160 SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina
FACTFILE
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Argentina
DATE OF FORMATION: 1816
CAPITAL: Buenos Aires
POPULATION: 40.3 million
TOTAL AREA: 1,068,296 sq. miles
(2,766,890 sq. km)
DENSITY: 38 people per sq. mile
LANGUAGES: Spanish*, Italian, Amerindian
languages
RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic 90%,
other 6%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%
ETHNIC MIX: Indo-European 83%, Mestizo
14%, Jewish 2%, Amerindian 1%
GOVERNMENT: Presidential system
CURRENCY: Argentine peso = 100 centavos
Argentina occupies most of southern South America.
After 30 years of intermittent military rule, democracy returned
in 1983. Economy has slowed since its recovery from 2001 crash.
GEOGRAPHY
The Andes form a natural border
with Chile in the west. East are the
heavily wooded plains (Gran Chaco) and
treeless but fertile Pampas plains. Bleak
and arid Patagonia in the south.
CLIMATE
The Andes are semiarid in the north
and snowy in the south. Pampas have a
mild climate with summer rains.
PEOPLE & SOCIETY
People are largely of European
descent; over one-third are of Italian
origin. Indigenous peoples are now in a
minority, living mainly in Andean regions
or in the Gran Chaco. The middle classes
were worst hit by the economic
meltdown of 2001–2002.
THE ECONOMY
Agricultural exports restored
growth from 2003, but bad drought in
2008 coincided with global downturn.
INSIGHT: The Tango originated
in the poorer quarters of Buenos
Aires at the end of the 19th century
CHILEBOLIVIA PARAGUAYBRAZILURUGUAYFalkland Islands
(to UK)
Bahía
GrandeGolfo
San JorgeBahía BlancaStrait of
MagellanATLANTICOCEANPampasGranCambodia C
hacoPatagoniaTierra
del
FuegoAndesS
al
ado(^) Neg
ro
Córdoba Rosario
Bahía Blanca
Neuquén
Viedma
Mar del Plata
La Plata
Mendoza
Santa Fe
Paraná
San Juan
Posadas
Corrientes
Salta
San Miguel de
Tucumán
Santa Rosa
Río Gallegos
BUENOS AIRES
0 400 km
0 400 miles
4000m/13124ft
3000m/9843ft
2000m/6562ft
1000m/3281ft
200m/656ft
Sea Level