I | INTRODUCTION |
Argentina or
Argentine Republic, country in South America,
occupying most of the southern half of the continent east of the Andes
Mountains. It is the second largest country in area in South America, after
Brazil, and the eighth largest country in the world. Argentina’s capital and
largest city is Buenos Aires.
Argentina consists of diverse landscapes,
stretching from the tropics in the north to the subpolar region in the south.
Within it are the rugged Andes and the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere,
Aconcagua. But most of the people live in cities on the Pampas, the vast fertile
prairies that cover the middle of the country. The Pampas traditionally produced
much of the country’s agricultural wealth and became famous as the home of the
gaucho, the South American cowboy.
From the late 19th century on, Argentina
exported large amounts of agricultural goods, including meat, wool, and wheat.
It also became the first South American country to industrialize and was long
the wealthiest country on the continent, enjoying a living standard equivalent
to that of European countries. From the 1940s on, however, Argentina has
experienced recurring economic difficulties, including severe inflation, high
unemployment, and a large national debt.
Argentina has had a volatile political history.
Its most famous president, Juan D. Perón, was very popular with working-class
and poor Argentineans. However, he ruled as a dictator and suppressed all
opposition. The country’s economic decline eventually led to Peron’s ouster in
1955. An infamous military dictatorship that ruled from 1976 to 1983 tortured
and executed many Argentineans without trial. After the military stepped down in
1983, Argentina recommitted itself to democratic government but struggled with
economic problems. In the early 2000s Argentina was still trying to revitalize
its economy.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Argentina covers an area of 2,780,400 sq km
(1,073,518 sq mi). It is bounded on the north by Bolivia and Paraguay; on the
northeast by Brazil and Uruguay; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south
by the Atlantic Ocean and Chile; and on the west by Chile. The length of
Argentina from north to south is about 3,330 km (about 2,070 mi); its greatest
width is about 1,384 km (about 860 mi). The country includes the province of
Tierra del Fuego, which comprises the eastern half of the Isla Grande de Tierra
del Fuego and a number of adjacent islands to the east, including Isla de los
Estados. The Argentine coastline measures about 4,989 km (about 3,100 mi)
long.
Argentina also claims a total of 2,808,602 sq
km (1,084,407 sq mi) of disputed territory. Since the 1950s, Argentina has
claimed a pie-shaped section of Antarctica between longitude 25° west and
longitude 74° west. Argentina also claims several sparsely settled southern
Atlantic islands, including the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, currently
controlled by Britain. The two nations fought a brief war in 1982 over control
of the islands, and sporadic discussions about the political fate of the islands
continue. A number of nations, including the United States, do not recognize
Argentine claims to Antarctica and these South Atlantic islands.
A | Natural Regions |
Argentina is divided into four major
natural regions: the Andes, the northern plains and Andes foothills, the Pampas,
and Patagonia.
A1 | The Andes |
The Andes, the great mountain system of
South America, rise in crumpled blocks along Argentina’s western border. In
Patagonia, they form a natural boundary between Argentina and Chile. The
mountains are highest and widest in the north, where a number of peaks rise
above 6,400 m (21,000 ft). Aconcagua (6,960 m/22,834 ft), the highest of these
peaks, is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
Other noteworthy peaks are Ojos del
Salado (6,880 m/22,572 ft) and Tupungato (6,635 m/21,768 ft), on the border
between Argentina and Chile, and Mercedario (6,770 m/22,211 ft). Argentina’s
lake district is in the southern Andes. The resort town of Bariloche, along Lake
Nahuel Huapi, is the tourist center of the lake district. Despite their lower
elevations, the southern Andes are extremely rugged.
Several parallel ranges and spurs of
the Andes project deeply into northwestern Argentina. Here, rivers with sources
in the snowfields atop the peaks have cut through the eastern face of the
mountains and carved deep valleys. Salt lakes occupy many of the basins between
mountains. The country’s only other highland of consequence is the Sierra de
Córdoba, in central Argentina. Its highest peak is Cerro Champaquí (2,880
m/9,449 ft).
A2 | Northern Plains and Foothills |
The northern plains region of Argentina
lies east of the Andes. It is part of a huge lowland that extends northward into
Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. The Gran Chaco (also called Chaco) and
Mesopotamia make up its two subregions. The Chaco is the larger subregion.
Extending eastward from the foothills of the Andes to the Paraná River, the
Chaco is an area of scrub woodland with large areas of grassy savanna and
subtropical forest. Several rivers cross the Chaco, and parts of it flood
extensively during summer. Salty soils in much of the Chaco limit the amount of
land that can be used for farming. Much of the Chaco is wilderness used for
grazing.
Mesopotamia, which means “between the
rivers” in Greek, lies between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. It was named after
the ancient region of Mesopotamia in southwestern Asia. Argentina’s Mesopotamia
is a humid lowland of gently rolling prairies, and it rises to an area of
forested tablelands in the northeast. Also in the northeast, rivers plunge over
the edges of the great Paraná Plateau and produce spectacular waterfalls. These
waterfalls include Iguaçu Falls, one of the great natural wonders of South
America, on the border with Brazil.
A3 | The Pampas |
The Pampas, also known as the Pampa, are
a vast fertile prairie south of the Chaco. They stretch west from Buenos Aires
in a huge semicircle for hundreds of miles. Their flat or gently rolling surface
is broken only in the south, where a range of hills rises to about 1,200 m
(about 4,000 feet) above sea level. The Pampas contain the majority of
Argentina’s population, most of its cultivated land, and many of its
industries.
A4 | Patagonia |
The windswept plateaus of Patagonia make
up the tapering lower part of Argentina. Patagonia extends from the Atlantic
Ocean on the east to the foothills of the Andes on the west. Deep canyons and
grass-covered valleys cross the sparsely settled, treeless plateaus at
intervals. The stony plateaus rise from low cliffs along the Atlantic coast to
more than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) at the base of the Andes. Sea animals form colonies
in gulfs and bays along the coastal cliffs. To the north Patagonia ends in the
lake district. The Río Colorado (Colorado River) forms a natural boundary
between Patagonia and the northern two-thirds of Argentina.
Patagonia lies in the rain shadow of
the Andes and so receives little moisture. As a result it is used primarily for
grazing sheep, although some crops are grown on small farms in irrigated
valleys. Several major oil fields also are in Patagonia. At the southern tip of
Patagonia is Tierra del Fuego, a large mountainous island shared by Argentina
and Chile.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Most of Argentina’s rivers empty into the
Atlantic Ocean. Three rivers—the Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay—flow generally
southward and form a major South American river system. The Paraguay joins the
Paraná north of the city of Corrientes in Argentina. The Paraná then continues
south and east until it joins the Uruguay River near Buenos Aires to form the
huge Río de la Plata. This estuary, which carries the rivers to the Atlantic
Ocean, forms part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay. The
Paraná-Uruguay system is navigable for about 3,000 km (about 2,000 mi). A famed
scenic attraction, the Iguaçu Falls, is on the Iguaçu River, a tributary of the
Paraná.
Other important rivers of Argentina are
the Río Colorado, which forms the northern boundary of Patagonia; the Río Salado
in the Chaco of northern Argentina; and the Río Negro in Patagonia. In the area
between the Río Salado and the Río Colorado and in the Chaco region, some large
rivers empty into swamps and marshes or disappear into sinkholes.
In the south, the Argentine lake district
extends from the Andes to the Patagonian plateaus. This popular resort area is
noted for its many lakes and thick evergreen forests, which lie against a
backdrop of snowcapped mountains and glaciers. One of the largest lakes is
Nahuel Huapí, in northern Patagonia. The lake and the surrounding area make up
the Nahuel Huapí National Park. Other lakes in the area are Lake Buenos Aires,
which lies on the border between Argentina and Chile, and lakes Viedma and
Argentino, which are fed by alpine glaciers. The lake district draws visitors
for summer holidays and for winter sports.
C | Climate |
Temperate climatic conditions prevail
throughout most of Argentina, except for a small tropical area in the northeast
and the subtropical Chaco in the north. In Buenos Aires the average temperature
range is 20° to 30°C (67° to 86°F) in January and 8° to 15°C (46° to 60°F) in
July. In Mendoza, in the foothills of the Andes to the west, the average
temperature range is 16° to 32°C (60° to 90°F) in January and 2° to 15°C (36° to
59°F) in July. Considerably higher temperatures prevail near the Tropic of
Capricorn in the north, where extremes as high as 45°C (113°F) are occasionally
recorded. It is generally cold in the higher Andes, Patagonia, and Tierra del
Fuego. In the western section of Patagonia winter temperatures average about 0°C
(32°F). In most areas along the Atlantic coast, however, the ocean exerts a
moderating influence on temperatures.
