![\"Argentina](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Argentina-on-the-Globe-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
The earliest recorded human presence in modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period<\/a>. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization<\/a> of the region during the 16th century. Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the R\u00edo de la Plata<\/a>, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The declaration and fight for independence<\/a> (1810\u20131818) was followed by an extended civil war<\/a> that lasted until 1861, culminating in the country’s reorganization as a federation of provinces with Buenos Aires as its capital city. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with several waves of European immigration<\/a> radically reshaping its cultural and demographic outlook. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest nation in the world by the early 20th century.<\/p>\n Following the Great Depression<\/a> in the 1930s, Argentina descended into political instability and economic decline that pushed it back into underdevelopment, though it remained among the fifteen richest countries for several decades. Following the death of President Juan Per\u00f3n<\/a> in 1974, his widow, Isabel Mart\u00ednez de Per\u00f3n<\/a>, ascended to the presidency. She was overthrown in 1976 by a U.S.-backed coup which installed a right-wing military dictatorship. The military government persecuted and murdered numerous political critics, activists, and leftists in the Dirty War<\/a>, a period of state terrorism that lasted until the election of Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn<\/a> as President in 1983. Several of the junta’s leaders were later convicted of their crimes and sentenced to imprisonment.<\/p>\n Argentina is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America, and retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America, and membership in the G-15<\/a> and G-20<\/a> major economies. It is also a founding member of the United Nations<\/a>, World Bank<\/a>, World Trade Organization<\/a>, Mercosur<\/a>, Union of South American Nations<\/a>, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States<\/a> and the Organization of Ibero-American States<\/a>. Despite its history of economic stability, it ranks second highest in the Human Development Index in Latin America.<\/p>\n The description of the country by the word Argentina has been found on a Venetian map in 1536.<\/p>\n In English the name “Argentina” comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, but Italian. Argentina (masculine argentino) means in Italian “(made) of silver<\/a>, silver coloured”, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine “(made) of silver” > “silver coloured” already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the feminine form of argentin and derives from argent “silver” with the suffix -in (same construction as Old French acerin “(made) of steel”, from acier “steel” + -in or sapin “(made) of fir wood”, from OF sap “fir” + -in). The Italian naming “Argentina” for the country implies Terra Argentina “land of silver” or Costa Argentina “coast of silver”. In Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said l’Argentina.<\/p>\n The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venetian and Genoese navigators, such as Giovanni Caboto<\/a>. In Spanish and Portuguese, the words for “silver” are respectively plata and prata and “(made) of silver” is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend<\/a>, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina<\/a>, a 1602 poem by Mart\u00edn del Barco Centenera<\/a> describing the region. Although “Argentina” was already in common usage by the 18th century, the country was formally named “Viceroyalty of the R\u00edo de la Plata” by the Spanish Empire, and “United Provinces of the R\u00edo de la Plata” after independence.<\/p>\n The 1826 constitution<\/a> included the first use of the name “Argentine Republic” in legal documents. The name “Argentine Confederation” was also commonly used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853<\/a>. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the country’s name as “Argentine Republic”, and that year’s constitutional amendment ruled all the names since 1810 as legally valid.<\/p>\n In the English language the country was traditionally called “the Argentine”, mimicking the typical Spanish usage la Argentina and perhaps resulting from a mistaken shortening of the fuller name ‘Argentine Republic’. ‘The Argentine’ fell out of fashion during the mid-to-late 20th century, and now the country is simply referred to as “Argentina”.