Argentina

Argentina Destinations Travel Guide

Population: 40,677,348
Calling code: +54 
Currency: Peso (ARS)
Language: Spanish

 

Argentina, officially called the Argentine Republic, is a sovereign country of South America, located in the extreme south and southeast of said subcontinent. It adopts the form of republican, democratic, representative and federal government. Argentina is organized as a decentralized federal state, integrated since 1994 by a national state and 24 self-governed states, which in turn are 24 national legislative electoral districts, this is 23 provinces and the autonomous city of Buenos Aires designated as the country's capital. Each self-governed state has its own political autonomy, constitution, flag and security body. The 23 provinces maintain all the powers not delegated to the national State and guarantee the autonomy of their municipalities. It integrates the Mercosur -block of which it was founded in 1991, the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Organization of American States (OAS).

 

Regions

Pampas
The economic heartland of Argentina is located in the central east of the country. It is a vast grassy plain that is now used extensively for agriculture, particularly for raising livestock, which is why it is sometimes jokingly called 'the world's largest cow pasture'. Most of the country's major cities are located in this region, including the capital Buenos Aires.
Province of Buenos Aires · La Pampa · South of Santa Fe · East of Córdoba

Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia, intermediate river country, is the name given to the north-east of the country, which is located between the two rivers Río Paraná and Río Uruguay. While the south is flat, low mountain ranges can be found in the northeast, in the province of Misiones. The Iguazú Falls are the area's main attraction.
Entre Rios Corrientes Missiones

Chaco
A flat bush savannah landscape that adjoins Mesopotamia to the west. While the east is humid and used intensively for agriculture, the west has a long dry period with frequent droughts in the winter months. There lies the Impenetrable, an impenetrable bush jungle.
Formosa Chaco Santiago del Estero North of Santa Fe Laguna Mar Chiquita

Sierra's Pampeanas
A low mountain range in central and western Argentina. The mountain ranges in some cases reach heights of up to 6,000 meters and are mostly covered by dry scrubland. The best known as a tourist destination are the Sierras de Córdoba in the province of the same name.
Sierras de Cordoba · Sierras de San Luis · Sierras de Valle Fértil · Sierras de La Rioja · Sierras de Catamarca

Cuyo
Connects to the west of the Pampine Sierren. It includes the central Andes in the west and a flat to hilly dry steppe in the east, in which wine is cultivated thanks to artificial irrigation. The Cuyo is known for its particularly sunny climate.
Mendoza · Andean area of San Juan · Andean area of La Rioja

Patagonia
Southern Argentina, south of the Rio Colorado, is an arid scrub steppe with a windy but mild climate. The area is sparsely populated, but has many attractions such as the Valdés Peninsula.
Rio Negro Neuquen Chubut Santa Cruz Tierra del Fuego

Northwest Argentina
The border area to Chile and Bolivia is characterized by diverse mountain landscapes between the Puna plateau at 3,500 m and subtropical jungle areas and is the area of Argentina with the most buildings from the colonial era.
Jujuy Tucumán Salta Andean area of Catamarca

 

Cities

Most of Argentina's big cities, especially the capital Buenos Aires, have a very European flair because many immigrants from Europe have settled in them. Buenos Aires, for example, is known as "the Paris of South America". In contrast, the cities in the north of the country in particular seem more like how Latin America is imagined in Europe - more colourful, chaotic and also poorer.

In addition to the colonial architecture, which is only occasionally really worth seeing (especially in Salta and Córdoba), the Argentine cities are often dominated architecturally from the period between 1900 and 1930. Styles such as Art Nouveau (French Art Nouveau) and Art Deco can be found in almost all larger towns. Cultural life is often rich and each city has its own strengths and local specialities, but due to the lack of calendars of events you usually have to ask the locals for advice, and even the tourist information offices are not always very knowledgeable.