Precipitation in Argentina is marked by
wide regional variations. More than 1,520 mm (60 in) fall annually in the
extreme north, but conditions gradually become semiarid to the south and west.
In the vicinity of Buenos Aires annual rainfall is about 950 mm (about 37 in).
In the vicinity of Mendoza annual rainfall is about 190 mm (about 7 in).
D | Natural Resources |
The traditional wealth of Argentina lies in
the vast Pampas, which are used for extensive grazing and grain production.
However, Argentine timber and mineral resources, especially offshore deposits of
petroleum and natural gas, have assumed increasing importance.
E | Plants and Animals |
The indigenous vegetation of Argentina
varies greatly with the different climates and geographic regions of the
country. The warm and moist northeastern area supports tropical plants,
including such trees as the palm, rosewood, lignum vitae, jacaranda, and red
quebracho. Grasses are the principal variety of indigenous vegetation in the
Pampas. Trees, excluding such imported drought-resistant varieties as the
eucalyptus, sycamore, and acacia, are practically nonexistent in this region and
in most of Patagonia. The chief types of vegetation in Patagonia are herbs,
shrubs, grasses, and brambles. In the Andean foothills of Patagonia and parts of
Tierra del Fuego, however, conifers—notably fir, cypress, pine, and
cedar—flourish. Cacti and other thorny plants predominate in the arid Andean
regions of northwestern Argentina.
Argentina’s animal life is most diverse and
abundant in the northern part of the country. Mammals here include monkeys,
jaguars, pumas, ocelots, anteaters, tapirs, peccaries, and raccoons. Indigenous
birds include the flamingo and various hummingbirds and parrots. The Pampas have
armadillos, foxes, martens, wildcats, hare, deer, American ostriches (rheas),
hawks, falcons, herons, plovers, and partridges; some of these animals are also
found in Patagonia. The cold Andean regions are the habitat of llamas, guanacos,
vicuñas, alpacas, and condors. Fish abound in coastal waters, lakes, and
streams.
F | Environmental Concerns |
About two-fifths of Argentina’s
population lives in metropolitan Buenos Aires alone, where heavy traffic leads
to significant air pollution. In rural areas, access to safe water and
sanitation is limited. Rivers are becoming polluted due to an increase in
pesticide and fertilizer use.
Argentina has a relatively complex policy
on land protection. There are 190 protected sites, covering a total of 4.4
percent of the country, with a mixture of federal, provincial, and municipal
administration. Universities and private individuals also administer a few
reserves. Only 1.7 percent (1997) of the land receives significant protection,
and only about half of the recognized ecotypes in Argentina are represented in
the protected land system. Major ecological threats are hunting and logging in
the north, excessive tourism in the south, overgrazing in virtually all areas,
and salinization (contamination with salt) of grazing and croplands as a
consequence of damming and irrigation projects.
III | PEOPLE |
About 97 percent of Argentina’s population
is of European origin. Unlike most Latin American countries, Argentina has
relatively few mestizos (people of mixed European and Native American
ancestry). However, the number of mestizos has increased in recent decades,
primarily through emigration, mostly from Paraguay and Bolivia. Argentina also
has a small number of indigenous peoples and its 1994 constitutional reforms
guaranteed them certain rights, including the right to bilingual and
intercultural education.
Argentina’s government has long encouraged
European immigration, and for decades the country’s stable government, good
communications, and economic opportunities attracted new residents. From 1850 to
1940, more than 6 million Europeans settled in the country. Spanish and Italian
immigrants predominated, with significant numbers of French, British, German,
Russian, Polish, and Syrian immigrants. Since the 1950s more than 50,000 Asians,
primarily South Korean, have migrated to Argentina. However, since the 2002
economic collapse, many thousands of Argentines have left the country, migrating
back to Italy, Spain, Germany, and other countries outside the region.
In 2008, Argentina had a population of
40,677,348, giving the country an overall population density of 15 persons per
sq km (39 per sq mi). More than one-third of the population lives in or around
Buenos Aires; 91 percent of the people live in urban areas.
Argentina’s people enjoy levels of per
capita income, urbanization, literacy, and social welfare that rank among the
highest in Latin America. The country’s entrepreneurial class, large middle
class, and comparatively well-organized working class, together with a small
indigenous population and the absence of a significant rural peasantry,
distinguish Argentina from most other Latin American societies. Nevertheless, in
few countries has the population been so clearly divided as in Argentina between
the residents of the largest city and those living in the rural areas and
smaller cities. Buenos Aires resembles a European capital with its wide
boulevards and cafes, and its residents, who identify themselves as
porteños or “people of the port,” are oriented more toward Europe and the
United States in outlook than toward the rest of Argentina or South America.
With the growth of manufacturing, large
numbers of rural laborers moved to Buenos Aires in search of a better life.
These laborers have crowded into mushrooming slums on the edges of the capital,
living in neighborhoods known as “villas miserias.” In many cases they have
found only part-time employment.
A | Principal Cities |
Buenos Aires is Argentina’s capital and
largest city. In 2005 the population of the City of Buenos Aires was 3,018,102;
in 2003 the urbanized area surrounding and including the city held an estimated
13 million people. Other important cities include Córdoba (population, 2001,
1,368,109); San Justo (1,253,921), a suburb of Buenos Aires; the river port of
Rosario (908,163); La Plata (520,647), capital of Buenos Aires Province and part
of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area; Mar del Plata (519,707), a resort
city on the Atlantic coast; San Miguel de Tucumán (527,150), a diversified
manufacturing center; Salta (462,051), famous for its colonial architecture; and
Mendoza (110,993), hub of an important agricultural and wine-growing
region.
B | Language |
Spanish is the official language of
Argentina and is spoken by the overwhelming majority of the people. Lunfardo, a
local dialect mixing Italian and Spanish, is widely spoken in Buenos Aires.
Italian, English, Korean, Yiddish, and a number of indigenous languages are also
spoken.
C | Religion |
Roman Catholics make up 91 percent of the
Argentine population. Judaism, Protestantism, and a number of other Christian
and non-Christian religions are practiced. Although the constitution guarantees
freedom of worship, the Roman Catholic Church has long enjoyed a privileged
position similar to that of an established church. The 1994 constitution
repealed the requirement that the president and vice president of Argentina must
be Roman Catholic. However, the reform maintained the clause mandating that the
“federal government shall uphold the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith.”
IV | EDUCATION AND CULTURE |
Argentina’s culture reflects many
influences. The Argentine elite has always regarded Paris (France), rather than
Madrid (the capital of Spain), as its second home, and French influence has
always been particularly strong in the intellectual life of the country. During
the 19th century French political and philosophical thought penetrated deeply
into Argentine literature and thought. Italian and English influences have also
been important in both cultural and economic life. However, the most prominent
figure in the arts and heritage of Argentina is that of its native gaucho
(cowboy).
Although European ideas and culture remain
the dominant factor in the evolution of the Argentine national identity, popular
culture, particularly from the United States, has had a strong influence on
Argentina since the 1960s. This influence has been felt in the areas of music,
film, fashion, and food. The indigenous cultures also contribute, if only in a
small way, to the national culture; indigenous peoples have had a significant
influence on folk art.
A | Gaucho Folk Culture |
The culture of Argentina today reveals
very few non-European elements, unlike the strong Native American influence
found in the culture of Mexico and the Andean countries of Bolivia, Ecuador, and
Peru. The basis for the economy and culture of colonial Argentina was not gold
and slaves, since the Spaniards found no rich mines or advanced Indian
civilizations upon their arrival. Instead, the source of Argentina’s wealth was
mainly the immense herds of wild cattle and horses that roamed the Argentine
pampas and the men who, sometimes pursued by the law, went from the cities to
the pampas. These adventurers became the wild horsemen and folk singers known as
gauchos.
Home-grown Argentine culture began with
the gaucho. With an easily available food supply and with horses and hides for
trade, the gauchos lived an isolated and independent life along the perimeter of
civilization, improvising poems and songs about their deeds. They often
accompanied their songs on the guitar. The gaucho folk culture flourished
between 1750 and 1850 and ended with the fencing off of the Pampas. However, the
gaucho remained a source of inspiration for Argentine literature, music, and
art.