<\/p>\n The earliest traces of human life in the area now known as Argentina are dated from the Paleolithic period, with further traces in the Mesolithic<\/a> and Neolithic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Until the period of European colonization, Argentina was relatively sparsely populated by a wide number of diverse cultures with different social organizations, which can be divided into three main groups. The first group are basic hunters and food gatherers without development of pottery, such as the Selknam<\/a> and Yaghan<\/a> in the extreme south. The second group are advanced hunters and food gatherers which include the Puelche<\/a>, Querand\u00ed<\/a> and Serranos in the center-east; and the Tehuelche<\/a> in the south\u2014all of them conquered by the Mapuche<\/a> spreading from Chile\u2014and the Kom<\/a> and Wichi<\/a> in the north. The last group are farmers with pottery, like the Charr\u00faa<\/a>, Minuane<\/a> and Guaran\u00ed<\/a> in the northeast, with slash and burn<\/a> semisedentary existence; the advanced Diaguita<\/a> sedentary trading culture in the northwest, which was conquered by the Inca Empire<\/a> around 1480; the Toconot\u00e9<\/a> and H\u00ean\u00eea<\/a> and K\u00e2m\u00eeare<\/a> in the country’s center, and the Huarpe<\/a> in the center-west, a culture that raised llama<\/a> cattle and was strongly influenced by the Incas.<\/p>\n Europeans first arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci<\/a>. The Spanish navigators Juan D\u00edaz de Sol\u00eds<\/a> and Sebastian Cabot<\/a> visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively. In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza<\/a> founded the small settlement of Buenos Aires, which was abandoned in 1541.<\/p>\n Further colonization efforts came from Paraguay\u2014establishing the Governorate of the R\u00edo de la Plata<\/a>\u2014Peru<\/a> and Chile. Francisco de Aguirre<\/a> founded Santiago del Estero<\/a> in 1553. Londres<\/a> was founded in 1558; Mendoza<\/a>, in 1561; San Juan<\/a>, in 1562; San Miguel de Tucum\u00e1n<\/a>, in 1565. Juan de Garay<\/a> founded Santa Fe<\/a> in 1573 and the same year Jer\u00f3nimo Luis de Cabrera<\/a> set up C\u00f3rdoba<\/a>. Garay went further south to re-found Buenos Aires in 1580. San Luis<\/a> was established in 1596.<\/p>\n The Spanish Empire subordinated the economic potential of the Argentine territory to the immediate wealth of the silver and gold mines in Bolivia and Peru, and as such it became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru<\/a> until the creation of the Viceroyalty of the R\u00edo de la Plata in 1776 with Buenos Aires as its capital.<\/p>\n Buenos Aires repelled two ill-fated British invasions<\/a> in 1806 and 1807. The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment<\/a> and the example of the first Atlantic Revolutions<\/a> generated criticism of the absolutist monarchy<\/a> that ruled the country. As in the rest of Spanish America, the overthrow of Ferdinand VII<\/a> during the Peninsular War<\/a> created great concern.<\/p>\n Beginning a process from which Argentina was to emerge as successor state to the Viceroyalty, the 1810 May Revolution<\/a> replaced the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros<\/a> with the First Junta<\/a>, a new government in Buenos Aires composed by locals. In the first clashes of the Independence War the Junta crushed a royalist counter-revolution<\/a> in C\u00f3rdoba, but failed to overcome those of the Banda Oriental<\/a>, Upper Peru<\/a> and Paraguay<\/a>, which later became independent states.<\/p>\n Revolutionaries split into two antagonist groups: the Centralists<\/a> and the Federalists\u2014a move that would define Argentina’s first decades of independence. The Assembly of the Year XIII appointed Gervasio Antonio de Posadas<\/a> as Argentina’s first Supreme Director<\/a>.<\/p>\n On 9 July 1816, the Congress of Tucum\u00e1n formalized the Declaration of Independence, which is now celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday. One year later General Mart\u00edn Miguel de G\u00fcemes<\/a> stopped royalists on the north, and General Jos\u00e9 de San Mart\u00edn<\/a> took an army across the Andes<\/a> and secured the independence of Chile<\/a>; then he led the fight to the Spanish stronghold of Lima<\/a> and proclaimed the independence of Peru<\/a>. In 1819 Buenos Aires enacted a centralist constitution<\/a> that was soon abrogated by federalists.<\/p>\n The 1820 Battle of Cepeda<\/a>, fought between the Centralists and the Federalists, resulted in the end of the Supreme Director rule. In 1826 Buenos Aires enacted another centralist constitution, with Bernardino Rivadavia<\/a> being appointed as the first president of the country. However, the interior provinces soon rose against him, forced his resignation and discarded the constitution. Centralists and Federalists resumed the civil war; the latter prevailed and formed the Argentine Confederation<\/a> in 1831, led by Juan Manuel de Rosas<\/a>. During his regime he faced a French blockade (1838\u20131840)<\/a>, the War of the Confederation (1836\u20131839)<\/a>, and a combined Anglo-French blockade (1845\u20131850)<\/a>, but remained undefeated and prevented further loss of national territory. His trade restriction policies, however, angered the interior provinces and in 1852 Justo Jos\u00e9 de Urquiza<\/a>, another powerful caudillo<\/a>, beat him out of power<\/a>. As new president of the Confederation, Urquiza enacted the liberal and federal 1853 Constitution. Buenos Aires seceded<\/a> but was forced back into the Confederation after being defeated in the 1859 Battle of Cepeda<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overpowering Urquiza in the 1861 Battle of Pav\u00f3n<\/a>, Bartolom\u00e9 Mitre<\/a> secured Buenos Aires predominance and was elected as the first president of the reunified country. He was followed by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento<\/a> and Nicol\u00e1s Avellaneda;<\/a> these three presidencies set up the bases of the modern Argentine State.