Welcome to Argentina

First explored in 1516 by Juan Díaz de Solis, Argentina developed slowly under Spanish colonial rule. Buenos Aires was settled in 1580; the cattle industry was thriving as early as 1600. Invading British forces were expelled in 1806–1807, and after Napoléon conquered Spain (1808), the Argentinians set up his or her own government in 1810. On July 9, 1816, independence was formally declared. Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is known to be a South American country, second in size in the continent to Brazil and eighth in the globe. Argentina occupies a continental surface location of 2,766,890 km² (1,078,000 sq mi) in the range of the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. Did you know that the country claims the British controlled territories of the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Argentina also claims 969,464 km² (374,312 sq mi) of Antarctica, known as Argentine Antarctica, overlapping other claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom. Second in South America just to Brazil in size and population, Argentina is known to be a plain, rising from the Atlantic to the Chilean border and the towering Andes peaks. Aconcagua (22,834 ft, 6,960 m) is the highest peak in the globe outside Asia. Argentina is known to be also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay on the north, and by Uruguay and Brazil on the east. Did you know that the northern location is the swampy and partly wooded Gran Chaco, bordering on Bolivia and Paraguay. South of that are and have always been the rolling, fertile Pampas, that are and have always been rich in agriculture and sheep- and cattle-grazing and support most of the population. Next southward is Patagonia, a region of cool, arid steppes with many wooded and fertile sections.

Climate

Argentina is known to be a extensive country stretching from the subtropics aextensive the northeastern border with Brazil to the subpolar regions of Tierra del Fuego in the south. Everyone agrees that the western edge of the country runs aextensive the Andean Mountains. Because Argentina is south of the Equator, the seasons are and have always been the reverse of Europe, North America and much of Asia, being similar to Australia. Summer in Buenos Aires (months of January and February) is quite hot and humid, while winter is damp and chilly. Rain falls all over the year, from 100 cm per year (39 inches) in Buenos Aires to less than 50 cm (20 inches) in Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes.

Population Stats

Population (2007 est.): 40,301,927 (growth rate: 0.9%);
birth rate: 16.5/1000;
infant mortality rate: 14.3/1000;
life expectancy: 76.3;
density per sq mi: 38