B | Education |
Argentina has one of the finest
educational systems in the Western Hemisphere, although its quality has eroded
as budgets tightened in the late 20th century and the conservative influence of
successive military governments has shaped the curriculum. Primary education is
free and compulsory from ages 5 to 14. In 2000, 4.9 million pupils attended
primary schools; 3.8 million attended secondary and vocational schools.
Argentina’s literacy rate of 97 percent is one of the highest in Latin
America.
In the early 2000s Argentina had about 30
national (federal government-funded) universities and about 20 private
universities. The largest public university is the University of Buenos Aires,
founded in 1821. Others are located at Córdoba (1613), La Plata (1905), Mendoza
(1939), and Rosario (1968). The Catholic University of Argentina (1958) and
National Technological University (1959) are both located in Buenos Aires. Since
the 1980s Argentina’s state-run universities and colleges have suffered from
inadequate investment in facilities, a lack of full-time faculty, and a failure
to modernize the curriculum.
C | Libraries and Museums |
The leading library of Argentina is the
National Library, built in 1810 in Buenos Aires. The library has more than 2
million volumes. Prominent museums in Buenos Aires include the Argentine Museum
of Natural Sciences, the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of
Decorative Art, and the Museum of Latin American Art. Elsewhere in Argentina,
the city of La Plata has a museum of natural history that is noted for its
collections of reptile fossils.
D | Literature |
Argentine literature, originally a
derivative form of Spanish literature, took on a markedly nationalistic flavor
in the 19th century when the gaucho heritage asserted itself. The poem
Fausto (1866), by Estanisláo del Campo, is a gaucho version of the Faust
legend, inspired by the opera Faust by French composer Charles Gounod.
Fausto is one of the best-loved works in Argentine literature. But it was the
poem El gaucho Martín Fierro (1872; The Departure of Martin
Fierro, 1935) by José Hernández that established the gaucho as a national
genre in Argentine literature. Many people consider Martín Fierro the
national epic of Argentina. In the sociological essay Facundo (1845;
translated 1868), Domingo Faustino Sarmiento studies how the rural life of the
Argentine Pampas helped shape the national character. While Sarmiento
sympathizes aesthetically and emotionally with the gaucho, he presents a program
for national reconstruction through education, European immigration, and
technical progress.
In the 20th century the gaucho reappears
as the protagonist of the novel Don Segundo Sombra (1926; translated as
Don Segundo Sombra, Shadows on the Pampas, 1935), by Ricardo Güiraldes.
Other notable Argentine writings from the 20th century include Rayuela
(1963; Hopscotch, 1966), a novel by Julio Cortázar that many consider the
most important Latin American novel of the 1960s; El beso de la mujer araña
(1976; translated as Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1979), a novel
by Manuel Puig that was made into a popular motion picture (Kiss of the
Spider Woman, 1985); and the stories of Ernesto Sábato. Eduardo
Mallea, a novelist who wrote on existentialist themes, and Jorge Luis Borges,
internationally renowned for his short stories, were major literary figures of
the late 20th century. The best-known Argentine poet is Leopoldo Lugones, who
wrote both symbolist and naturalist verse. Contemporary writers include
Guillermo Martínez, who wrote Infierno Grande (1989), a collection of
short stories; Marcos Aguinis, who explored Argentina and Germany in the 1930s
in La matriz del infierno (1997); and Alicia Steimberg, who chronicled a
woman searching for her identity in Cuando digo Magdalena (1992;
translated as Call Me Magdalena, 2001).
E | Art |
Gaucho themes and scenes of town life
dominated Argentine painting in the 19th century. Prilidiano Pueyrredón was the
principal artist of the period. Artists of the 20th century included realist
painter Cesareo Bernaldo de Quirós, known for colorful canvases of gauchos and
vivid folk scenes; Benito Quintela Martín, painter of port life in Buenos Aires;
and cubist painter Emilio Pettoruti. The works of sculptors Rogelio Yrurtia,
Carlos Dorrien, and Alicia Penalba are widely known. Julio Le Parc experimented
with movement, light, and optical effects in his sculptures.
Argentina is an important center for
contemporary art, particularly in the vibrant cultural center of Buenos Aires
but also in the provincial capitals. Modern Argentine artists are known around
the world and have consistently absorbed global artistic trends without losing
their national identity. Argentina’s most innovative contemporary artists
include Luis Benedit, Juan Carlos Distéfano, Guillermo Kuitca, León Ferrari,
Víctor Grippo, Miguel Angel Rios, and Rubén Santantonin.
F | Music and Dance |
Traditional Argentine music has many
components. The most important are the gaucho folk song and folk dance, Native
American music from the northern provinces, European influences, and, to a minor
extent, African music. The most famous of all Argentine dance forms is the
tango, which developed in Buenos Aires and became a favorite ballroom dance
throughout much of the world. It evolved from the milonga, originally a song of
the slums of Buenos Aires. Early 20th-century singer Carlos Gardel was revered
in Argentina as “king of the tango.” Ástor Piazzolla, a prolific 20th-century
tango composer, bandleader, and performer, incorporated jazz and classical
influences in his works.
Symphonic music and opera are important
features of Argentine musical culture. The National Symphony Orchestra is based
in Buenos Aires, and the opera company of the city performs in the Colón
Theater, which opened in 1908. The great tide of Italian immigration to
Argentina made opera extremely popular in the country, starting toward the end
of the 19th century. The Colón opera built an international reputation for
excellence.
Leading figures in the classical music
field are three brothers: José María Castro, Juan José Castro, and Washington
Castro, all conductors and composers. Together with associates, they founded a
group to promote modern music. Alberto Williams, the founder of the Buenos Aires
Conservatory, is the best-known Argentine composer of the first half of the 20th
century. Alberto Ginastera is well known internationally for his symphonic,
ballet, operatic, and piano music, and Eduardo Alonso-Crespo has emerged as one
of Argentina’s most popular modern conductor-composers. Argentine musicians have
contributed to the nation’s vibrant popular music scene; the best-known popular
musicians include soloists such as Fito Paéz, Nito Mestre, and León Gieco, and
groups such as Soda Stereo, Virus, and Serú Girán.
G | Sports |
Since the days of the gaucho, horse
racing has been the great national spectator sport of Argentina. Soccer is the
national competitive sport, played in both small and large venues such as the
River Plata Stadium in Buenos Aires, which seats 100,000 people. The Argentine
national soccer team has won many international competitions, including the
World Cup championships in 1978 and 1986. Diego Maradona is the most famous of
Argentina’s soccer stars.
Polo is a popular pastime, and Argentine
horses bred especially for this sport are among the finest in the world. The
Argentine Open is an important polo event.
In recent years tennis and golf have
gained in national importance, and several Argentine players have excelled in
international competitions. Guillermo Vilas won four Grand Slam titles in tennis
in the late 1970s. Argentine golfer Roberto de Vicenzo won the British Open in
1967.
Rugby is also a major sport in Argentina,
and field hockey is popular among females.
V | ECONOMY |
Argentina was long one of the most prosperous
nations in Latin America. Its prosperity originated with agriculture in the
Pampas, the economic heartland of the country. Argentina is one of the world’s
leading cattle- and grain-producing nations. Manufacturing grew substantially in
the mid-20th century. Argentina’s economy in that period was based on the
production and export of agricultural products and livestock, machinery and
manufactured goods, fuels and chemicals, and minerals. Since the 1980s, however,
nonindustrial activities such as financial services, tourism, commerce, and
telecommunications have grown considerably.
At the beginning of the 21st century,
Argentina faced considerable economic difficulties. In the 1990s the government
changed the primarily state-controlled economy to one that was mostly privately
controlled. Successive global and domestic crises battered the Argentine economy
and contributed to its instability. In addition, declining domestic tax revenue
from a global economic slowdown created a drag on the economy. In 2002 the
economy collapsed as Argentina defaulted on its public debt, froze bank
accounts, and devalued the peso by 30 percent.
Argentina’s national budget in 2004 had
revenues of $28 billion and expenditures of $27.8 billion. Argentina’s gross
domestic product (GDP) in 2006 was $214.2 billion.