<\/p>\n Starting with Julio Argentino Roca<\/a> in 1880, ten consecutive federal governments emphasized liberal economic policies. The massive wave of European immigration they promoted\u2014second only to the United States’\u2014led to a near-reinvention of Argentine society and economy that by 1908 had placed the country as the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world. Driven by this immigration wave and decreasing mortality, the Argentine population grew fivefold and the economy 15-fold: from 1870 to 1910 Argentina’s wheat exports went from 100,000 to 2,500,000 tons per year, while frozen beef exports increased from 25,000 to 365,000 tons per year, placing Argentina as one of the world’s top five exporters. Its railway mileage rose from 313 to 19,327 miles. Fostered by a new public, compulsory, free and secular education system, literacy skyrocketed from 22% to 65%, a level higher than most Latin American nations would reach even fifty years later. Furthermore, real GDP grew so fast that despite the huge immigration influx, per capita income between 1862 and 1920 went from 67% of developed country levels to 100%: In 1865, Argentina was already one of the top 25 nations by per capita income. By 1908, it had surpassed Denmark<\/a>, Canada<\/a> and The Netherlands<\/a> to reach 7th place\u2014behind Switzerland<\/a>, New Zealand<\/a>, Australia<\/a>, the United States<\/a>, the United Kingdom<\/a> and Belgium<\/a>. Argentina’s per capita income was 70% higher than Italy’s, 90% higher than Spain’s, 180% higher than Japan’s and 400% higher than Brazil’s. Despite these unique achievements, the country was slow to meet its original goals of industrialization: after steep development of capital-intensive local industries in the 1920s, a significant part of the manufacture sector remained labor-intensive in the 1930s.<\/p>\n Between 1878 and 1884 the so-called Conquest of the Desert<\/a> and Chaco occurred, with the purpose of giving by means of the constant confrontations between natives and Criollos in the border, and the appropriation of the indigenous territories, tripling the Argentine territory. The first conquest, consisted of a series of military incursions into the Pampa and Patagonian territories dominated by the indigenous peoples, distributing them among the members of the Rural Society, financiers of the expeditions. The conquest of Chaco lasted up to fines of the century, since its full ownership of the national economic system only took place when the mere extraction of wood and tannin<\/a> was replaced by the production of cotton. The Argentine government considered indigenous people<\/a> as inferior beings, without the same rights as Criollos and Europeans.<\/p>\n In 1912, President Roque S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a<\/a> enacted universal and secret male suffrage<\/a>, which allowed Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen<\/a>, leader of the Radical Civic Union (or UCR)<\/a>, to win the 1916 election<\/a>. He enacted social and economic reforms and extended assistance to small farms and businesses. Argentina stayed neutral during World War I<\/a>. The second administration of Yrigoyen faced an economic crisis, precipitated by the Great Depression.<\/p>\n In 1930, Yrigoyen was ousted from power<\/a> by the military led by Jos\u00e9 F\u00e9lix Uriburu<\/a>. Although Argentina remained among the fifteen richest countries until mid-century, this coup d’\u00e9tat marks the start of the steady economic and social decline that pushed the country back into underdevelopment.<\/p>\n Uriburu ruled for two years; then Agust\u00edn Pedro Justo<\/a> was elected in a fraudulent election<\/a>, and signed a controversial treaty with the United Kingdom<\/a>. Argentina stayed neutral during World War II<\/a>, a decision that had full British support but was rejected by the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor<\/a>. A new military coup<\/a> toppled the government, and Argentina declared war on the Axis Powers on March 27, 1945, a month before the end of World War II in Europe<\/a>. The minister of welfare, Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n<\/a>, was fired and jailed because of his high popularity among workers. His liberation was forced by a massive popular demonstration<\/a>, and he went on to win the 1946 election<\/a>.<\/p>\n Per\u00f3n created a political movement known as Peronism. He nationalized strategic industries and services, improved wages and working conditions, paid the full external debt and achieved nearly full employment. The economy, however, began to decline in 1950 because of over-expenditure. His highly popular wife, Eva Per\u00f3n<\/a>, played a central political role. She pushed Congress to enact women’s suffrage in 1947, and developed an unprecedented social assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society. However, her declining health did not allow her to run for the vice-presidency in 1951, and she died of cancer the following year. Per\u00f3n was reelected in 1951<\/a>, surpassing even his 1946 performance. In 1955 the Navy bombed the Plaza de Mayo<\/a> in an ill-fated attempt to kill the President. A few months later, during the self-called Liberating Revolution coup<\/a>, he resigned and went into exile in Spain.