness of the Argentine economy, high inflation has returned to be a problem, with an annual rate of 24.8% in 2017. One of the biggest inflation rates in the world, 102.5 percent, was attained in 2023. By 2023, almost 43% of Argentina’s population will be living in poverty. The government implemented foreign exchange restrictions in order to discourage it and strengthen the peso. Despite improvements since 2002, the income distribution is still categorized as “medium” and is still very uneven. Argentina’s poverty rate peaked in January 2024 at 57.4%, the highest level since 2004.

According to Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index, Argentina is ranked 85th out of 180 nations, up 22 spots from its 2014 level. Following Mauricio Macri’s inauguration, Argentina resolved its protracted debt default problem in 2016 with the help of the so-called vulture funds, opening up the financial markets to the country for the first time in ten years. On May 22, 2020, the Argentinean government went into default owing to its inability to pay a $500 million obligation to its creditors by the deadline. Its $66 billion in debt is still up for negotiation in terms of restructuring.

By the conclusion of the second half of 2023, 41.7% of Argentina’s population was living in poverty.

Tourism

With 5.57 million foreign tourists in 2013, the nation ranked second in Latin America behind Mexico and as the most popular destination in South America. Foreign visitor income decreased from US$4.89 billion in 2012 to US$4.41 billion in 2013. South America’s most visited city is Buenos Aires, the nation’s capital. Argentina has thirty national parks, many of which are World Heritage Sites.

Transport

69,412 km (43,131 mi) of paved highways connected Buenos Aires, all provincial capitals (except Ushuaia), and all medium-sized cities by 2004. The whole road network was 231,374 km (143,769 mi). There were roughly 2,800 km (1,740 mi) of redundant highways in the nation as of 2021.

The majority of these highways left the capital, Buenos Aires, and connected it to places like Rosario and Córdoba, Santa Fe, Mar del Plata, and Paso de los Libres (which shares a border with Brazil).

There were also redundant highways that led from Mendoza to the capital and between Córdoba and Santa Fé, among other places. However, the current road infrastructure is still insufficient to meet the rapidly increasing demand brought on by the railway system’s decline.

Out of a total network of about 48,000 km (29,826 km), Argentina has the biggest railway system in Latin America, with 36,966 km (22,970 mi) of operational lines in 2008. This system connects to every neighboring country and all 23 provinces, in addition to Buenos Aires City.

Buenos Aires is the hub for almost all interregional freight traffic because to the four incompatible gauges in use. Since the 1940s, the system has been in decline. It frequently accrues significant fiscal losses, and by 1991, it was carrying 1,400 times fewer products than it had in 1973. Nonetheless, the state has increased its investment in the system recently, modernizing train stock and infrastructure on both long-distance and commuter rail routes.

All of the major political parties in Argentina supported the re-creation of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (2015), which essentially meant the re-nationalization of the nation’s railroads, when the Argentine Senate passed the legislation in April 2015 with an overwhelming majority.

The La Plata, Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay rivers make up the majority of the approximately 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of waterways that existed in 2012. The principal fluvial ports are Buenos Aires, Zárate, Campana, Rosario, San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, Barranqueras, and San Nicolas de los Arroyos.

La Plata–Ensenada, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, Quequén–Necochea, Comodoro Rivadavia, Puerto Deseado, Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia, and San Antonio Oeste are a few of the major sea ports. In the past, Buenos Aires was the most significant port; but, since the 1990s, the Up-River port region has taken center stage. Encompassing 17 ports along 67 km (42 mi) of the Paraná river shore in Santa Fe province, it accounted for 50% of all exports in 2013.

Out of more than a thousand airports, 161 had paved runways in 2013. The largest airport in the nation is El Plumerillo in Mendoza, followed by Cataratas del Iguazú in Misiones, and Ezeiza International Airport, which is around 35 km (22 mi) from downtown Buenos Aires. The primary domestic airport is located in Buenos Aires and is called Aeroparque.