The biggest cities:
Buenos Aires (2.9 million inhabitants, metropolitan area approx. 12.8 million), the capital and by far the largest city in Argentina with a cultural scene worth seeing.
Córdoba (1.6 million inhabitants with suburbs), the inland metropolis, with a lot of culture and colonial buildings
Rosario (1.3 million inhabitants with suburbs), port city on the Río Paraná with a pleasant, subtropical atmosphere
Mendoza (1 million inhabitants with suburbs), the largest city in western Argentina, an oasis metropolis worth seeing
San Miguel de Tucumán (pop. 800,000), the hot, nocturnal capital of the Northwest, nestled in an idyllic subtropical landscape
La Plata (700,000 inhabitants), modern and clean capital of the province of Buenos Aires
Mar del Plata (580,000 inhabitants), largest seaside resort on the Atlantic, with over two million visitors a year
Salta (500,000 inhabitants), the best preserved colonial city in the country, situated in an idyllic valley.
Santa Fe (500,000 inhabitants), port city on the Río Paraná with the venerable flair of the 19th century
San Juan (470,000 inhabitants), oasis metropolis near the Andes, with good excursion possibilities
Resistencia (population 380,000 with suburbs), the hot "City of Sculptures" on the northern Río Paraná
Corrientes (350,000 inhabitants), opposite Resistencia, known for its buildings and its hot carnival
Neuquén (350,000 inhabitants with suburbs), largest city in Patagonia, situated on two rivers
Posadas (320,000 inhabitants with suburbs), modern capital of the province of Misiones
San Salvador de Jujuy (320,000 inhabitants with suburbs), the capital of the province of Jujuy situated in wooded mountains with a colonial center and a cultural scene worth seeing
Bahía Blanca (300,000 inhabitants), port city on the Atlantic, with a center and harbor worth seeing

 

Smaller but touristically interesting places:

San Carlos de Bariloche, holiday resort in the southern Andes, in a lake landscape worth seeing
San Martín de los Andes, seaside resort in the southern Andes on the idyllic Lake Lacar
Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world on the wild southern tip of Tierra del Fuego
Puerto Iguazú, town near the famous Iguazú Falls
Cafayate, a wine-growing metropolis in the province of Salta, beautifully situated in a high valley

 

Travel Destinations in Argentina

Chaco Province

Chaco National Park is situated 69 mi West of Resistancia, Chaco Province. This nature reserve covers an area of 150 sq km of swamps, savanna, lakes.

Chubut Province

Lago Puelo National Park is situated in the Chubut Province. This natural reserve covers an area of 276.74 sq km.

Los Alerces National Park is located 28 mi (45 km) West of Esquel in Chubut Province. It covers an area of 2,630 sq km.

Reserva Faunística Península Valdés is a natural reserve that protects biosphere of the peninsula Valdes in Argentina.

Punta Tombo Provincial Reserve is located 66 mi South of Trelew. It is famous for huge colonies of various species of penguins who come here.

 

Cordoba Province

Quebrada del Condorito National Park is located 53 mi (85 km) Southwest of Córdoba, Córdoba Province in Argentina.

 

Corrientes Province

Ibera Wetlands covers an area of 20,000 km² making it one of the largest wetland biosphere in the World.

 

Entre Rios Province

El Palmar National Park is situated in 31 mi (50 km) North of Colón, Entre Ríos. This natural reserve covers an area of 85 sq km.

Palacio San Jose is an elegant historic palace in Entre Ríos Province.

Predelta National Park is located 62 mi North of Rosaria, Entre Ríos Province in Argentina. Predelta National Park covers an area of 24.58 km².

 

Formosa Province

Río Pilcomayo National Park is located 224 mi North of Resistancia, Formosa Province. Río Pilcomayo National Park covers an area of 47,754 ha.

 

Jujuy Province

Calilegua National Park was established in 1979 to preserve La Yungas or subtropical humid Oranense Forest.

Quebrada de Humahuaca is about 155 km and its well protected unique biosphere made this valley a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Santa Catalina is a beautiful Roman Catholic Church of the Jesuit order and situated 13 mi North of Jesus Maria in the province of Córdoba.

 

La Pampa Province

Nature preserve of Lihué Calel National Park is situated in La Pampa Province of Argentina.

 

La Rioja Province

Talampaya National Park is a nature preserve located in La Rioja Province in Argentina.

