ARGENTINA

officially Argentine Republic, Spanish Repblica Argentina country occupying most of the southern portion, or southern cone, of South America. With an area of 1,073,399 square miles (2,780,092 square km)more extensive than Mexico and the U.S. state of Texas combinedit is the eighth largest country in the world. Argentina is shaped like an inverted triangle with its base at the top; it is some 880 miles (1,420 km) across at its widest from east to west and stretches 2,360 miles (3,800 km) from the subtropical north to the subantarctic south. This great north-south length embraces regions of striking diversity, including the Andes Mountains, the thorny scrubland and seasonal swamps of the Gran Chaco, the broad, fertile plains of the Pampas, the stark tableland of Patagonia, and an undulating Atlantic coastline of some 2,900 miles (4,700 km). Argentina also claims a portion of Antarctica, as well as several islands in the South Atlantic, including the British-ruled Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). It is bounded by Chile to the south and west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, and Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Buenos Aires is the capital. For many foreigners, especially Europeans, Argentina has presented the traditional New World image of a land of romance and opportunity. It received its name, roughly translated as Land of Silver or Silvery One, from Spanish explorers of the 16th century, who were lured there by rumours of vast mineral wealth. In the 19th century the former colony of Spain was the land of gauchos, the lone horsemen of the Pampas, and of estancieros, ranchers who lived like kings on estancias the size of small countries. In the last part of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century, Argentina became for the poor of Europe a place where they could earn a decent living on the expansive farmland of the interior or in the growing cities of the coast. During this period, millions of immigrants came to Argentina, bringing skills that helped transform it into a modern country whose agriculture and industry has remained among the most productive of Latin America. Historically, Argentina has repeatedly been subject to rule by a caudillo figurea strong leader, often from the military, who dominated the nation, usually until he was deposed or died. During its periods of democratic rule, Argentina has been administered as a federation of autonomous states with a republican system of government. In the late 20th century the nation was set back by failed policies that led to misadventures such as the Falkland Islands War of 1982, which cost Argentina dearly in terms of both morale and finances. Moreover, economic policies promulgated by the government have at times brought or exacerbated hyperinflation. Argentina's recovery from such disappointments and its prospects for future development are based on the potential manifested in its excellent resources and its well-educated populace. Robert C. Eidt Peter A.R. Calvert Additional reading Geography The land and the people General descriptive information is available in The South American Handbook (annual); El pas de los Argentinos, 6 vol. (197779), published by the Centro Editor de Amrica Latina; and James D. Rudolph (ed.), Argentina: A Country Study, 3rd ed. (1986). Statistical information is presented in an appealing format in Statistical Yearbook of the Argentine Republic (annual). Basic geographic information is discussed in Preston E. James, C.W. Minkel, and Eileen W. James, Latin America, 5th ed. (1986); Federico A. Daus, Geografa y unidad argentina, 2nd ed. (1978); and Francisco de Aparicio and Horacio A. Difrieri (eds.), La Argentina: suma de geografa, 9 vol. (195863). Geographic distribution of animals and plants is discussed in E.J. Fittkau et al. (eds.), Biogeography and Ecology in South America, 2 vol. (196869). An early but still useful work on the animals of Argentina is W.H. Hudson, The Naturalist in La Plata (1892). Patterns of settlement are the subject of Carl-Christoph Liss, Die Besiedlung und Landnutzung Ostpatagoniens unter besonderer Bercksichtgung der Schafestancien (1979); Robert C. Eidt, Pioneer Settlement in Northeast Argentina (1971); Mark Jefferson, Peopling the Argentine Pampa (1926, reprinted 1971); and Richard W. Slatta, Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier (1983, reissued 1992). The economy Economic conditions are documented by Jonathan C. Brown, A Socioeconomic History of Argentina, 17761860 (1979); Laura Randall, An Economic History of Argentina in the Twentieth Century (1978); Roberto Corts Conde and Ezequiel Gallo, La formacin de la Argentina moderna, 