Power

In 2020, non-renewable energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas accounted for more than 60% of Argentina’s electrical production. Hydropower accounted for 27%, solar and wind energy for 7.3%, and nuclear energy for 4.4%. Argentina ranked 21st globally in terms of installed hydroelectric power (11.3 GW), 26th globally in terms of installed wind energy (3.2 GW), and 43rd globally in terms of installed solar energy (1.0 GW) at the end of 2021.

According to estimations, the Patagonia region has enormous wind potential and might provide enough power to meet Brazil’s entire national demand. Nevertheless, Argentina lacks the infrastructure necessary to transmit power from remote, wind-swept areas to the nation’s major cities.

It was the first nation in Latin America to commission Atucha I, a commercial nuclear power station, in 1974. Since then, all of the nuclear fuel used by that station has been produced in Argentina, even if 10% of its parts were made there. Subsequent nuclear power plants used a larger proportion of Argentine-built parts; the Atucha II reactor in 2011 used 40% and the Embalse, which was completed in 1983, had 30%.

Technological and Scientific

Three science Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Argentines. The first winner from Latin America, Bernardo Houssay, earned the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine after discovering how pituitary hormones control animal glucose levels. Luis Leloir, who won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, discovered how organisms store energy by turning glucose into glycogen and the molecules that are essential to the metabolism of carbohydrates.

César Milstein conducted a great deal of research on antibodies and was awarded a share of the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Treatments for heart conditions and other cancer types have been made possible by Argentine research.

In 1969, Domingo Liotta successfully created and installed the first artificial heart into a human person. René Favaloro invented the procedure and carried out the first coronary bypass surgery ever.

Argentina has had great success with its nuclear program. Argentina was the first nation in Latin America to develop and construct the RA-1 Enrico Fermi research reactor using indigenous technology in 1957. The National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), Argentina’s civilian nuclear program, has always relied on domestic development of nuclear-related technology rather than purchasing them from overseas sources.

Argentine technology has been used to build nuclear plants in Egypt, Algeria, Peru, and Australia. Argentina declared in 1983 that it was capable of manufacturing weapon-grade uranium, a crucial stage in the assembly of nuclear bombs. Since then, though, the nation has committed to using nuclear energy only for peaceful reasons.

Argentina is steadfastly devoted to international nuclear security and has been a vocal supporter of nuclear non-proliferation initiatives as a member of the IAEA Board of Governors.

Since the turn of the 20th century, when René Favaloro and Luis Agote developed the first safe and effective method of coronary artery bypass surgery, as well as when Luis Agote invented the first blood transfusion technique, Argentina has enjoyed international respect for its academics and sciences, despite their meager budget and many setbacks.

In disciplines like molecular biology, computer sciences, nanotechnology, cancer, ecology, and cardiology, Argentine scientists continue to be at the forefront of their professions. A pioneer in string theory, Juan Maldacena is an Argentine-American physicist.

Argentina has also seen a rise in space research activity. LUSAT-1 (1990), Víctor-1 (1996), PEHUENSAT-1 (2007), and the SAC series spacecraft constructed by CONAE, the Argentine space agency, are among the satellites built in Argentina. Argentina is home to its own satellite program, fourth-generation nuclear power plant designs, and the public nuclear energy business INVAP, which supplies nuclear reactors to a number of other nations.

Since its founding in 1991, the CONAE has successfully launched two satellites. In June 2009, it also successfully negotiated a deal with the European Space Agency to install a 35-meter-diameter antenna and additional mission support facilities at the world’s premier cosmic ray observatory, Pierre Auger Observatory.

In addition to CONAE’s own domestic research missions, the facility will support many ESA space probes. Selected from a pool of twenty possible locations, and one of just three such ESA installations globally, the new antenna will establish a triangulation that will enable the ESA to guarantee mission coverage continuously. In 2023, Argentina came in at number 73 on the Global Innovation Index.

Characteristics

40,117,096 people were enumerated in the 2010 census, up from 36,260,130 in the 2001 census. In terms of population, Argentina is ranked 33rd in the world, fourth in Latin America, and third in South America.