 

Mendoza Province

Aconcagua Provincial Park takes its name from quechua word of 'Ackon-Cauak', which roughtly is translated as ‘Stone Sentinel’.

Las Lenas Ski Resort is one of the largest ski resorts in the South America. It is located 43 mi North-west of Malarque at a elevation of 3,430 m.

 

Misiones Province

Iguaçu Falls or Iguazu Falls are located 12 mi (19 km) Northeast of Puerto Iguaçu on the border between Brazil and Argentina.

San Ignacio Mini in Misiones Province in Argentina is famous for ruins of the Jesuit mission from the 17th century.

 

Neuquén Province

Centro Paleontologico Lago Barreales is famous for its collection of fossils of ancient animals and even participate in digs yourself.

Laguna Blanca National Park is situated 93 mi (150 km) West of Neuquen in Argentina. It covers an area of 112.5 sq km.

Lanín National Park is nature reserve named after breath taking Lanin volcano that rises within its borders.

Los Arrayanes National Park is situated in Neuquén Province and covers an area of 17.53 sq km of Quetrihué Peninsula in the North Nahuel Huapi Lake.

Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi is famous for unknown water monster as well as a former site of a secret lab where Nazis worked after World War II.

 

San Juan Province

El Leoncito National Park is located in San Juan Province in Argentina. The national park covers and area of 760 sq km.

Ischigualasto is famous for its picturesque, unique rock formations and covers an area of 603.7 km2 (233 sq mi).

San Guillermo National Park is located in Iglesia Province in Argentina. San Guillermo National Park covers an area of 160,000 hectares.

 

San Luis Province

Sierra de las Quijadas National Park is located 104 mi (167 km) Southeast of San Juan, San Luis Province in Argentina.

 

Salta Province

El Rey National Park is situated 155 mi (250 km) South- East of Jujuy. This national preserve covers an area of 441 sq km.

Los Cardones National Park is located 16 mi North of Cafayate, Salta Province in Argentina. Los Cardones National Park covers an area of 650 km².

 

Santa Cruz Province

Cueva de las Manos is is famous for prehistoric rock paintings that were made 9000 years ago.

Monte Fitz Roy or Fitzroy is a mountain on the border between Argentina and Chile. Mount Fitz Roy mountain reaches a height of 3,359 m (11,020 ft).

Perito Moreno National Park is named after famous Argentinean explorer Perito Moreno it covers an area of 115,000 hectares.

Monte León National Park is located 28 mi (45 km) Southeast of Puerto Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Province in Argentina.

Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados is a natural park that protects fossils of the ancient petrified forest located 159 mi West of Puerto Peseado.

 

Tierra del Fuego Province

Tierra del Fuego National Park is located in Tierra del Fuego Province of Argentina. This national park covers an area of 630 sq km.

 

Tucuman Province

Quilmes Ruins are located in 110 mi Northwest of Tucuman, Tucumán Province. It is famous for one of the largest settlements from pre-Columbian era.

 

Getting here

entry requirements
EU citizens are exempt from the visa requirement and only need a valid passport to enter the country. A return or onward ticket is sometimes, but not always, required. The tourist visa, which is given free of charge upon arrival, lasts 90 days and can be extended once for a further 90 days for a moderate fee at any branch of the Immigration Office (Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, to be found in every provincial capital). Children traveling alone and those with only one legal guardian need a travel permit from the legal guardian or the second parent. In addition, adults up to the age of 21 should carry a certificate of legal majority in their home country.

Pets require a health certificate that is no more than 10 days old and proof of a rabies vaccination (except for pets under 3 months old). Upon arrival at the airport, a veterinary examination is carried out, the cost of which must be borne by the traveler.

Airplane
The arrival is usually via the capital Buenos Aires and can be done at two airports. The international Airport Ministro Pistarini (colloquially called Ezeiza) is served by numerous airlines from all over the world - some with stopovers in Europe or Brazil.

The airport is about 40 km south of the city. You can either take one of the private taxi/depots to the city center or take a shuttle bus (Manuel Tienda León). There is also a regular bus (lines 8 and 51) to the city center, but it takes a long time; for those on a budget it is more advisable to take a taxi or bus (line 502) to the nearby town of Ezeiza and from there take the train to Constitución train station. The correct prices are also signposted at the airport - but if you want to be sure, it's best to ask the taxi driver again.