<\/p>\n The new head of State, Pedro Eugenio Aramburu<\/a>, proscribed Peronism and banned all of its manifestations; nevertheless, Peronists kept an organized underground. Arturo Frondizi<\/a> from the UCR won the following elections<\/a>. He encouraged investment to achieve energetic and industrial self-sufficiency, reversed a chronic trade deficit and lifted Peronism proscription; yet his efforts to stay on good terms with Peronists and the military earned him the rejection of both and a new coup forced him out. But Senate Chief Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Guido<\/a> reacted swiftly and applied the anti-power vacuum legislation, becoming president instead; elections were repealed and Peronism proscribed again. Arturo Illia<\/a> was elected in 1963<\/a> and led to an overall increase in prosperity; however his attempts to legalize Peronism resulted in his overthrow in 1966 by the Juan Carlos Ongan\u00eda<\/a>-led coup d’\u00e9tat called the Argentine Revolution<\/a>, creating a new military government that sought to rule indefinitely.<\/p>\n The “Dirty War” (Spanish: Guerra Sucia) was part of Operation Condor<\/a> which included participation of the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone. The Dirty War involved state terrorism in Argentina and elsewhere in the Southern Cone against political dissidents, with military and security forces employing urban and rural violence against left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone believed to be associated with socialism or somehow contrary to the neoliberal<\/a> economic policies of the regime. Victims of the violence in Argentina alone included an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 left-wing activists and militants, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists<\/a>, Peronist<\/a> guerrillas and alleged sympathizers. Most were victims of state terrorism. The guerrillas, whose number of victims are nearly 500-540 between military and police officials and up to 230 civilians Argentina received technical support and military aid from the United States government during the Johnson<\/a>, Nixon<\/a>, Ford<\/a>, Carter<\/a>, and Reagan<\/a> administrations.<\/p>\n Declassified documents of the Chilean secret police cite an official estimate by the Batall\u00f3n de Inteligencia 601<\/a> of 22,000 killed or “disappeared” between 1975 and mid-1978. During this period, in which it was later revealed 8,625 “disappeared” in the form of PEN (Poder Ejecutivo Nacional, anglicized as “National Executive Power”) detainees who were held in clandestine detention camps throughout Argentina before eventually being freed under diplomatic pressure. The number of people believed to have been killed or “disappeared”, depending on the source, range from 9,089 to 30,000 in the period from 1976 to 1983, when the military was forced from power following Argentina’s defeat in the Falklands War<\/a>. The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons<\/a> estimates that around 13,000 were disappeared.<\/p>\n After democratic government was restored, Congress passed legislation to provide compensation to victims’ families. Some 11,000 Argentines have applied to the relevant authorities and received up to US$200,000 each as monetary compensation for the murder of loved ones during the military dictatorship.<\/p>\n The exact chronology of the repression is still debated, however, as in some senses the long political war started in 1969. Trade unionists were targeted for assassination by the Peronist and Marxist paramilitaries as early as 1969, and individual cases of state-sponsored terrorism against Peronism and the left can be traced back to the Bombing of Plaza de Mayo in 1955. The Trelew massacre of 1972<\/a>, the actions of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance<\/a> since 1973, and Isabel Mart\u00ednez de Per\u00f3n’s “annihilation decrees” against left-wing guerrillas during Operativo Independencia<\/a> (translates to Operation of Independence) in 1975, have also been suggested as dates for the beginning of the Dirty War.<\/p>\n Ongan\u00eda shut down Congress, banned all political parties and dismantled student and worker unions. In 1969, popular discontent led to two massive protests: the Cordobazo<\/a> and the Rosariazo<\/a>. The terrorist guerrilla organization Montoneros<\/a> kidnapped and executed Aramburu. The newly chosen head of government, Alejandro Agust\u00edn Lanusse<\/a>, seeking to ease the growing political pressure, let H\u00e9ctor Jos\u00e9 C\u00e1mpora<\/a> be the Peronist candidate instead of Per\u00f3n. C\u00e1mpora won the March 1973 election<\/a>, issued a pardon for condemned guerrilla members and then secured Per\u00f3n’s return from his exile in Spain.<\/p>\n On the day Per\u00f3n returned to Argentina, the clash between Peronist internal factions\u2014right-wing union leaders and left-wing youth from Montoneros\u2014resulted in the Ezeiza Massacre<\/a>. C\u00e1mpora resigned, overwhelmed by political violence, and Per\u00f3n won the September 1973 election<\/a> with his third wife Isabel as vice-president. He expelled Montoneros from the party<\/a> and they became once again a clandestine organization. Jos\u00e9 L\u00f3pez Rega<\/a> organized the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA) to fight against them and the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP)<\/a>. Per\u00f3n died in July 1974 and was succeeded by his wife, who signed a secret decree empowering the military and the police to “annihilate” the left-wing subversion, stopping ERP’s attempt to start a rural insurgence in Tucum\u00e1n province<\/a>. Isabel Per\u00f3n was ousted one year later<\/a> by a junta of the three armed forces, led by army general Jorge Rafael Videla<\/a>. They initiated the National Reorganization Process<\/a>, often shortened to Proceso.