2nd ed. (1973); Pierre Denis, The Argentine Republic: Its Development and Progress (1922, reprinted 1976; originally published in French, 1920); and Guido Di Tella and D.C.M. Platt (eds.), The Political Economy of Argentina, 18801946 (1986). Agricultural economics is the focus of James R. Scobie, Revolution on the Pampas: A Social History of Argentine Wheat, 18601910 (1964, reissued 1967); Roberto Schopflocher, Historia de la colonizacin agrcola en Argentina (1955); and Peter H. Smith, Politics and Beef in Argentina: Patterns of Conflict and Change (1969). More-recent economic policy is discussed in Juan E. Corradi, The Fitful Republic: Economy, Society, and Politics in Argentina (1985); Gary W. Wynia, Argentina in the Postwar Era: Politics and Economic Policy Making in a Divided Society (1978); and Guido Di Tella and Rudiger Dornbusch (eds.), The Political Economy of Argentina: 194683 (1989). Also of interest is Argentina: Economic Memorandum, 2 vol. (1985), a World Bank country study.Labour movements are covered in Ronaldo Munck, Ricardo Falcn, and Bernardo Galitelli, Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism: Workers, Unions, and Politics, 18551985 (1987); David Tamarin, The Argentine Labor Movement, 193045: A Study in the Origins of Peronism (1985); and Charles Bergquist, Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia (1986). Cultural life Works on literature include Jos Alberto Santiago (compiler), Antologa de la poesa argentina (1973); Ricardo Rojas, Historia de la literatura argentina: ensayo filosfico sobre la evolucin de la cultura en el Plata (1960); and David William Foster (compiler), Argentine Literature: A Research Guide, 2nd ed., rev. and expanded (1982). Art and music are covered in Jos Len Pagano, El arte de los Argentinos, rev. ed., edited and updated by Jos Len Pagano and Jorge Vehils (1981); Vicente Gesualdo, Historia de la msica en la Argentina, 2nd ed. (1978 ); Ercilia Moreno Ch, Argentina, in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 2 (1998), pp. 249272; and Jane L. Florine, Cuarteto: Pop Music of Argentina, in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 2 (1998), pp. 273281.The role of the church is discussed in John J. Kennedy, Catholicism, Nationalism, and Democracy in Argentina (1958); and Daniel H. Levine (ed.), Churches and Politics in Latin America (1980). History Overviews An excellent historical summary is Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America, 4th ed. (1997), chapter 3, Argentina: Prosperity, Deadlock, and Change, pp. 68113. Broader treatments can be found in Academia Nacional de la Historia, Historia de la nacin argentina: desde los origenes hasta la organizacin definitiva en 1862, 3rd ed., 11 vol. in 15 (196163), and Historia argentina contempornea, 18621930, 4 vol. (196567). The colonial and early national periods are variously covered in Eduardo Crawley, A House Divided: Argentina, 18801980 (1984); John Lynch, Argentine Dictator: Juan Manuel De Rosas, 18291852 (1981); David Rock, Argentina, 15161987: From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsn (1987); James R. Scobie, Argentina: A City and a Nation, 2nd ed. (1971); and Ione S. Wright and Lisa M. Nekhom, Historical Dictionary of Argentina (1978). Political developments Useful works include Tulio Halpern-Donghi, Politics, Economics, and Society in Argentina in the Revolutionary Period, trans. from Spanish (1975); David Rock, Politics in Argentina, 18901930: The Rise and Fall of Radicalism (1975); Jos Luis Romero, A History of Argentine Political Thought (1963, reissued 1968; originally published in Spanish, 3rd ed., 1959); and Susan Calvert and Peter Calvert, Argentina: Political Culture and Instability (1989, reprinted 1991). The rise of the armed forces is detailed in Robert A. Potash, The Army & Politics in Argentina, 3 vol. (196996); Mark Falcoff and Ronald H. Dolkart (eds.), Prologue to Pern: Argentina in Depression and War, 19301943 (1975); and Ruth Greenup and Leonard Greenup, Revolution Before Breakfast: Argentina, 194146 (1947, reprinted 1974). Works on Juan Pern and Peronism include Frederick C. Turner and Jos Enrique Miguens (eds.), Juan Pern and the Reshaping of Argentina (1983); Joseph A. Page, Pern: A Biography (1983); Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro, Eva Pern (1980, reissued as Evita, 1996); Jeane Kirkpatrick, Leader and Vanguard in Mass Society: A Study of Peronist Argentina (1971); and Guido Di Tella, Argentina Under Pern, 197376: The Nation's Experience with a Labour-Based Government (1983). The Dirty War and the Falklands dispute For vivid accounts of the Dirty War, see Andrew Graham-Yooll, A State of Fear: Memories of Argentina's