The second airport of Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery (colloquially Aeroparque) is located in the city itself, in the Palermo district on the Río de la Plata. Thus, the costs for access are correspondingly lower. From here you can reach all important and larger destinations within Argentina and Uruguay, but sometimes there are also connections to Santiago de Chile or Lima. However, the Aeroparque has no overseas connections. In many cases one has to transfer between the two airports to get to inland destinations. The Manuel Tienda León bus line is recommended here (approx. 1 hour 20 minutes).

The only other airport in Argentina with direct connections to most neighboring countries and Central America is Córdoba. There are also international connections from neighboring countries to the airports in Rosario, Mendoza, Tucumán, Río Gallegos and Salta.

The airspace over Chile and parts of South America was disrupted by the ash cloud from the Chilean volcano Puyehue in spring 2011, and numerous flights were cancelled. Such an incident can be repeated at any time and mostly affects the south-west of the country (Neuquén/Bariloche area), where flight connections are sometimes canceled for weeks.

Rail
There are currently no official international passenger train routes through which one can enter Argentina. The only route is from Antofagasta (Chile) to Salta on which a freight train with passenger service operates. However, this route was temporarily closed at the end of 2005 due to the poor condition of the route. Until 2010, only one tourist train was reactivated on this route, the Tren a las Nubes, but it did not reach the Chilean border.

bus
There are international connections from the neighboring countries of Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil to the largest cities, especially Buenos Aires and Córdoba, as well as to towns near the border. Coming from Peru and Bolivia, you have to change trains at the border town after crossing the border on foot or by taxi.

car/motorcycle/bicycle
Good, tarred roads lead into Argentina from all neighboring countries. See also: Panamericana. It should be noted that most border crossings to Chile are on mountain passes, which are at least temporarily closed in winter. The exception is the new Paso de Jama in the province of Jujuy (connection between Antofagasta and Jujuy/Salta), and the Santiago-Mendoza route is also mostly passable. They are described in the country article Chile. The Chilean border police provide a complete list.

Ship
The largest port is the city of Buenos Aires. All publicly accessible ships from Europe arrive here, regardless of whether they are freighters or passenger ships. However, the latter is rare. Car ferries from Montevideo and Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay) arrive in the old port of Buenos Aires (Puerto Madero).

 

Getting around

Almost all important tourist destinations or economically important places in Argentina can be reached by plane and are usually served daily. The only major airlines that survived the Argentina crisis around the turn of the millennium are Aerolíneas Argentinas, the state-owned Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE) (in the south) and LAN Argentina (offshoot of LAN Chile), and there are also regional companies such as Sol, Silver Sky and Andes, which are comparable to the low-cost airlines in Europe in terms of comfort, but are only slightly cheaper than the large companies - they often also offer cross-routes between smaller cities. The hub of national air traffic is Buenos Aires with its two large airports Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) and Jorge Newbery.

The flight prices are more expensive than the corresponding bus connections and also more expensive than European "low-cost airlines", but due to the large distances in the country they are often justified in terms of time. However, early bookers can get significant discounts on popular routes, pushing the plane down to bus price levels. However, almost all airlines charge foreign tourists a higher fare than locals (surcharge of 20% - 40%), since the cheapest fare class is subsidized and residents (residents in Argentina) are reserved.

The railway currently plays a minor role in public transport in Argentina. Since for a long time hardly any money was spent on maintaining the sometimes very extensive route networks, most connections were shut down. After 2004, some routes were reopened, but no modernization has been associated with this so far. There have been plans for a high-speed network since the Menem era; In 2008 the government signed a contract with Alstom, which also operates the French TGV, for a new line between Buenos Aires and Córdoba. However, the project is currently on hold and it is unlikely that it will be implemented in the near future.