<\/p>\n The Proceso shut down Congress, removed the judges of the Supreme Court, banned political parties and unions, and resorted to the forced disappearance<\/a> of suspected guerrilla members and of anyone believed to be associated with the left-wing. By the end of 1976 Montoneros had lost near 2,000 members; by 1977, the ERP was completely defeated. A severely weakened Montoneros launched a counterattack in 1979, which was quickly annihilated, ending the guerrilla threat. Nevertheless, the junta stayed in power.<\/p>\n In 1982, the then head of state, General Leopoldo Galtieri<\/a>, authorized the invasion of the British territories of South Georgia and, on 2 April, of the Falkland Islands<\/a>. This led to the Falklands War with the United Kingdom and an Argentinian surrender on 14 June.<\/p>\n Rioting on the streets of Buenos Aires followed the defeat and the military leadership responsible for the humiliation stood down. Reynaldo Bignone<\/a> replaced Galtieri and began to organize the transition to democratic rule.<\/p>\n Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn won the 1983 elections<\/a> campaigning for the prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations during the Proceso: the Trial of the Junta<\/a>s and other martial courts sentenced all the coup’s leaders but, under military pressure, he also enacted the Full Stop<\/a> and Due Obedience<\/a> laws, which halted prosecutions further down the chain of command. The worsening economic crisis and hyperinflation reduced his popular support and the Peronist Carlos Menem<\/a> won the 1989 election<\/a>. Soon after, riots forced Alfons\u00edn<\/a> to an early resignation.<\/p>\n Menem embraced neo-liberal policies: a fixed exchange rate, business deregulation, privatizations and dismantling of protectionist barriers normalized the economy for a while. He pardoned the officers who had been sentenced during Alfons\u00edn’s government. The 1994 Constitutional Amendment<\/a> allowed Menem to be elected for a second term. The economy began to decline in 1995, with increasing unemployment and recession; led by Fernando de la R\u00faa<\/a>, the UCR returned to the presidency in the 1999 elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n De la R\u00faa kept Menem’s economic plan despite the worsening crisis, which led to growing social discontent. A massive capital flight was responded to with a freezing of bank accounts, generating further turmoil. The December 2001 riots<\/a> forced him to resign. Congress appointed Eduardo Duhalde<\/a> as acting president, who abrogated the fixed exchange rate established by Menem, causing many Argentinians to lose a significant portion of their savings. By the late 2002 the economic crisis began to recede, but the assassination of two piqueteros by the police caused political commotion, prompting Duhalde to move elections<\/a> forward. N\u00e9stor Kirchner<\/a> was elected as the new president.<\/p>\n Boosting the neo-Keynesian<\/a> economic policies laid by Duhalde, Kirchner ended the economic crisis attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and steep GDP growth. Under his administration Argentina restructured its defaulted debt<\/a> with an unprecedented discount of about 70% on most bonds, paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, purged the military of officers with doubtful human rights records, nullified and voided the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, ruled them as unconstitutional, and resumed legal prosecution of the Juntas’ crimes. He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner<\/a>, who was elected in 2007<\/a> and reelected in 2011<\/a>. Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner’s administration oversaw a positive foreign policy with good relations with other South American nations; however, relations between the United States and United Kingdom remained heavily strained. Jorge Rafael Videla, who had led the repression during the Dirty War, was sentenced to life in a civilian prison in 2010 under de Kirchner’s administration; he later died in prison in 2013.<\/p>\n On 22 November 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on 25 October<\/a>, Mauricio Macri<\/a> won the first ballotage in Argentina’s history, beating Front for Victory<\/a> candidate Daniel Scioli<\/a> and becoming president-elect. Macri is the first democratically elected non-radical or peronist president since 1916. He took office on 10 December 2015. In April 2016, the Macri Government<\/a> introduced austerity measures intended to tackle inflation and public deficits.<\/p>\n With a mainland surface area of 1,073,518 sq miles, Argentina is located in southern South America, sharing land borders with Chile across the Andes<\/a> 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; for an overall land border length of 5,826 miles. Its coastal border over the R\u00edo de la Plata<\/a> and South Atlantic Ocean is 3,180 miles long.<\/p>\n Argentina’s highest point is Aconcagua<\/a> in the Mendoza province<\/a> 22,831 feet above sea level, also the highest point in the Southern<\/a> and Western Hemispheres<\/a>.