A | Labor |
In 2006 the total labor force numbered 18.8
million. In 2005 services employed 75 percent of the workforce, while industry
employed 24 percent and agriculture, forestry, and fishing employed less than
one percent. The movement in the 1990s to privatize many public companies in
Argentina changed the structure of Argentina's labor force. In 2000
approximately 1 million people were employed in the public sector (federal,
provincial, and municipal levels), compared to 5.1 million in 1991. Employment
in the private sector increased from about 8.1 million in 1991 to more than 12
million in 2000.
Most of Argentina’s 1,100 labor unions are
affiliated with the Confederación General del Trabajo (General
Confederation of Labor), known as the CGT. The government suspended the right to
unionize in 1976, but restored it in 1982. The labor movement included nearly 4
million workers by the late 1990s, with the highest participation rates in the
manufacturing sector. By the late 1990s privatization programs had resulted in
the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a national unemployment rate of 15
percent in 2000. Unemployment in Buenos Aires had risen to more than 25 percent
by the end of 2002.
B | Agriculture |
Argentina’s agricultural output not only
fills the nation’s domestic needs but also provides exports for foreign markets.
Of Argentina’s land area of about 274 million hectares (about 676 million
acres), 10 percent is cultivated, 12 percent forested, and about one-half is
used for pasturing cattle and sheep. The most important agricultural zone of the
country is the Pampas, where wheat and other cereal grains are grown. Irrigated
areas, from the Río Negro north through Mendoza, San Juan, Tucumán, and San
Salvador de Jujuy, are rich sources of fruit, vegetables, sugarcane, and wine
grapes.
Livestock raising and slaughtering are
major enterprises in Argentina, as are the refrigeration and processing of meat
and animal products; total annual meat production is about 3 million metric
tons, three-quarters of it from cattle. In 2006 there were some 50.8 million
head of cattle, 12.4 million sheep, and 1.5 million pigs in Argentina. In
addition, there were about 3.7 million horses; Argentine horses have won an
international reputation as racehorses and polo ponies.
Livestock exports play an important role in
foreign trade. Earnings from meat, hides, and live animal exports in the early
21st century were about $1.9 billion annually, or about 7 percent of total
export earnings. Argentina has long ranked as a world leader in the export of
raw meat. Cooked and canned meats are also increasingly important exports.
Argentina also produces and exports large
quantities of wool; in 2006, 60,000 metric tons of wool were produced. The
Patagonia region is home to about 40 percent of all sheep in Argentina.
Wheat is Argentina’s most important crop.
The country is among the major producers of wheat in the world. In 2006, the
wheat crop totaled 14 million metric tons. Other major cash crops were maize,
soybeans, and sorghum. Other major field crops include barley, sunflower seeds,
sugarcane, potatoes, rice, and tobacco, as well as grapes, oranges, apples,
lemons, and grapefruit.
C | Forestry and Fishing |
Situated mainly in mountain areas distant
from centers of population, Argentina’s 33 million hectares (81.6 million acres)
of forest are relatively unused. Among the most harvested trees are elm and
willow, for cellulose production; white quebracho, for fuel; red quebracho, for
tannin (used for tanning leather); and cedar, for the manufacture of furniture.
Other economically important trees are oak, araucaria, pine, eucalyptus, and
cypress.
Argentina’s fisheries, potentially highly
productive, have not been fully exploited, although production has increased
steadily since the 1960s. In 2005 the catch was 933,902 metric tons. Argentine
hake and squid are an important part of the catch.
D | Mining |
Although Argentina has a variety of mineral
deposits, mining has historically been of only modest importance to the nation’s
economy. Since the 1990s, however, production of petroleum and natural gas has
increased significantly. In 2003 fuel products accounted for 17.3 percent of
national exports. In addition to petroleum and natural gas, relatively small
quantities of iron ore, gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, and boron are also
mined in Argentina.
In terms of value, the chief mineral
product is petroleum. In 2004 production of crude petroleum was 271 million
barrels, furnishing the country’s needs and allowing Argentina to become a net
energy exporter. Major petroleum reserves are located in Patagonia and offshore
near the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Natural gas production has doubled
since the 1980s to about 41 billion cubic meters in 2003, with reserves located
mainly in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
E | Manufacturing |
Most industry in Argentina is centered
along the Paraná River from Rosario to the city of Buenos Aires, and industry
employs 24 percent of the national labor force. The country’s oldest industry is
the processing and packaging of foodstuffs. By the early 1990s the production of
petroleum products had exceeded food processing in value. Other important
manufactured goods are motor vehicles; consumer goods such as refrigerators,
washing machines, and television sets; pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; electronic
equipment; and fibers.
F | Energy |
Although most rivers and falls with
potential energy are located far from industrial centers, Argentina is
developing its water resources at a rapid rate. Major hydroelectric projects
include the Yacyretá Dam on the Paraná River (in cooperation with Paraguay) and
the Salto Grande on the Uruguay River (in cooperation with Uruguay). The first
of 20 generators at Yacyretá, one of the world’s largest hydroelectric
facilities, was activated in 1994, but cost overruns, corruption, environmental
problems, and construction delays slowed the completion of the project
considerably. In early 2005 the governments of Argentina and Paraguay agreed to
complete the Yacyretá hydroelectric project by 2008.
While most electricity is generated by
hydroelectric or thermal power plants, Argentina has one of the most advanced
nuclear energy programs in Latin America, providing 8 percent of the country’s
electrical needs. Overall, Argentine power plants generated 83.3 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003.
G | Currency and Banking |
Argentina’s currency is the peso
argentino, consisting of 100 centavos. The Central Bank, which was
established in 1935 and came under government control in 1949, functions as the
national bank and has the sole right to issue currency. After an economic
collapse Argentina in 2002 abandoned a law that had pegged the peso to the U.S.
dollar on a one-to-one basis. The peso was devalued by 30 percent and allowed to
float freely.
H | Commerce and Trade |
The trade balance tends to be favorable to
Argentina when world demand for food is high. The country’s exports were worth
$29.6 billion in 2003. Exports are principally animals and animal products,
including meat, hides, and wool; grains, including wheat and corn; oilseed;
petroleum products; and automobiles. Imports are typically machinery and
equipment, chemicals, metals, and airplanes and other vehicles; in 2003 imports
cost $13.8 billion. Chief purchasers of exports are Brazil, the United States,
Chile, China, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and Uruguay; leading sources for
imports are Brazil, the United States, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, and
Spain.
Argentina is a member of the Latin American
Integration Association (LAIA, known in Spanish as Asociación Latinoamericana
de Integración, ALADI), which governs regional trade. It is also a member of
the Southern Cone Common Market (also known by its Spanish acronym, MERCOSUR).
Founded in 1991, MERCOSUR eliminates tariffs on many goods traded between
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. A large portion of Argentina’s imports
and exports are with its MERCOSUR partners. Chile is also an important trading
partner with Argentina and other members of MERCOSUR.
I | Tourism |
Argentina has a number of tourist
attractions, but the country’s distance from Europe and the United States has
limited the development of the tourism industry. Even so, several million
tourists visit Argentina each year. The top destinations are Buenos Aires, the
Andes and the lake district around Bariloche, and Patagonia. Buenos Aires is a
vibrant, sophisticated city that offers many urban pleasures and has long prided
itself on being the “Paris of South America.”
Adventuresome travelers may choose to
travel through Patagonia on horseback, stopping to fish and camp out, or hike in
the Andes Mountains. Skiers flock to resorts in the mountains to enjoy their
sport during Argentina’s winter months of June, July, and August. The lake
district and Atlantic beaches draw Argentineans as well as visitors from abroad.
Iguaçu Falls, on the border with Brazil, is another popular tourist site.
National parks preserve many of the country’s natural wonders.
J | Transportation |
The government of Argentina owned and
operated the entire Argentine railroad system from 1948 until 1992, when it
privatized most of the rail system. By 1994 the government had privatized most
of the state-owned freight rail network and transferred several of the intercity
passenger services to provincial control. The system has a total length of
35,753 km (22,216 mi). Only one functioning line crosses the Andes, providing a
connection with northern Chile; railroad links also connect Argentina with
Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, although direct services are not
possible because of differences in operating gauges. As a result of
privatization, passenger service in many areas of the country is no longer
available.
Aerolíneas Argentinas, once the national
airline and now part of Spain’s Iberia Airlines, is Argentina’s largest air
carrier. It operates flights within Argentina and to international destinations.
