Argentina
| Argentine Republic
República Argentina (Spanish)
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| Motto: "En unión y libertad" (Spanish) "In Unity and Freedom" |
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| Anthem: "Himno Nacional Argentino" (Spanish) "Argentine National Anthem" |
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 The Argentine claims in Antarctica (overlapping the Chilean and British Antarctic claims) along with the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (administered by the United Kingdom) shown in light green. |
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| Capital (and largest city) |
Buenos Aires 34°36′S 58°23′W / 34.6°S 58.383°W |
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| Official language(s) | Spanish (de facto) | |||||
| Ethnic groups (2005[1]) | 86.4% European 8.5% Mestizo 3.3% Arab 1.6% Amerindian 0.4% Asian and others |
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| Demonym | Argentine, Argentinian, Argentinean | |||||
| Government | Federal representative presidential republic | |||||
| - | President | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner | ||||
| - | Vice President and President of the Senate | Amado Boudou |
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| - | Supreme Court President | Ricardo Lorenzetti | ||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||
| - | Upper House | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower House | Chamber of Deputies | ||||
| Independence | from Spain | |||||
| - | May Revolution | 25 May 1810 | ||||
| - | Declared | 9 July 1816 | ||||
| - | Current constitution | 1 May 1853 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 2,766,890 km2 (8th) 1,068,302 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | 1.1 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 census | 40,117,096[2] (32nd) | ||||
| - | Density | 14.49/km2 (207th) 37.53/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $710.7 billion[3] (22nd) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $17,376[3] (51st) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $435.2 billion[3] (27th) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $10,639[3] (62nd) | ||||
| Gini (2009) | 45.8[4] (high) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.797[5] (very high) (45th) |
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| Currency | Peso ($) (ARS) |
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| Time zone | ART (UTC−3) | |||||
| Date formats | dd.mm.yyyy (CE) | |||||
| Drives on the | right (trains ride on the left) | |||||
| Internet TLD | .ar | |||||
| Calling code | +54 | |||||
Argentina (officially called Argentine Republic) is a country in South America. Argentina is the second-largest country in South America and the eighth-largest country in the world.
Spanish is the language most people speak and the official language, but many other languages are spoken. Some of these are German, Guarani, Mapudungun and Quechua and even Welsh in Patagonia.
The capital city of the Argentina is Buenos Aires, one of the largest cities in the world, in eastern Argentina. In order by number of people, the largest cities in Argentina are Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, La Plata, Tucumán, Mar del Plata, Salta, Santa Fe, and Bahía Blanca.
Argentina is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. It also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
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History [change]
The name Argentina comes from the Latin argentum (silver) as the Spanish conquistadors believed the area had silver. In the Americas, Canada, US, Brazil and Argentina are the largest countries (in that order).
The oldest signs of people in Argentina are in the Patagonia (Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz), and are more than 13,000 years old.[6] In 1480 the Inca Empire conquered northwestern Argentina, making it part of the empire. In the northeastern area, the Guaraní developed a culture based on yuca and sweet potato however typical dishes all around Argentina are pasta, red wines (Italian influence) and beef.
Other languages spoken are Italian, English and German. Lunfardo is Argentinean slang and is a mix of Spanish and Italian. Argentineans are said to speak Spanish with an Italian accent.
Politics [change]
Argentina is a federal republic. The people of Argentina vote for a President to rule them and Senators and Deputies to speak for them and make laws for them. The President is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner since December 2007.
Administrative divisions [change]
Argentina is divided into 23 provinces (provincias; singular: provincia), and 1 city (commonly known as capital federal):
Geography [change]
Argentina is almost 3,700 km long from north to south, and 1,400 km from east to west (maximum values). It can be divided into three parts: the Pampas in the central part of the country, Patagonia in the southern part down to Tierra del Fuego; and the Andes mountain range along the western border with Chile, with the highest point in the province of Mendoza. Cerro Aconcagua, at 6,960 metres (22,834 ft), is the Americas' highest mountain.
The most important rivers include the River Plate, Paraguay, Bermejo, Colorado, Uruguay and the largest river, the Paraná. River Plate was incorrectly translated though, and should have been translated to English as River of (the) Silver. River Plate is also a famous Buenos Aires soccer team.
See List of cities in Argentina for the many places people live in Argentina.
Other information [change]
The majority of the Argentineans are descendants of Europeans mainly from Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, France, other Europeans countries and Mestizo representing more than 90% of the total population of the country.[7]
Football or soccer is the most popular sport, although the national sport of the country is Pato. Argentina has a number of highly-ranked Polo players. Field hockey (for women) rugby and golf are also favorites.
Argentina is a Christian country. Most of Argentina's people (80 percent) are Roman Catholic, but it is not the state religion[8]. Argentina also has the largest population of Jewish community after Israel and US. Many Middle Eastern immigrants who were Muslims converted to Catholicism, but there are still Muslims as well.
Medicine is socialized and so is education, making Argentina's literacy rate about 98%. State University is free as well.
Related pages [change]
References [change]
- ↑ "Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas 2004–2005". National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina. http://www.indec.gov.ar/webcenso/ECPI/index_ecpi.asp. (Spanish)
- ↑ Buenos Aires Herald. "Argentina's population at 40, 117,096, says INDEC". http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/77606/argentinas-population-at-40-117096-says-indec.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Argentina — World Economic Outlook Database, September 2011
- ↑ "Distribution of family income – Gini index". The World Factbook. CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
- ↑ "Human Development Report 2011". United Nations. 2011. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Table1.pdf. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ↑ Piedra Museo
- ↑ World Factbook
- ↑ http://biblioteca.idict.villaclara.cu/biblioteca/colecciones-culturales/lit-argentina/argentina/poblacion/religion
Other websites [change]
Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Government [change]
- Argentina.gov.ar - Official national portal
- Gobierno Electrónico - Official government website
- Presidencia de la Nación - Official presidential website
- Honorable Senado de la Nación - Official senatorial website
- Honorable Cámara de Diputados de la Nación - Official lower house website
- Secretaría de Turismo de la Nación - Official tourism board website
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