With only 15 people per square kilometer of land, it has a far lower population density than the global average of 50 people. Based on an expected 17.7 live births per 1,000 people and 7.4 deaths per 1,000 people, the population growth rate in 2010 was predicted to be 1.03% yearly. The crude net migration rate has fluctuated between below zero and up to four immigrants per 1,000 people annually since 2010.

Argentina is going through a demographic shift that will result in a slower-growing and older population. The percentage of individuals under 15 is 25.6%, which is somewhat less than the global average of 28%, while the percentage of those 65 and older is 10.8%, which is very high.

This places it second only to Uruguay in Latin America and is far higher than the current global average of 7%. The neonatal mortality rate is quite low in Argentina. Its birth rate of 2.3 children per woman is still about twice as high as in Spain or Italy, which have similar cultures and demographics, although it is much lower than the peak of 7.0 children born per woman in 1895. The life expectancy at birth is 77.14 years, while the median age is 31.9 years.

In general, attitudes in Argentina are friendly toward LGBT individuals. 2010 saw the legalization of same-sex marriage in Argentina, making it the first nation in Latin America, the second in the Americas, and the tenth globally.

Cultural Analysis

Argentina is regarded as an immigrant nation. Typically, Argentines refer to their nation as a “crisol de razas,” or “melting pot” of races. The average genetic heritage of Argentines is 79% European (mostly Italian and Spanish), 18% indigenous, and 4.3% African, according to a 2010 research by Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach on 218 individuals; 63.6% of the tested sample had at least one Indigenous ancestor. Over 25 million Argentines, or nearly 60% of the population, have some partial Italian ancestry. The majority of Argentines are descended from numerous European ethnic groups, predominantly of Italian and Spanish lineage.

Notable Asian populations also reside in Argentina, most of whom being descended from East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese) or West Asians (Syrians and Lebanese). The latter group comprises around 180,000 persons.

There are between 1.3 and 3.5 million Arabs in Argentina overall, the majority of whom are Lebanese or Syrian in ancestry. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a large number of people moved to Argentina from various Asian nations, particularly in the latter half of the century. The majority of Arab Argentines are members of the Eastern Orthodox or Catholic churches, which include both the Latin and Eastern Catholic denominations. Muslims make up a minority.

Since the 1970s, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay have accounted for the majority of immigration, with lesser contributions from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Romania. A program to encourage illegal immigrants to confess their status in exchange for two-year residence visas was started by the Argentine government, which estimates that 750,000 people live in the country without formal documentation. So far, over 670,000 applications have been processed under this scheme. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, more than 18,500 Russians have arrived in Argentina as of July 2023.

Spoken Languages

Spoken by nearly all Argentines, Spanish is the de facto official language. The nation is home to the biggest Spanish-speaking community that enforces the use of alternate verb tenses and voseo, which is the usage of the pronoun vos rather than tú (“you”).

Because of Argentina’s vast terrain, there is significant regional variety in Spanish, although the most common dialect is Rioplatense, which is spoken mostly in the Pampean and Patagonian areas and has an accent resembling that of Naples. Lunfardo, the local slang, was inspired by Italian and other European immigrants and permeated other Latin American nations’ vernacular language.

The population of Argentina speaks English (2.8 million people), Italian (1.5 million people), Arabic (especially its Northern Levantine dialect, one million people), Standard German (200,000 people), Guaraní (200,000 people, mostly in Corrientes and Misiones), Catalan (174,000 people), Quechua (65,500 people, mostly in the Northwest), Wichí (53,700 people, mostly in Chaco where, along with Kom and Moqoit, it is official de jure), Vlax Romani (by 52,000 people), Albanian (by 40,000 people), Japanese (by 32,000 people), Aymara (by 30,000 people, mostly in the Northwest), and Ukrainian (by 27,000 people).

Religion

In Argentina, Christianity is the most common religion. Religious freedom is guaranteed under the Constitution. It accords preference to Roman Catholicism without imposing any official or governmental religion.