There are also several smaller, domestic airlines. Argentina has about 11,000 km
(about 6,800 mi) of waterways along navigable rivers, especially those in the
Paraná region. The most important waterway development project in the region is
the Hidrovía system, which links waterways in the Pantanal lowlands of Brazil
with the Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay river systems.
The combined length of all roads and
highways is 400,000 km (248,548 mi). A variety of private companies operate toll
roads throughout Argentina, with freeways located primarily in and around the
Buenos Aires metropolitan region. In 1998 there were 140 passenger cars for
every 1,000 people in Argentina.
A network of private buses, subways, and
suburban railroads serves the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Both the subway
and railroad systems have been privatized, and improvements in service frequency
and quality have led increasing numbers of passengers to use public
transportation. No other city in Argentina has a suburban rail or subway
system.
K | Communications |
The government maintains a system of postal
services throughout the country. In the early 1990s the number of telephone
lines in service grew significantly when the government privatized the
telecommunications sector. By 2005 there were 227 telephone mainlines in use for
every 1,000 persons. There were 681 radios and 292 television sets in use per
1,000 people in 1998. Since 1990, use of the Internet has grown rapidly, as has
cellular phone usage.
Argentina has more than 30 daily
newspapers; the principal ones are published in Buenos Aires and circulate
throughout the country. La Prensa and La Nación are famed
internationally for their independent views and objectivity. Other leading
Buenos Aires papers are Clarín, Crónica, Página 12, and
La Razón. Argentina’s only English-language newspaper is the Buenos
Aires Herald. The provincial capitals and other secondary centers all have
daily papers with strong local followings. A number of magazines containing both
news and features are published in Buenos Aires and circulate throughout the
country.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
According to the constitution of 1853,
Argentina is a federal republic headed by a president. Legislative powers are
vested in a National Congress consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
All citizens 18 years of age or older are entitled to vote. The 1853
constitution has been revised on several occasions.
Since 1930 Argentina’s democratic
institutions have been rescinded or suspended during different periods of
authoritarian rule. In 1949 the constitution of 1853 was replaced by one devised
by the government of Juan Perón. Under the Peronist constitution the president’s
powers were enlarged, the provincial governors were made agents of the
president, and the legislature and judiciary were reduced to impotence. After
Perón was overthrown in 1955, the 1853 constitution was reinstituted. However,
as before Perón, several subsequent leaders suspended or disregarded provisions
of the constitution that interfered with their goals. The military junta that
took power in 1976 also incorporated a number of extraordinary laws into the
constitution.
In 1983, when democratic political life was
restored in Argentina, the 1853 constitution was once again reinstituted in
essentially its original form. A constituent assembly, agreed to by the main
political parties in the congress, was held in 1994 for the purpose of
introducing a number of reforms to the original 1853 charter.
A | Executive |
Prior to the 1994 constitutional reforms,
the president and vice-president were chosen for a six-year term—with no
possibility of immediate reelection—by an electoral college whose members were
elected by popular vote. The president and vice president are now elected
directly by popular vote for a four-year term with the option of seeking
immediate reelection for one period only. The 1994 reforms also placed
limitations on certain presidential prerogatives concerning decrees, and
strengthened the roles of the legislature and judiciary in relation to the
president.
The president appoints a cabinet of
ministers to head executive departments. The president enacts the laws and may
participate in drawing up legislation. The president also serves as the
commander in chief of the armed forces.
B | Legislature |
The National Congress consists of a lower
chamber (the 257-member Chamber of Deputies) and an upper chamber (the 72-member
Senate). Deputies are elected by the people to four-year terms through a system
of proportional representation. Each province has three senators with one-third
of the senators elected every two years to six-year terms. Two of these senators
are directly elected and the third represents the province’s largest minority
party. Three senators represent the city of Buenos Aires.
C | Judiciary |
The judicial system in Argentina is headed
by the Supreme Court, which has nine judges. Other federal courts in Argentina
include the appellate courts, and district and territorial courts. Supreme Court
judges and other federal judges hold lifetime appointments and cannot be removed
except through impeachment by Congress. The federal courts have the power of
judicial review over constitutional issues. The president appoints federal
judges, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The provincial court systems are
organized similarly to the federal system and consist of supreme, appellate, and
lower courts.
D | Local Government |
Argentina comprises 23 provinces; the
City of Buenos Aires, which is an autonomous federal district; and the
Argentine-claimed sector of Antarctica and several South Atlantic islands.
The provinces are grouped into five major
areas: the Pampas, or Littoral, provinces, comprising the provinces of Buenos
Aires (which is a separate entity from the city of the same name), Córdoba,
Entre Ríos, La Pampa, and Santa Fe; the Northwest provinces, comprising
Catamarca, Jujuy, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán; the Northeast
provinces, comprising Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa, and Misiones; the Andes, or
Cuyo, provinces, comprising La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis; and the
Patagonian provinces, comprising Chubut, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz, and
Tierra del Fuego.
Under the constitution, the provinces of
Argentina elect their own governors and legislatures by popular vote. The City
of Buenos Aires, which is an autonomous federal district, has a popularly
elected mayor and legislature.
E | Political Parties |
Throughout the end of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20th centuries, Argentina was one of the few nations in Latin
America with well-established and fully functioning political parties. However,
between 1930 and 1983 the armed forces were a much more powerful factor in
Argentine politics than any political party. Almost all of Argentina’s
governments during this period were directly military or military backed, and
almost all changes in government resulted from military coups d’etat rather than
competitive elections. In 1982, after the Argentine armed forces suffered a
humiliating defeat in a war with Great Britain, political parties regained the
right to function freely in preparation for national elections in 1983.
The oldest political party in Argentina
is the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), or Radical Party, which was founded in 1890.
The other major party is the Partitido Justicialista (PJ), also called the
Justicialist or Peronist Party, which was founded in 1945 by military leader
Juan Perón. Traditionally, the UCR has represented the middle class, and the PJ
has drawn its support from the urban working class, but both parties today have
much broader support. Until the 1990s, when the PJ began to embrace free-market
economics, the Peronists were known as a fiercely nationalistic party that
exalted the memory of their founder. Argentina also has a number of smaller
parties and parties that represent particular provinces.
F | Health and Welfare |
The National Institute of Social Welfare
has administered most Argentine welfare programs since its founding in 1944.
Labor unions provide health insurance for medical services to its members, while
other people receive medical care from free hospital clinics. Medical standards
are relatively high in the major cities, and efforts are constantly being made
to improve medical facilities in rural areas. The government has privatized many
health-care facilities since 1990, and it is generally withdrawing from
providing major social welfare services.
G | Defense |
The Argentine military establishment is
one of the most modern and best equipped in Latin America and has historically
played a prominent, and often controversial, role in national affairs. Drastic
cuts in military spending in the 1990s, however, prompted Argentina’s armed
forces to initiate a number of profit-making ventures to raise money, including
offering tours of Patagonia on navy ships. Military conscription was abolished
in 1995. In 2004 the army had 41,400 troops. The navy had a strength of 17,500.
The air force had about 12,500 members in uniform.
VII | HISTORY |
Prior to European contact, Argentina’s
indigenous peoples were far less numerous and generally had less-developed
cultures than indigenous peoples in Mexico and Peru. Most were hunter-gatherers.
Some highly developed indigenous peoples lived inland, far away from the coast.
The Diaguita of western and northwestern Argentina practiced agriculture. Their
societies and cultures bore traces of influence from the Inca Empire. In
northeastern Argentina, bordering on contemporary Paraguay, the Guaraní peoples
practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing forestland by cutting down and
burning the existing vegetation.
A | The Colonial Era |
In 1516 the Spanish navigator Juan Díaz
de Solís, then searching for a southwest passage to the East Indies, piloted his
ship into the great estuary now known as the Río de la Plata. He claimed the
surrounding region in the name of Spain. Sebastian Cabot, an Italian navigator
in the service of Spain, visited the estuary in 1526. In search of food and
supplies, Cabot and his men went up the Paraná River close to the site of the
modern city of Rosario. They constructed a fort and explored up the river as far
as the region now occupied by Paraguay. Cabot, who remained in the river basin
for nearly four years, obtained small quantities of silver from the native
peoples. He named the estuary the Río de la Plata, which is Spanish for
“silver river.”
In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza, a Spanish
soldier appointed as the military governor of all land in South America south of
the Río de la Plata, founded Buenos Aires. The members of his expedition
encountered hostile indigenous peoples, severe hardships, and great difficulties
in obtaining food. They abandoned the site in 1541.