Long-distance trains run between Buenos Aires and several locations in the province of Buenos Aires (including Mar del Plata, Tandil and Bahía Blanca), as well as to Rosario, Córdoba, Santa Rosa and San Miguel de Tucumán. Many of these lines, especially those in the province of Buenos Aires, are often closed for repairs, so it's a good idea to check the Satélite Ferroviario, an independent, regularly updated website with all timetables and prices, for the latest updates. In Patagonia, in the province of Río Negro, there are the train routes Viedma - San Antonio Oeste - Ingeniero Jacobacci - Bariloche and the "Old Patagonia Express" (El Trochita) from Ingeniero Jacobacci to Esquel, which, however, runs irregularly and mostly only on partial routes as a tourist train .

The condition of the trains is variable, but has improved in the years following the economic crisis, particularly on long-distance routes and in the higher classes. Nevertheless, they often take significantly more time than an intercity bus on the same route. Exceptions are the well-developed routes to places on the Atlantic coast and to Rosario. On the other hand, the trains are significantly cheaper than the buses, have a restaurant and sometimes a cinema or even a disco car on board and sometimes offer the option of renting a sleeper car and taking your car with you (car travel trains).

There are several regional and suburban train connections in the greater Buenos Aires area. There is also a suburban train and two regional trains around Resistencia in the northeast. A modern light rail system has been operating in Mendoza since 2012, there are some regional connections in Entre Ríos and Salta and the Tren de las Sierras in Córdoba.

The bus is the most popular means of transport in Argentina and is usually the cheapest way to get around. They run several times a day, especially between the larger towns (e.g. Córdoba − Buenos Aires), and night trips are usually offered for distances of more than 500 km. You can buy your ticket at ticket counters at the bus terminal and in travel agencies, and large lines now also offer the option of booking tickets online. The buses are usually comfortable, clean and have air conditioning. At best, on very long routes, such as in Patagonia, later boarding passengers have to reckon with cleanliness problems. For longer distances you can choose between semi cama or cama seats; the seats can be folded down and converted into loungers, so that you can sleep on overnight bus journeys. These are highly recommended as due to the large distances in Argentina a journey can easily take 12 to 24 hours. However, semi-cama buses can be quite narrow for tall people. Websites where you can check the current connections and prices (unfortunately many bus companies are missing) are Plataforma 10 and Central de Pasajes. For bus connections from Buenos Aires, the current departure times and prices for all bus companies can be queried from Omnilineas, at least for all larger or touristically interesting travel destinations. The price system is largely standardized, and there are only real bargains on a few routes. Expect to pay around 70-100 ARS per 100km, some remote routes are e.g. T. significantly more expensive.

Rental cars are available at all major airports, with international companies such as Avis being particularly common. The cost is around ARS 500-900 per day for a small car, with larger cars costing proportionately more. Renting an off-road vehicle is almost mandatory, especially in remote areas, because you often have to rely on gravel roads.

Hitchhiking in Argentina is only recommended on busy roads and in tourist areas - unless you have a lot of patience. The best thing to do is ask truck drivers at petrol stations, who often take travelers with them for small favors or for free. If you hitchhike, don't dress too casually, as Argentine drivers are very suspicious and may mistake you for a thief. Hoodies, baseball caps and sweatpants in particular make things more difficult. It is also almost hopeless and sometimes dangerous to wait for drivers in a big city - you usually have to drive a few kilometers out of town, for example with a local bus. Information about hitchhiking in Argentina can be found on the Autostop Argentina website, which also runs a wiki. Furthermore, the situation seems to have improved in recent years, as can be read on the English-language WikiVoyage page.

Carpooling: In rural areas, it is common to stand in a known spot (e.g. a plaza) where cars that frequent the route will stop and ask for some money for gas. The corresponding bus fare is often asked for, but fraud is rare in rural areas. Here you have to ask the locals what is customary. There have also been car-sharing agencies on the Internet for a few years, including Carpoolear, which uses the social network Facebook, and Viajamos Juntos from Spain (with an Argentina page). However, you only have a chance on busy routes.

