Information on Argentina

Argentina, the second largest country in South America with a stunning natural beauty has been, in the past few years, mired in serious economic problems. But this had not deterred the tourists from all around to visit the country. Apart from being the world's largest source of tannin, Argentina also possesses rich natural resources.

Argentina is situated in the southern part of South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay.

Argentina is made up of rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in south. The borders are defined by the Andes Mountains and Chile to the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the borders of Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Brazil to the north. The country covers over 1,000,000 square miles, as the west coast of the United States.

The climate of Argentina is overall temperate in nature while being arid in southeast and subantarctic towards the southwest. The south has very low temperatures while the north and central part experience hot and moderate temperatures respectively.

Argentina comprises of varied kind of vegetation owing to different climate conditions. The country has tropical plants like palm, rosewood, etc as well as drought resistant trees like eucalyptus, sycamore, and acacia. Grasses, herbs, shrubs, and brambles too dot various parts of Argentina. As far as fauna is concerned, monkeys, jaguars, pumas, ocelots, anteaters, and raccoons are found in Argentina while birds include the flamingo and various hummingbirds and parrots.

As history shows, the year 1536 saw Pedro de Mendoza, a Spanish soldier appointed as the military governor of all land in South America, south of the Río de la Plata, establish Buenos Aires but soon they had to abandon it in 1541 as they were faced with terrible hardships. Buenos Aires was not successfully established until 1580, and remained a backwater for 200 years. Buenos Aires became the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, proving the region had outgrown Spain's political and economic domination. However, the growing dissatisfaction of Spanish interference led to a revolution on 25 May 1810, which eventually paved way to independence in 1816.

But independence again saw regional disparities and the country experienced periods of internal political conflict between conservatives and liberals and between civilians and military factions.

The first decades of the 20th century witnessed a weak civilian rule, though the country achieved greater prosperity from 1901 to 1913. Then in 1943, Argentina was led to a military coup, it was this year that also saw dictator Juan Perón rise to power. However, his party was squashed by a military coup in 1955, leading to Perón's banishment to Spain's and initiating 30 years of military rule, interspersed by only brief periods of civilian rule. Perón returned to rule briefly in 1973, dying in office in 1974 and bequeathing power to his third wife, Isabel. Growing economic problems and political instability led to strikes, political kidnappings and guerrilla warfare. Isabel's government fell in 1976, and the new military government instituted a reign of terror.

The years 1976 to 1980 saw a shaky, instable nation and in 1981 when a new military government took over, the economy of the country went in for more upheaval. This internal conflict came to an end only with the emergence of a 'real' war in the south Atlantic: the battle for the Malvinas/Falklands. Britain was the eventual 'victor. Later, in June 1995, the Argentine foreign minister offered to buy the islands, offering each of the 2000 islanders some amount for their nationality.

In the year 2001, Argentina again underwent a spell of economic and political turmoil. In 2002, Eduardo Duhalde became Argentina's fifth president in two weeks. Early 2003, in a Presidential election Nestor Kirchner become the president and he soon sprang into reform overdrive. By then, the protests had calmed down, the violence had for the most part eased and the stage of siege had been lifted.