In 1537 Domingo Martínez de Irala, one of
Mendoza’s lieutenants, founded Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay), which
became the first permanent settlement in the La Plata region. In 1553 Spanish
settlers from Peru established the first permanent settlement on Argentine soil
at Santiago del Estero in the Andean foothills. The Spanish founded Santa Fe in
1573, and in 1580 they resettled Buenos Aires. Administratively, the La Plata
region formed part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, based in Lima.
Throughout the 17th century and most of
the 18th century Spain funneled all overseas trade with its colonies through
Lima, where the viceroy resided. Despite the advantages of Buenos Aires as a
more direct link between Europe and the colonial settlements east of the Andes,
the Río de la Plata area was legally closed to all overseas trade. The Spaniards
in the area lived on small subsidies from the Spanish government and from an
illegal silver trade with Peru. They exploited the enormous herds of wild cattle
descended from animals the Spanish brought to the region decades earlier.
In 1776 Spain made Buenos Aires the
capital of the newly formed Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a region
comprising present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Spain also
allowed trade. Free at last from the control of Lima, Buenos Aires began to
prosper, not only through legal trade with Spain and other Spanish colonies, but
also through a brisk illegal trade. The La Plata region then began exporting
Peruvian silver and cattle hides from the wild herds of the Pampas, and Buenos
Aires became a major port for importing African slaves. These changes attracted
Spanish merchants and a large number of senior Spanish administrators to Buenos
Aires.
B | End of Spanish Rule |
After about 20 years of economic
expansion and stability, the La Plata region attracted the attention of Britain,
which was at war with France and Spain. In 1806 a British fleet attacked Buenos
Aires. The British took control of the city, but a citizen militia quickly
ousted them. The following year the British tried to regain control of the city
but failed. The defeat of the British filled the citizens of Buenos Aires with
confidence in their fighting ability.
Revolutionary sentiment in La Plata
escalated after the French emperor Napoleon overthrew and imprisoned King
Ferdinand VII of Spain in 1808. The people of Buenos Aires refused to recognize
Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother, as Ferdinand’s legitimate successor. On
May 25, 1810, they rejected Bonaparte’s rule by overthrowing the government and
installed a provisional governing council in the name of Ferdinand VII.
The new government launched a military
campaign to win the support of the cities in the interior. The campaigns of 1810
marked the beginning of the wars of independence that continued for more than a
decade. Argentina declared independence in 1816, although the revolutionaries
did not finally defeat the Spanish in South America until 1824. See also
Latin American Independence.
C | The Unitarians and Federalists |
In the northern city of Tucumán, on July
9, 1816, a congress of delegates from the Argentine provinces declared the
independence of the United Provinces of South America (later called the United
Provinces of the Río de la Plata). However, the delegates failed to establish a
stable government. A long struggle ensued between the people of Buenos Aires,
who wanted to unify the country with Buenos Aires as the capital, and the people
of the interior provinces, who did not want to be dominated by Buenos Aires.
People in Buenos Aires who mostly favored a centralized system were known as
Unitarians, while those in the provinces who wanted a loose confederation with
provincial self-government were known as Federalists. Friction between the two
factions mounted steadily, culminating in a civil war in 1819 and the so-called
year of anarchy in 1820 when provincial forces invaded and occupied Buenos
Aires. Peace was restored in 1820 but the central issue, formation of a stable
government, remained unresolved.
In the 1820s the Unitarians of Buenos
Aires under Bernardino Rivadavia tried to establish a centralized government. A
man of liberal views, Rivadavia aspired to modernize Argentina. However, he
became distracted when his army challenged Brazil for possession of the east
bank of the Río de la Plata. The war between Argentina and Brazil ended in
stalemate, and both countries guaranteed the independence of the east bank,
which became the independent nation of Uruguay in 1828. Rivadavia was deposed,
and Argentina collapsed into bankruptcy and civil unrest.
In 1829 dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas
took power in Buenos Aires. A Federalist, Rosas cemented friendly relations with
other provinces, winning broad support from fellow caudillos (dictators)
and from the small armies of gauchos (cowboys) who dominated the
provinces. He established an iron grip over Buenos Aires, demanding rigid
obedience of the population and commonly murdering anyone who dared to resist.
With few exceptions, his surviving enemies fled abroad. From Chile and Uruguay,
and as far away as France and the United States, Rosas’s enemies waged a
propaganda war against him. They denounced Rosas for his repressive policies and
for failing to promote economic development.
In 1852 General Justo Urquiza, a former
governor of Entre Ríos province, led an uprising that toppled Rosas. Urquiza
received assistance from exiled Unitarians in Uruguay and from Brazil. In 1853
Argentina adopted a federal constitution, and Urquiza became the first president
of the Argentine Confederation. However, Buenos Aires refused to acknowledge
Urquiza’s authority and reinstituted self-rule. The main dispute concerned
finances. Buenos Aires collected nearly all the country’s revenues from foreign
trade, but its leaders refused to hand over the revenues to the Confederation.
D | Formation of the Republic |
In 1859 hostility between Buenos Aires
and the Confederation flared into civil war. The Confederation initially proved
stronger. Following defeat in the Battle of Cepeda in 1859, Buenos Aires agreed
to join the Confederation. In 1861 civil war erupted again, and in the Battle of
Pavón the forces of Buenos Aires under General Bartolomé Mitre defeated the army
of the Confederation under Urquiza. As the Confederation collapsed, Mitre
created the Republic of Argentina. In 1862 the provinces elected Mitre president
of the republic. He ruled under an amended version of the constitution of 1853
and made Buenos Aires the nation’s capital.
As president, Mitre pledged to develop
Argentina economically through railroad construction and European immigration.
He faced lingering opposition in the interior to a political system dominated by
Buenos Aires, but conflict with Paraguay brought war on a large scale. In 1865
Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay declared war on Paraguay. This conflict, known as
the War of the Triple Alliance, continued for almost five years until Paraguay
was largely destroyed. Despite almost continual warfare, the Argentine economy
grew until an economic depression occurred in the mid-1870s.
In 1879 General Julio A. Roca led an
invasion of the southern Pampas, known as the Conquest of the Desert, in which
his troops subdued and destroyed the indigenous peoples and opened vast new
areas for grazing and farming. This campaign marked the beginning of a decade of
unprecedented expansion. In 1880 Roca was elected president. Unlike Mitre, who
dominated the country from Buenos Aires, Roca drew his power mainly from the
provinces, and his victory provoked his opponents in Buenos Aires into revolt.
Backed by the army, Roca’s followers put down the rebellion. To placate the
people of Buenos Aires, Roca’s government made the city a federal district. This
move effectively separated the city of Buenos Aires from the province of the
same name.
E | Era of Prosperity |
In the 1880s Argentina made rapid
economic progress. British capital financed one of the largest railroad systems
in the world. European immigrants flowed into Argentina; by 1914 nearly 6
million people had come to the country. Argentina became a major exporter of
wool, wheat, and beef. In the first decade of the 20th century, Argentina became
the richest nation in Latin America, its wealth symbolized by the opulence of
its capital city. The growth of Argentina occurred rapidly but not smoothly.
Following a steep upturn in growth during the late 1880s, the economy crashed in
1890. Five years elapsed before growth finally resumed.
The early 20th century in Argentina had
some features in common with the 1880s and 1890s. A period of economic
disruption followed an era of rapid growth. From 1901 to 1913, Argentina
achieved greater prosperity. The population swelled, particularly in Buenos
Aires. In response to social unrest in urban areas, the conservative ruling
class adopted political reforms. In 1912 legislation known as the Sáenz Peña law
democratized the political system by granting universal male suffrage
(right to vote). This law enabled wider political participation for the middle
class and segments of the working class. In 1916 the Radical Party under
Hipólito Irigoyen took power.
At the time of Irigoyen’s election,
Argentina was suffering the ill effects of World War I (1914-1918). In the early
stages of the war, European countries imported fewer Argentine products, which
caused a recession in Argentina and resulted in declining living standards for
workers. Workers held strikes to protest economic conditions, and in early 1919
the army fired on the participants of a widely supported general strike. People
who opposed the strike also attacked the Jewish community of Buenos Aires in an
episode known as the Tragic Week. Instability continued until 1924 when
Argentina experienced another burst of rapid prosperity sustained by foreign
investment, immigration, and rising exports.