For Europeans, counting the house numbers is confusing at first, but it is good for orientation in the chessboard pattern that characterizes almost all cities in the country. For each complete block (cuadra, each measuring about 100 meters), the figure increases by 100, according to the even or odd side of the street, starting mostly from the streets that intersect in the central square of the town. For example, the house number 1830 means a distance of about 18 blocks and 30 meters to the reference street. In Buenos Aires, for example, this space for the Microcentro area is the Parque Colón, which is located in front of the Casa Rosada (see Buenos Aires/Center).

 

Language

The official language is Spanish (called "español" or "castellano"), with clear differences from standard Spanish. In Buenos Aires and other tourist centers one can expect to get by with English for the main services, otherwise the population's English skills are limited, especially in rural areas, although English is a compulsory subject in schools everywhere.

Pronunciation
Argentine pronunciation differs slightly from school Spanish. The double L (ll) is not pronounced like "j" but like a soft "sh", the same applies to the "y", which is also pronounced like a soft "sch". An "S" in the middle of a word is often blurred into a soft, barely audible "ch". In central and northwestern Argentina, the rolled "r" becomes a hybrid, soft "rsch".

grammar
The du form is formed and accented differently: instead of tú, the pronoun vos is used and in the verb form the last syllable is stressed. Thus, in Argentina, the Castilian Tu puedes becomes Vos podés. The vosotros ("you") is replaced by the polite ustedes. In addition, the form of the pretérito perfecto (e.g. he viajado) is rarely used and is replaced by the pretérito indefinido (e.g. viajé). However, the respective standard Spanish form is also understood without any problems.

Some words mean something different in Argentine Spanish than in traditional Spanish, and can cause unintentional hilarity. In particular, the verb coger ("to take"), which is common in Spanish, is a vulgar expression for sexual intercourse in Argentina and is therefore replaced by tomar or agarrar.

languages of the indigenous peoples
The languages of the indigenous peoples (“pueblos indígenas”), such as Quechua, Guaraní and Mapudungun, are still spoken in isolated rural areas. There are still around one million people of Amerindian origin living in Argentina, but unlike in neighboring countries, almost all of them also speak Spanish. An exception are the Toba (also qom) and Wichi in Formosa, Chaco, Salta and Jujuy, who live in remote areas in very primitive conditions and great poverty and are mostly illiterate.

 

Shopping

Argentina's price level is comparable to that of most European countries. Up until the early 1990s, Argentina was notorious for its chronic financial instability. Devaluations of 100% and more annually were not uncommon, often resulting in perks for travellers. After a stable period of peso-dollar parity between 1991 and 2001, the Argentine peso (ARS for short), the country's currency, fell again against the dollar to less than a third of its previous value as a result of the economic crisis. This made Argentina significantly cheaper for travelers from Europe and the USA in the short term. Since 2007, prices have only been significantly below the European level in a few cases (energy, public transport, some groceries, and also rent in the north) due to high inflation. Significant devaluations of the peso in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2018 by 30 to 40 percent each prevented a further relative increase in price. Overall, Buenos Aires and southern Patagonia are the most expensive in terms of prices, central and eastern Argentina are roughly in the middle, and northern Argentina is the cheapest.

Haggling (called hacer precio, [get a better] price) is not usually common in Argentina, at least not in shops. In the case of sales of used goods between private individuals, including on advertising platforms on the Internet, it is certainly possible to discuss the price; more than 10% - 15% discount can hardly be knocked out.

Between 2011 and 2015, strict foreign exchange restrictions were in place at times due to fears of capital flight. These were repealed in 2015 but reintroduced in modified form in 2019; Individuals are only allowed to purchase $200 a month at the official rate and are subject to a 20 percent tax and an advance on income tax.

souvenirs
Argentinian leather products are particularly popular with foreigners, some of which are significantly cheaper than in Europe and also have their own traditional style in terms of style. Traditional accessories such as mate cups, ponchos, traditional musical instruments and jewelry are also popular purchases.

Every town tends to have at least one craft market selling traditional and modern items. There the souvenirs are often much cheaper than in the souvenir shops in the city centres. One can also assume that souvenirs from a certain region (e.g. the traditional musical instruments of the Andes region) are cheapest locally and that there is also the largest selection.