Argentines were 76.5% Catholic, 11.3% Agnostics and Atheists, 9% Evangelical Protestants, 1.2% Jehovah’s Witnesses, and 0.9% Mormons, according to a 2008 CONICET survey. The remaining 1.2% practiced other religions, including as Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.

These numbers seem to have changed dramatically in the last few years: data from 2017 showed that the percentage of Catholics in the nation was 66%, a decrease of 10.5% in nine years, while the percentage of nonreligious people in the nation was 21%, nearly doubling over the same time frame.

The nation has one of the most extensive Muslim and Jewish populations in Latin America, with the latter group ranking sixth globally in terms of population. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance counts Argentina among its members.

Religious views are highly individualized and de-institutionalized in Argentina; 23.8% of people say they regularly visit the church, 49.1% say they do so seldom, and 26.8% say they never do.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio was chosen as the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome on March 13, 2013. Following the election of Pope Gregory III, a Syrian, in 741, he assumed the name “Francis” and became the first pope to originate from the Americas or the Southern Hemisphere.

Wellness

Public hospitals and clinics, government insurance plans, employer and labor union-sponsored plans (Obras Sociales), and private health insurance plans are some of the ways that access to healthcare is made possible. More than 300 healthcare cooperatives (200 of which are associated with labor unions) serve half of the country’s population with health care; the five million senior people are almost entirely covered by the national INSSJP, sometimes referred to as PAMI.

There are 121,000 doctors, 37,000 dentists, and about 153,000 hospital beds (ratios equivalent to affluent nations). Historical mortality patterns and trends have been similar to those of developed nations because of the relatively high access to medical care: between 1953 and 2005, the percentage of deaths from cardiovascular disease increased from 20% to 23%; tumor deaths increased from 14% to 20%; respiratory problems increased from 7% to 14%; non-infectious digestive diseases increased from 7% to 11%; strokes remained at 7%; injuries at 6%; and infectious diseases at 4%. Many of the others were caused by senile causes. From 19% of all deaths in 1953 to 3% in 2005, infant mortality has decreased.

Access to healthcare has also increased life expectancy at birth from 60 years to 76 years, and decreased infant mortality from 70 per 1000 live births in 1948 to 12.1 in 2009. Even while these numbers are better than the world average, they are still below the levels in industrialized countries; in 2006, Argentina came in fourth place in Latin America.

Learning

There are four stages in the educational system in Argentina. A foundational stage for kids ages 45 days to 5 years old, with the final 2 years being required. a six- or seven-year required program for primary or lower education. The literacy rate was 98.07% in 2010. a five- or six-year required secondary or high school education. 38.5% of those over 20 have finished their secondary education in 2010. a higher level including post-graduate, university, and tertiary sub-levels. There were 46 private universities and 47 national public institutions in the nation in 2013.

7.1% of those over 20 have completed their university education in 2010. Among the most significant are the public universities of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, La Plata, Rosario, and the National Technological University. All levels of public education in Argentina are guaranteed to be universal, secular, and free of charge by the state. Supervision over education is divided between the federal government and each of the provinces. Over the past few decades, the private sector has been more involved in all phases of education.

City Living

92% of Argentineans live in cities, with half of the country’s population residing in the country’s 10 largest metropolitan regions. The population of Buenos Aires is around 3 million, and when the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan region is included, the total population is over 13 million, making it one of the world’s largest urban areas. There are about 1.3 million people living in each of the Córdoba and Rosario metropolitan regions. At least 500,000 people live in each of the following cities: Mendoza, San Miguel de Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta, and Santa Fe.

The population is not evenly dispersed, with 15 million people living in the province of Buenos Aires and around 60% living in the Pampas region, which makes up 21% of the entire territory. Three million people live in each of the three provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fe, and Buenos Aires. There are more than a million people living in each of the following seven provinces: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes, and Misiones. Tucumán is the only province in Argentina with a population density higher than the global average, with 64.3 people per square kilometer (167/sq mi); in comparison, Santa Cruz, in the south, has a density of about 1.1 people per km2 (2.8/sq mi).

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