<\/p>\n The lowest point is Laguna del Carb\u00f3n<\/a> in the San Juli\u00e1n Great Depression Santa Cruz province<\/a> \u2212344 feet below sea level, also the lowest point in the Southern and Western Hemispheres, and the seventh lowest point on Earth.<\/p>\n The northernmost point is at the confluence of the Grande de San Juan<\/a> and R\u00edo Mojinete rivers in Jujuy province<\/a>; the southernmost is Cape San P\u00edo<\/a> in Tierra del Fuego province<\/a>; the easternmost is northeast of Bernardo de Irigoyen<\/a>, Misiones and the westernmost is within Los Glaciares National Park<\/a> in Santa Cruz province. The maximum north\u2013south distance is 2,295 miles, while the maximum east\u2013west one is 884 miles.<\/p>\n Some of the major rivers are the Paran\u00e1<\/a>, Uruguay<\/a>\u2014which join to form the R\u00edo de la Plata, Paraguay<\/a>, Salado<\/a>, Negro<\/a>, Santa Cruz<\/a>, Pilcomayo<\/a>, Bermejo<\/a> and Colorado<\/a>. These rivers are discharged into the Argentine Sea<\/a>, the shallow area of the Atlantic Ocean over the Argentine Shelf<\/a>, an unusually wide continental platform<\/a>. Its waters are influenced by two major ocean currents: the warm Brazil Current<\/a> and the cold Falklands Current<\/a>.<\/p>\n Benefiting from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, a diversified industrial base, and an export-oriented agricultural sector, the economy of Argentina is Latin America’s third-largest, and the second largest in South America. It has a “very high” rating on the Human Development Index and a relatively high GDP per capita, with a considerable internal market size and a growing share of the high-tech sector.<\/p>\n A middle emerging economy<\/a> and one of the world’s top developing nations, Argentina is a member of the G-20 major economies. Historically, however, its economic performance has been very uneven, with high economic growth alternating with severe recessions, income maldistribution and\u2014in the recent decades\u2014increasing poverty. Early in the 20th century Argentina achieved development, and became the world’s seventh richest country. Although managing to keep a place among the top fifteen economies until mid-century, it suffered a long and steady decline, but it is still a high income country.<\/p>\n High inflation\u2014a weakness of the Argentine economy for decades\u2014has become a trouble once again, with an annual rate of 24.8% in 2017. Income distribution<\/a>, having improved since 2002, is classified as “medium”, still considerably unequal.<\/p>\n Argentina ranks 85th out of 180 countries in the Transparency International<\/a>‘s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index<\/a>, an improvement of 22 positions over its 2014 rankings. Argentina settled its long-standing debt default crisis in 2016 with the so-called Vulture funds<\/a> after the election of Mauricio Macri, allowing Argentina to enter capital markets for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n In 2012 manufacturing accounted for 20.3% of GDP\u2014the largest goods-producing sector in the nation’s economy. Well-integrated into Argentine agriculture, half of the industrial exports have rural origin.<\/p>\n With a 6.5% production growth rate in 2011, the diversified manufacturing sector rests on a steadily growing network of industrial parks (314 as of 2013).<\/p>\n In 2012 the leading sectors by volume were: food processing, beverages and tobacco products; motor vehicles and auto parts; textiles and leather; refinery products and biodiesel; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; steel, aluminum and iron; industrial and farm machinery; home appliances and furniture; plastics and tires; glass and cement; and recording and print media.[192] In addition, Argentina has since long been one of the top five wine-producing countries in the world. However, it has also been classified as one of the 74 countries where instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and mentioned in a 2014 report published by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs<\/a>. The ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor<\/a> shows that many of the goods produced by child labor or forced labor comes from the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n C\u00f3rdoba is Argentina’s major industrial center, hosting metalworking, motor vehicle and auto parts manufactures. Next in importance are the Greater Buenos Aires<\/a> area (food processing, metallurgy, motor vehicles and auto parts, chemicals and petrochemicals, consumer durables, textiles and printing); Rosario (food processing, metallurgy, farm machinery, oil refining, chemicals, and tanning); San Miguel de Tucum\u00e1n (sugar refining); San Lorenzo<\/a> (chemicals and pharmaceuticals); San Nicol\u00e1s de los Arroyos<\/a> (steel milling and metallurgy); and Ushuaia<\/a> and Bah\u00eda Blanca<\/a> (oil refining). Other manufacturing enterprises are located in the provinces of Santa Fe (zinc and copper smelting, and flour milling); Mendoza and Neuqu\u00e9n (wineries and fruit processing); Chaco (textiles and sawmills); and Santa Cruz, Salta and Chubut (oil refining).<\/p>\n Argentina has the largest railway system in Latin America, with 22,970 miles of operating lines in 2008, out of a full network of almost 29,826 miles. This system links all 23 provinces plus Buenos Aires City, and connects with all neighboring countries. The system has been in decline since the 1940s: regularly running up large budgetary deficits, by 1991 it was transporting 1,400 times less goods than it did in 1973.