Daily Needs
In Argentina there are supermarkets of all sizes in every town (large supermarkets are called hipermercados) where you can get all the groceries you need and often clothes and stationery. Most of the time, there are also numerous supermercados chinos in the barrios of small and large cities, small supermarkets that are mostly run by Chinese or Koreans and often have a fruit and vegetable stand and a butcher's counter. Bags and backpacks, with any goods you may have already bought, usually have to be locked in small lockers at the entrance to self-service shops, which the security staff will be happy to point out. Also typical of the suburbs are corner shops, almacenes or despensas, which are sometimes cheaper than the respective supermarkets. Vegetables and meat are sold separately in verdulerías and carnicerías (butchers, chicken butchers are called pollerías), which have held up well so far despite competition from supermarkets.

Clothing of all types is about as expensive in Argentina as it is in Europe, but branded clothing can also be more expensive. It should be noted that oversize shoes in particular (from around 41 for women and 45 for men) are difficult to obtain. The same applies to pants, but here, at least in big cities, there are special shops for plus sizes. Since the late 1980s, the shopping malls, large galleries based on the US model with a large number of shops and often also cinemas, restaurants and small amusement parks for children, have been popular for buying clothes and shoes.

 

Eat

The food alone can be worth a trip to Argentina. Gastronomy is described in the article Eating and drinking in Argentina.

Although the breakfast is rather spartan, there are already delicious pastry specialties (golosinas and facturas), particularly typical here are the criollos, small biscuits made of puff pastry. You can also have a leisurely breakfast in a restaurant, where you get orange juice, coffee, water, criollos, toast, medialunas (croissants), dulce de leche or jam and butter as a complete desayuno. Eggs, cheese and sausage are not common in Argentinian breakfasts.

Certainly the most popular food is the asado, where various types of beef including offal and spicy sausages ("chorizos") are usually grilled in the garden and then eaten with various salads. In restaurants, the asado is called parrillada. Different types of meat are served here for as long as your stomach allows.

But if you think Argentina only serves rare steaks, you're wrong. Certainly, being a vegetarian has it a little harder, since most restaurants have very few non-meat dishes on their menus. However, pizza magherita (known locally as pizza muzzarella) is ubiquitous, and it's usually very tasty too, and is usually served with a thicker crust and more cheese than in Europe. A pizza is enough for two to three people. In big cities, however, there are also vegetarian and vegan restaurants and takeaways that are slowly becoming more popular. If you have the opportunity to cook for yourself, you should buy all kinds of fruit and vegetables for a few pesos at small fruit and vegetable stands and let off steam in the kitchen.

Pasta dishes, chicken, milanesa (schnitzel) and many types of sandwiches and burgers (i.e. meat in bread) are also popular. Fish is also on the menu in good restaurants, but it's only really popular on the coast. Also highly recommended are the specialties from northern Argentina: empanadas (stuffed dumplings), humita (overcooked corn served with peppers in leaves) and locro (meat, sausage and corn stew with a whole range of spices), considered the national dish of the country is applicable.

The portions are usually generous and there are often inexpensive menu options that include a starter, salad and dessert. Often the tenedor libre or served libre, "all-you-can-eat" restaurants, where you can serve yourself from a buffet for a fixed price as often as you like. With very cheap offers, however, skepticism is appropriate because of the quality.

McDonald's and Burger King are somewhat at a disadvantage in this country, because compared to all the restaurants and takeaways, Argentina's burger chains are rather expensive and boring. There is also an armada of fast food stands and restaurants, most of which are cheaper than McDonald's. Each city typically has its own fast food chain, and many eateries are independently operated.

Maybe a little tip: if you go out to eat, you should bring some time with you and not get upset if everything is a bit slower and more relaxed.

Finally, to the sweets. What is not salty in Argentina is usually extremely sweet. The dulce de leche, a very sweet caramel cream, is present in almost every pastry. There are entire supermarkets that sell nothing but sweets. Those with a sweet tooth shouldn't miss the opportunity to buy and enjoy an alfajor (small mini cake with dulce de leche) for a few pesos while strolling at one of the many kiosks.