Nightmare (1986); and Jacobo Timerman, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number (1981, reprinted 1993; originally published in Spanish, 1981). Works on the Falkland Islands dispute and the war of 1982 include Raphael Perl, The Falkland Islands Dispute in International Law and Politics: A Documentary Sourcebook (1983); Alejandro Dabat and Luis Lorenzano, Argentina, the Malvinas, and the End of Military Rule (1984; originally published in Spanish, 1982); and Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands (1983). The return to democracy The subsequent process of democratization is discussed in Philip O'Brien and Paul Cammack (eds.), Generals in Retreat: The Crisis of Military Rule in Latin America (1985); Jimmy Burns, The Land that Lost its Heroes: The Falklands, the Post-War, and Alfonsn (1987); Mnica Peralta-Ramos and Carlos H. Waisman (eds.), From Military Rule to Liberal Democracy in Argentina (1987); Colin M. Lewis and Nissa Torrents (eds.), Argentina in the Crisis Years, 19831990: From Alfonsn to Menem (1993); and Peter Calvert, Argentina: Decline and Revival, in Jan Knippers Black (ed.), Latin America, Its Problems and Its Promise: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, 3rd ed. (1998). Peter A.R. Calvert Administration and social conditions Government Argentina is a federal union of 23 provincias and a federal capital district, the city of Buenos Aires. Federalism came to Argentina only after a long struggle between proponents of a central government and supporters of provincial interests. The constitution of 1853 was modeled on that of the United States. The constitution promulgated in 1994 provided for consecutive presidential terms, which had not been allowed previously, but few other changes distinguish it from the 1853 document; in its largely original form, the constitution has sustained Argentina with at least a nominal form of republican, representative, and federal government. The branches of government Executive power resides in the office of the president, who is elected with a vice president to a four-year term (only two terms can be consecutive). The president is commander in chief of the armed forces and appoints all civil, military, and federal judicial officers, as well as the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, the body that oversees the general administration of the country. The Argentine legislature, or National Congress, consists of two houses: a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies. The Senate, whose members are elected to six-year terms, consists of three representatives from each province and the federal capital. The Chamber of Deputies, whose members are elected to four-year terms, is apportioned according to population. Each province has its own government, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches similar to those of the federal government. The Argentine judicial system is divided into federal and provincial courts. Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president with approval of the Senate. Federal judges are appointed constitutionally for life, but some of them serve only as long as the administration that appoints them. Cultural life Because almost all Argentines are descendants of immigrants from Europe, their culture has a more distinctly European orientation than that of other Latin Americans; however, Argentine artists, writers, and entertainers no longer look to Europe as a sole gauge of their success. Blending Old World customs and New World inspirations, Argentina has developed a unique national character that is reflected in a variety of cultural offerings. Robert C. Eidt Peter A.R. Calvert Heritage and daily life Porteos and gauchos The people of the port of Buenos Aires, the porteos, often call their cultured and glamorous city the Paris of South America. But there is another Argentina away from the capital: that of the Pampas and the interior. The interior gave to all Argentines their symbol of national identity, the gaucho, who occupies a position in South American lore similar to that of the cowboy in the United States. Scorned in his heyday of the 18th and 19th centuries as a drinker and vagabond, this mestizo ranch hand rode the open rangeland of the huge estancias in pursuit of wild horses and criollo cattle. Eventually Argentines came to see him as a character whose solitary life in the open taught him self-reliance, courage, indifference to hardship, and love of the landtraits that represented the ideal of their national character as set out in the national epic poem El gaucho Martn Fierro (1872) by Jos Hernndez and in Ricardo Giraldes's fictional classic Don Segundo Sombra (1926).