<\/p>\n However, in recent years the system has experienced a greater degree of investment from the state, in both commuter rail lines and long distance lines, renewing rolling stock and infrastructure. In April 2015, by overwhelming majority the Argentine Senate<\/a> passed a law which re-created Ferrocarriles Argentinos<\/a> (2015), effectively re-nationalising the country’s railways, a move which saw support from all major political parties on both sides of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n By 2004 Buenos Aires, all provincial capitals except Ushuaia, and all medium-sized towns were interconnected by 43,131 miles of paved roads, out of a total road network of 143,769 miles. Most important cities are linked by a growing number of expressways, including Buenos Aires\u2013La Plata<\/a>, Rosario\u2013C\u00f3rdoba<\/a>, C\u00f3rdoba\u2013Villa Carlos Paz, Villa Mercedes\u2013Mendoza, National Route 14 General Jos\u00e9 Gervasio Artigas and Provincial Route 2 Juan Manuel Fangio<\/a>, among others. Nevertheless, this road infrastructure is still inadequate and cannot handle the sharply growing demand caused by deterioration of the railway system.<\/p>\n In 2012 there were about 6,835 miles of waterways, mostly comprising the La Plata, Paran\u00e1, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, with Buenos Aires, Z\u00e1rate<\/a>, Campana<\/a>, Rosario, San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, Barranqueras<\/a> and San Nicolas de los Arroyos as the main fluvial ports. Some of the largest sea ports are La Plata\u2013Ensenada<\/a>, Bah\u00eda Blanca, Mar del Plata<\/a>, Quequ\u00e9n\u2013Necochea<\/a>, Comodoro Rivadavia<\/a>, Puerto Deseado<\/a>, Puerto Madryn<\/a>, Ushuaia and San Antonio Oeste<\/a>. Buenos Aires has historically been the most important port; however since the 1990s the Up-River port region has become dominant: stretching along 42 miles of the Paran\u00e1 river shore in Santa Fe province, it includes 17 ports and in 2013 accounted for 50% of all exports.<\/p>\n In 2013 there were 161 airports with paved runways out of more than a thousand.<\/p>\n The Ezeiza International Airport<\/a>, about 22 miles from downtown Buenos Aires, is the largest in the country, followed by Cataratas del Iguaz\u00fa<\/a> in Misiones, and El Plumerillo<\/a> in Mendoza. Aeroparque<\/a>, in the city of Buenos Aires, is the most important domestic airport.<\/p>\n The flag of Argentina is a triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands coloured light blue and white. There are multiple interpretations on the reasons for those colors. The flag was created by Manuel Belgrano<\/a>, in line with the creation of the Cockade of Argentina, and was first raised at the city of Rosario<\/a> on February 27, 1812, during the Argentine War of Independence.<\/a> The National Flag Memorial<\/a> was later built on the site. The First Triumvirate<\/a> did not approve the use of the flag, but the Asamblea del A\u00f1o XIII<\/a> allowed the use of the flag as a war flag. It was the Congress of Tucum\u00e1n<\/a> which finally designated it as the national flag, in 1816. A yellow Sun of May<\/a> was added to the center in 1818.<\/p>\n The full flag featuring the sun is called the Official Ceremonial Flag. The flag without the sun is considered the Ornamental Flag. While both versions are equally considered the national flag, the ornamental version must always be hoisted below the Official Ceremony Flag. In vexillological terms, the Official Ceremonial Flag is the civil, state and war flag and ensign, while the Ornamental Flag is an alternative civil flag and ensign. There is controversy of the true colour of the first flag, between scientist and the descendants of Manuel Belgrano between blue and pale blue.<\/p>\n Popular belief attributes the colors to those of the sky, clouds and the sun; some anthems to the flag like “Aurora” or “Salute to the flag” state so as well. However, historians usually disregard this idea, and attribute them to loyalty towards the House of Bourbon<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the May Revolution, the first times of the Argentine War of Independence, the Triumvirate claimed to be acting on behalf of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, who was prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte during the Peninsular War. Whether such loyalty was real or a trick to conceal independentism is a topic of dispute. The creation of a new flag with those colors would have been then a way to denote autonomy, while keeping the relations with the captive king alive.<\/p>\n The sun is called the Sun of May because it is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin<\/a>, approved in 1813, whose value was eight escudos (one Spanish dollar). It has 16 straight and 16 waved sunbeams.<\/p>\n In 1978 the sun color was specified to be golden yellow (amarillo oro), to have an inner diameter of 10 cm, and an outer diameter of 25 cm (the diameter of the sun equals \u200b5\u20446 the height of the white stripe. The sun’s face is \u200b2\u20445 of its height). It features 32 rays, alternately wavy and straight, and from 1978 it must be embroidered in the “Official Flag Ceremony”.