Patagonia School -Spanish Courses-
Comprising almost the entire southern half of South America, Argentina is the world's eighth largest country, covering an area of 2.8 million square km. Argentina possesses some of the world's tallest mountains, extensive deserts, and impressive waterfalls, with the diversity of the land ranging from wild, remote areas in southern Patagonia to the bustling metropolis of Buenos Aires in the north.
National name: República Argentina
President: Cristina Fernández (2007)
| Capital | Buenos Aires |
| Government | Federal presidential republic |
| Currency | Argentine peso (ARS) |
| Area | 2,766,890 km2 |
| Population | 39,921,833 (July 2006 est.) |
| Language | Spanish |
| Religion | Roman Catholic 92%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4% |
| Electricity | 230V/50Hz (European plug) |
| Calling code | +54 |
| Internet TLD | .ar |
| Time zone | UTC -3 |
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $542.8 billion; per capita $13,700. Real growth rate: 8.7%. Inflation: 12.3%. Unemployment: 11.1%. Arable land: 10.03%. Agriculture: sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock. Labor force: 15.34 million; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel. Natural resources: fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium. Exports: $40 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles. Imports: $28.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures, plastics. Major trading partners: Brazil, Chile, U.S., China, Spain, Germany (2004).
Ethnicity/race: White ( 86.4%)
Its six major regions are as follows:
Cuyo & the Andean Northwest
This area surrounding the Andes began as a colony of Peru, but today only a few miners and herders occupy this unforgiving region of volcanic peaks and salt lakes. Very little rain falls in Cuyo, though to the east are found the fertile river valleys and subtropical lowlands of the Gran Chaco.
Mesopotamia & the Northeast
Mesopotamia, a broad, flat plain between the Parana and Uraguay Rivers in northern Argentina, is wet, swampy and extremely hot during the summer. The northern province of Misiones, a more mountainous region nearly enclosed by Brazil and Paraguay, is densely forested and contains a section of the majestic Iguazu Falls.
The Chaco
This parched area in the west is part of the enormous Gran Chaco, a region that Argentina shares with Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. The Chaco contains both grassland and thorny forest.
The Pampas
These fertile plains are Argentina's bread- basket. They consist of the Humid Pampas along the seaboard and the Dry Pampas in the west and south. The region includes Buenos Aires, as well as the world- class beaches of its surrounding area.
Patagonia and the Lake District
South of the Rio Colorado, experiences a desert climate, although temperatures range from mild to subzero and terrain varies from bucolic river valleys to the gigantic, ice-capped southern Andes. Its cool grazing grounds support enormous flocks of sheep, and numerous fruit and vegetable farms can be found in the valleys. Patagonia also holds vast reserves of oil and coal.
Tierra del Fuego
The Land of Fire is actually an archipelago including the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (which Argentina shares with neighbouring Chile) and numerous smaller islands. Northern Isla Grande is similar in terrain to Patagonia's plains, while the mountainous area in the south is filled with forests and glaciers. Its climate is usually mild year-round, although storms are frequent.
Argentina's national game is fútbol (soccer), which was introduced in the 1860s by British soldiers. The Argentinian national team has become one of the best in the world and won World Cup titles in 1978 and 1986. In the streets, you may hear "Boca or River?" on the day of a fútbol game between the Boca Juniors and the River Plate team. Some Porteños ask this to strangers because they assume everybody is interested in fútbol.
Since an Argentinian team won the first Olympic gold medal in polo in 1924, Argentinians have dominated the sport. Polo is played by teams of four on horseback. Players use long wooden mallets to hit a wooden ball the size of a tennis ball towards a goal at the end of the field. Polo ponies are small thoroughbreds that are specially trained for the sport. Both Argentinian ponies and Argentinian polo players are sought by polo teams in other countries. The polo player Gonzalo Pieres is one of the best in the world.