F | The Great Depression and World War II |
The world economic crisis that began in
1929 had serious repercussions in Argentina. In 1930 a military coup ousted
Irigoyen’s second administration and instituted a brief military dictatorship.
Falling foreign trade and unemployment intensified the prevailing sense of
insecurity. In the 1930s earnings from agriculture declined, and thousands of
people were forced to leave rural areas. They moved to cities, especially Buenos
Aires. Former farm workers joined an emerging manufacturing economy that
developed as imports declined. Economic conditions improved substantially during
the administration of General Agustín P. Justo from 1932 to 1938, but political
unrest continued.
During the 1930s Argentina had a very
active right-wing nationalist movement that its opponents denounced as
pro-fascist (see Fascism). The appeal of liberal democracy declined as
the lure of authoritarian dictatorship grew. In 1943 a nationalist military
junta, suspecting that the government was about to abandon its policy of
neutrality and join the Allied Powers in World War II, overthrew the
president.
The coup of 1943 dethroned the political
system instituted almost a century earlier with the constitution of 1853.
Right-wing nationalists led the new government. President Pedro Ramírez
abolished all political parties, suppressed opposition newspapers, and stifled
the remnants of democracy in Argentina. Then in 1944 Allied pressure forced
Ramírez to break diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan. Local opposition
to the break led to the president’s fall and instatement of another military
government committed to neutrality.
G | The Perón Era |
During this period, army colonel Juan D.
Perón emerged as the leading figure in Argentine politics. Perón achieved
prominence as an instigator of the 1943 coup. He increased his influence by
serving as secretary for labor and social welfare under Ramírez and by enlisting
the support of organized labor. Perón found his main support among poor urban
industrial and agricultural workers, popularly known as descamisados
(Spanish for “shirtless ones”). He founded a new political movement later named
the Justicialist Party, also known as the Peronist Party. Perón promised his
supporters, known as Peronistas, that the Peronist Party could achieve social
justice by rapidly improving living conditions. In 1944 and 1945 Peronism
emerged as a powerful mass movement.
In October 1945 Perón married the former
actress Eva Duarte. As first lady of Argentina, Eva Perón, known as Evita,
managed labor relations and social services for her husband’s government until
her death in 1952. Adored by the masses, which she manipulated with great skill,
she became, as much as anyone, responsible for the enduring popular following of
the Perón regime.
Following his election as president in
1946, Perón put forth an ambitious five-year plan to expand the economy through
industrial production and to increase government control over the national
economy. His government built steel mills, textile mills, and other factories.
It also nationalized the banking system and private companies such as the
British-owned railroads and the U.S.-owned telephone company.
During its first two years, the plan
appeared brilliantly successful as industrial output increased and wages
climbed. Problems emerged in 1948 when European countries began importing fewer
Argentine products, and both industrial production and living standards
stagnated. The Perón regime lost much of its initial popularity and resorted to
force and threats to uphold its position.
In 1949 Perón put through a new
constitution permitting the president to succeed himself in office. When the
Peronistas renominated Perón as the presidential candidate for 1952, the
opposition parties and press grew increasingly critical of the government. The
Perón government responded with legislation authorizing prison terms for people
who showed “disrespect” for government leaders, as well as measures curbing the
freedom of the press. Many opponents of the regime were jailed. In 1951 the
government took over the newspaper La Prensa, a leading critic of the
Perón government. The political parties that opposed Perón in the presidential
elections faced growing restrictions. Unsurprisingly, Perón easily won
reelection, and the Peronistas gained an overwhelming majority in the Chamber of
Deputies.
In 1953 the government inaugurated a
second five-year economic plan emphasizing agricultural output as opposed to
all-out industrialization. That year produced increased agricultural exports and
the first favorable trade balance since 1950, but the economy suffered from
severe inflation. As political tensions grew, in 1954 Perón accused a group of
Catholic priests of plotting against the government. In retaliation the
government enacted several anticlerical measures, which included legalizing
divorce and prostitution. The schism between the church and the Perón government
steadily widened.
On June 16, 1955, opponents of the Perón
government in the Argentine navy and air force launched a revolt in Buenos Aires
that led to the bombing of the downtown area and killed many people. The army
remained loyal, however, and the uprising collapsed. Tension continued to
increase, and on September 16 insurgents in all three branches of the armed
forces staged a rebellion. After several days of civil war and more casualties,
Perón resigned. On September 20 the insurgent leader Major General Eduardo
Lonardi took office as provisional president, promising to restore democratic
government. Perón went into exile, first in Paraguay and later in Venezuela, the
Dominican Republic, and finally Spain.
H | Political Instability |
After less than two months the Lonardi
government fell in a coup led by Major General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu. Aramburu
restored the constitution of 1853 and persecuted the Peronistas, particularly
those in the labor unions. The government banned the Peronist Party from
participating in the 1958 elections, and Arturo Frondizi of the Radical Party
won the presidency with Peronist and Communist support. By 1960 Frondizi had
achieved a degree of economic stability. However, he found it difficult to curb
labor unrest and inflation, and his popularity declined throughout 1961. In the
1962 election, Frondizi allowed the Peronist Party to participate, and it polled
about 35 percent of the vote. The prospect of the Peronistas returning to power
triggered the military to overthrow Frondizi. Argentina returned to civilian
rule the next year after Arturo Illía, a moderate, became president. He promoted
a program of national recovery and regulation of foreign investment. However, he
was unable to control inflation.
In 1966 another military coup occurred,
and the military set up a government under General Juan Carlos Onganía, who
sought radical change. Onganía pledged to rescue the economy, reform the social
structure, and then restore “true” democracy purged of Communist and Peronist
influences. His government dissolved the National Congress and disbanded all
political parties. Onganía’s program enjoyed great success but suddenly
collapsed in mid-1969 when workers and students in the city of Córdoba held
massive demonstrations.
The country shook as waves of popular
unrest hit many of its leading cities. Guerrilla groups made up of leftists and
Peronistas carried out audacious assassinations and kidnappings. Eventually, the
military named General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse president; he took office in
early 1971. The Lanusse government pledged a return to civilian rule and
promised to hold elections. Violence continued in the form of strikes, popular
riots, and terrorist activities, and the economy suffered renewed crisis. In an
effort to stem the opposition, Lanusse allowed the Peronistas to participate in
the election. In the 1973 election Hector J. Cámpora of the Peronist Party was
elected president with almost 50 percent of the vote.
I | Return and Death of Perón |
The return of civilian government failed
to curb political conflict. Leftist and Peronist terrorism escalated. Rightist
vigilantes, also pledging support for Perón, kidnapped and murdered opponents.
In June 1973 Perón returned to Buenos Aires, but a violent fight broke out at
the airport where he landed and resulted in about 400 deaths. Cámpora then
resigned. Perón won the presidency in September elections with more than 60
percent of the vote. His third wife, Isabel de Perón, became vice
president.
The physical strain of the presidency
proved too much for the aging Perón, who died on July 1, 1974, leaving his wife
as the first female chief executive in the Western Hemisphere. During her brief
presidency, political and economic conditions deteriorated rapidly. In 1975
terrorist activities by right- and left-wing groups resulted in the deaths of
more than 700 people. The cost of living climbed steeply, and strikes and
demonstrations continually threatened stability. In 1976 a military junta, led
by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla, seized power, dissolved the National
Congress, and proclaimed martial law.
J | Military Dictatorship |
The “Process of National
Reorganization,” as the new military junta called its program, proved more
repressive than any previous government in Argentina. The armed forces and the
police hunted down opponents and imposed a reign of terror on the population in
what became known as the “dirty war.” An estimated 30,000 people disappeared
into secret prisons and were executed after weeks of torture. They became known
as the desaparecidos (Spanish for “disappeared ones”)—people who vanished
without trace under the military government.
When a new military government under
General Roberto Viola took over in 1981, the Argentine economy collapsed
completely. The government devalued the currency, which led to a flight of
foreign capital. At the end of 1981 General Leopoldo Galtieri overthrew and
replaced Viola. Unable to control the economy, Galtieri feared an outbreak of
popular opposition and the resurgence of leftist opposition. Signs of popular
protest appeared in 1982 when the hitherto repressed unions organized street
demonstrations against the government.