<\/p>\n The French privateer Louis-Michel Aury<\/a> used the Argentine flag as a model for the blue-white-blue flag of the first independent state in Central America, which was created 1818 in Isla de Providencia<\/a>, an island off the east coast of Nicaragua<\/a>. This state existed until approximately 1821, before the Gran Colombia<\/a> took over control of these islands. Somewhat later (1823) this flag was again used as the model for the flag of the United Provinces of Central America<\/a>, a confederation of the current Central American states of Guatemala<\/a>, Honduras<\/a>, El Salvador<\/a>, Nicaragua and Costa Rica<\/a>, which existed from 1823 to 1838. After the dissolution of the Union, the five countries became independent, but even today all of these states except Costa Rica use flags of blue-white-blue stripes (the Costa Rican flag has a red stripe superimposed on the white one, added to incorporate all the colors of the French flag). The Argentine flag also inspired the flags of Uruguay<\/a> and Paraguay<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sun is called the Sun of May because it is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin, approved in 1813, whose value was eight escudos (one Spanish dollar). It has 16 straight and 16 waved sunbeams.![\"Raul](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Raul-Alfonsin-204x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Name and Etymology:<\/h2>\n
![\"United](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/United-Provinces-of-the-Rio-de-la-Plata-226x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
History:<\/h2>\n
Pre-Columbian Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/The-Cave-of-the-Hands-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Pucara](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Pucara-de-Tilcara-Incan-Ruins-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Colonial Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/British-Surrender-During-Invasions-of-the-Rio-de-la-Plata-300x201.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Independence and Civil Wars:<\/h3>\n
![\"May](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/May-Revolution-300x194.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Jos\u00e9](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Jos\u00e9-de-San-Mart\u00edn-229x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Rise of the Modern Nation:<\/h3>\n
![\"Argentine](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Argentine-Centinnial-1910-300x280.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Infamous Decade:<\/h3>\n
Peronist Years:<\/h3>\n
![\"Juan](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Juan-and-Eva-Peron-205x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Military Dictatorship, the Dirty War and Defeat in the Falklands War:<\/h3>\n
![\"Mothers](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Mothers-of-the-Disappeared-300x115.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Defeated](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Defeated-Argentine-Troops-in-Port-Stanley-Falkland-Islands-287x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
20th\u201421st Centuries, Kirchner Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"Cristina](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Cristina-Fernandez-and-Nestor-Kirchner-267x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Mauricio](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Mauricio-Macri-300x236.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Aconcagua-214x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Provincial](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Provincial-Map-of-Argentina-181x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"Oil](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Oil-Platform-in-Rio-Negro-Province-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Industry:<\/h3>\n
![\"Argentine](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Argentine-Agriculture-256x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Transportation:<\/h2>\n
Rail:<\/h3>\n
![\"Passenger](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Passenger-Rail-in-Argentina-230x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Buenos](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Buenos-Aires-Underground-300x150.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Road:<\/h3>\n
Waterways:<\/h3>\n
Air:<\/h3>\n
![\"Ezeiza](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Ezeiza-Airport-Interior-300x121.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Ezeiza](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Ezeiza-Airport-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Flag of Argentina:<\/h2>\n
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-Argentina-300x188.png\" "\\"\\"")
Design:<\/h3>\n
Sun of May:<\/h3>\n
Influence of the Argentine Flag:<\/h3>\n
\nIn 1978 the sun color was specified to be golden yellow (amarillo oro), to have an inner diameter of 10 cm, and an outer diameter of 25 cm (the diameter of the sun equals 5\u20446 the height of the white stripe. The sun’s face is 2\u20445 of its height). It features 32 rays, alternately wavy and straight, and from 1978 it must be embroidered in the “Official Flag Ceremony”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6,7,20,28,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}