Galtieri sought to deflect the popular
challenge by seizing the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Islas
Malvinas, territories that Argentina claimed but Britain had occupied since
1833. On April 1, 1982, Argentine troops forced a token British force to
surrender and took possession of the islands. The apparent success of the
campaign converted swelling opposition to the government into massive popular
support. However, Britain struck back and dispatched a large military and naval
force to the South Atlantic. Many efforts to settle the conflict through
diplomacy failed. In early June 1982 British troops landed on the islands. In
three weeks, they defeated the poorly led, often starving Argentine soldiers.
Within days of the surrender, Galtieri
resigned. Another junta announced elections while trying to protect military
officers from reprisals as they left the government. A year after the Falkland
Islands debacle, the elections of 1983 brought an unexpected result. As the
Peronistas remained divided, the smaller Radical Party under Raúl Alfonsín
gained its first absolute majority since 1928.
K | The Alfonsín Government |
By December 1983, as Alfonsín took
power, military rule had been totally discredited. Throughout Argentina, a
determination prevailed to make democracy successful. Despite his strong
support, Alfonsín faced some daunting obstacles. The economy remained mired in
recession, and the country faced a massive foreign debt. To pay the debt, the
government had to restrict imports and create a large trade surplus, but in
doing so it limited the recovery of the manufacturing sector by preventing the
acquisition of necessary parts and supplies.
The government established a national
commission to examine the fate of the desaparecidos of the mid-1970s. In
1985 the government supported indictments of the military leaders from 1976 to
1983. Lengthy trials ended in long prison terms for Videla, Galtieri, and
several other former military leaders. However, the military opposed these
trials, and military protests led the Alfonsín government to pass a law that
granted amnesty to lower-ranking military officials for atrocities committed
during the “dirty war.”
Alfonsín faced growing opposition from
the unions and the church, along with economic unrest. In 1985 the Alfonsín
government introduced the Austral Plan in an effort to stop inflation by
freezing prices and wages, but labor opposition gradually undermined the plan.
Strikes forced the government into conceding higher wages, and inflation mounted
once more. Alfonsín’s popularity drained away.
L | The Menem Government |
In 1989 Carlos Menem, the presidential
candidate of the Peronist Party, won a landslide election victory. Before Menem
took office, another wave of hyperinflation struck, and mobs of poor people
looted supermarkets in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Facing more outbreaks
of military unrest and renewed leftist activity, Alfonsín abandoned his office
before his term expired, and Menem was sworn in as president.
As president Menem set a new direction
for Argentina’s economic policy. Campaigning for the presidency, he appeared to
be an old-style Peronista, promising more government control and higher wages.
However, Menem changed his position in response to hyperinflation. To rescue the
economy, he had to seek external financial support from organizations such as
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He could only obtain such support by
promising to undertake drastic economic reform. Menem announced a cabinet
dominated by so-called neoliberals, who supported a free-market economy and
minimal government interference.
The neoliberals argued that the main
cause of Argentina’s long economic decline lay in the excessive role of
government in the economy. They argued that cuts in the public sector were
essential first steps to restore the country’s economic health. A growing public
acceptance of such ideas represented a revolutionary change of attitude in
Argentina. From Perón’s time, the country stood out as a model of state
ownership and government intervention. State corporations dominated large areas
of the economy, including many manufacturing sectors as well as transportation
and utilities. National and local governments provided the main source of
employment. The government regulated wages and prices and protected
manufacturing through high tariffs. The government also influenced social
development through numerous subsidies to social welfare programs.
Led by Domingo Cavallo, who became
minister of the economy in 1991, the Menem administration wanted to increase
foreign investment and economic growth. To accomplish this, it reduced tariffs
and subsidies and sought to stabilize federal revenues through tax reform. In an
effort to eliminate national deficits the government brought the federal budget
more closely into balance, although it put more responsibilities on local
authorities, which resulted in spending increases in the provinces. The
government also sold numerous state-owned corporations to private investors.
Privatized corporations included Aerolíneas Argentinas, the national airline,
and YPF (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales), the state oil monopoly.
Cavallo also sponsored an initiative to
try to control inflation. The government linked the exchange value of the
Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one basis. Known as
convertibility, this plan attempted to eliminate inflation by linking the supply
of local currency to dollar reserves. To make convertibility work, the
government had to stop printing money and devaluing the peso.
Privatization and convertibility gained
popular acceptance during a period of rapid economic growth in the early 1990s.
However, they lost popularity later in the decade as the growth rate fell.
Critics argued that privatization substituted foreign-owned private monopolies
for public monopolies and that convertibility intensified the recession by
overvaluing the peso. Attempts to reduce public spending proved unpopular from
the start.
In 1994 Argentina revised its
constitution to allow the president to seek a second consecutive term. Menem won
reelection in 1995, and he served as president for a longer stretch than any of
his predecessors. He displayed great skill in steering the Peronistas into
accepting policies directly opposite to those of Perón. Under Menem the standard
of living of many Argentines either fell or stagnated. Critics denounced Menem’s
government as corrupt and depicted the regime as a new oligarchy, a government
in which power is vested in a few individuals. Nevertheless, the president
retained much of his popularity until his term ended in 1999.
M | Recent Events |
In the 1999 presidential election
Fernando de la Rúa, a Radical who headed the center-left Alliance coalition,
defeated Eduardo Duhalde, the Peronist candidate. De la Rúa, a former mayor of
Buenos Aires, was determined to continue the economic policies of Menem, but he
faced growing difficulties as the economy remained mired in recession. The de la
Rúa administration remained heavily dependent on external financial support. In
August 2001 devaluation of the peso appeared imminent until the Inter-American
Development Bank provided a loan of $502 million. At that time, the economy was
suffering a third year of continuous decline.
M1 | Economic Austerity |
De la Rúa’s government instituted an
austerity program, which included slashing government salaries and seizing
pensions to pay creditors. In December 2001 protests and riots broke out in the
streets of Buenos Aires and throughout the country in response to the austerity
program and the country’s high unemployment rate. More than 20 people were
killed in the protests. Shortly after the protests began, de la Rúa resigned as
president. Three politicians served briefly as president before the National
Congress chose Eduardo Duhalde of the Peronist Party as president in January
2002.
In one of his first acts as president,
Duhalde ended the practice of convertibility. Many critics believed this
practice had contributed to the country’s economic problems by causing the peso
to be overvalued. With an overvalued currency, Argentina’s imports and exports
became more expensive, and the country sold fewer goods abroad. By ending the
practice of pegging the peso to the U.S. dollar the government was able to
sharply devalue the peso, making the cost of Argentina’s products more
competitive on the global market. Argentina also defaulted on more than $80
billion of its public debt early in 2002.
Duhalde served as president until
2003, when Argentina held a presidential election. In the first round, former
president Carlos Menem of the Peronist Party finished first but he did not win
enough of the vote for an outright victory. Menem then faced a run-off election
against fellow Peronist Néstor Kirchner, the governor of Santa Cruz province.
Before the runoff took place, however, Menem withdrew from the race after polls
indicated that he would not win. Menem’s withdrawal gave the presidency to
Kirchner, who pledged to improve the country’s economy by creating jobs and
protecting the country’s industrial sector. Kirchner restructured Argentina’s
debt, offering new bonds to creditors on terms favorable to the government.
M2 | Revisiting the ‘Dirty War’ |
In 2005 Argentina repealed legislation
that had granted a blanket amnesty to military and police personnel accused of
human rights violations during the country’s “dirty war.” The military
dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983 resulted in the disappearances of
about 30,000 people, mostly leftists, and the torture and imprisonment of
thousands more. In 2006 the first trial for human rights abuses led to the
conviction of a Buenos Aires provincial police officer. In 2007 a three-judge
panel found a Catholic priest guilty of taking part in 7 murders and 42
kidnappings and assisting torture in 31 interrogation sessions. He was sentenced
to life imprisonment.
M3 | Presidential Elections |
Argentina’s first lady, Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner, won the presidential elections in first-round balloting
in October 2007, handily defeating her nearest opponent by nearly 22 percentage
points. In succeeding her husband, Kirchner became Argentina’s first elected
female president. Nestor Kirchner declined to seek a second term, although polls
had given him favorable ratings. His decision to promote his wife’s candidacy
rather than his own was never explained. Cristina Kirchner was a senator from
Buenos Aires province prior to the election. During the election campaign, she
vowed to continue her husband’s center-left policies.
David Rock reviewed the History
section of this article; the remainder was reviewed by David Keeling.
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