The ice cream in the heladerias (ice cream parlors), especially in the big cities, hardly has to hide from Italian ice cream, perhaps also due to the tradition that some ice cream parlor operators once made a living in Argentina in the southern summer and in Italy in the northern summer. Usually you first say at the checkout which cup you want to choose and then take the receipt to the counter, which is usually presented in groups of chocolate, dulce-de-leche varieties, fruit on water, cremas and fruit on milk. Here you name 2 or 3 types, depending on the size of the sundae or the cone - another tip, Frutas al agua should not be confused with Central European water ice and should not be missed.

 

Drink

Argentinian wine is well-known abroad and is considered one of the best in the world. Compared to European wines, it is very cheap, especially when it comes to quality varieties. It is mostly grown in the west of the country. An infinite number of brands are recommended, e.g. B. Trapiche, Postales del Fin del Mundo and San Felipe. Recently, many "favourite" wines (e.g. New Age, Freeze, Suá and O2) have appeared, which are mostly low-carbonated sparkling wines with a mild taste. (See also: Argentina wine country at Koch-Wiki)

The beer, on the other hand, has a very uniform taste and is average in quality (brands: Quilmes, Isenbeck, Bieckert, Schneider and Palermo - of which Isenbeck and Schneider do not contain any additives - as well as the foreign beers Brahma, Warsteiner, Corona, Stella Artois and Heineken). If you can't do without German beer, you can buy it in the supermarkets of the Jumbo and (less choice) Vea/Disco chains. Locally made spirits are very cheap, but foreign imports are quite expensive.

Since the 1990s, a particularly typical fashion drink has been Fernet Branca with cola, fernet con coca or fernando. The majority of world production of this herbal liqueur, which actually comes from Italy, is consumed in Argentina, especially in the central Argentine Cuarteto scene around Córdoba.

Coffee is drunk very often in Argentina and is usually very heavily sweetened, but of course you can get the sugar separately in a café or restaurant. Café con leche is a latte, while café cortado is coffee with a dash of milk. Al revés (vice versa) or lagrima, on the other hand, means that the milk content exceeds the coffee content.

Argentina's national drink is mate, an herbal tea drunk from a calabash with a straw. Mate drinking is a true ritual, with all members of a group drinking from a single mate cup.

Soft drinks from international brands (such as Coca-Cola etc.) are available everywhere in Argentina, while fruit juices are rarer and relatively expensive. Recently, many brands of sweetened diet sodas with a fitness image (e.g. Ser, Magna) have established themselves. Mineral water is usually drunk non-carbonated. A cheap alternative to normal carbonated mineral water is soda, normal drinking water mixed with carbonic acid, which tastes almost indistinguishable from mineral water and is completely harmless to health.

 

Nightlife

In Argentina, nightlife used to really start around 2:00 a.m. Since the mid-2000s, but increasingly since 2009, there have been strict curfew regulations or alcohol curfews in Buenos Aires and the main provinces as well as in the north, so that the opening hours of the nightclubs have been pushed back a little. The previously popular after-hours have since been banned in Buenos Aires and Córdoba or have migrated to the illegal and private sphere. In the meantime, depending on local conditions, it is therefore ideal to go between 0:00 and 1:00 a.m., also to avoid long queues.

In all major cities there is a variety of bars, pubs, clubs and discotheques for every taste (only the Gothic scene is a bit behind, but there is a lot of Latin American music). Even every village has its boliche, where young people spend the night on Fridays and Saturdays.

There are roughly four types of nightclubs. On the one hand there are the typical mainstream clubs that play a mixture of popular rock and pop hits, some dancefloor and Latin American music. Then there are alternative rock and reggae clubs with live music and changing styles of music, sometimes theater shows too. Thirdly, there are also purely techno and house discotheques, often in the upper price range, and last but not least there are the traditional "bailantas", in which only local variants of Latin American music (especially cumbia and cuarteto) are played and the particularly frequented by working-class youth.

You can only consume alcohol in Argentina at the age of 18. However, there are special discotheques for young people under 18, so-called matinés, which close earlier and in which no alcohol is sold. The counterpart are the boliches para mayores, where only visitors over a certain age (usually over 30) are admitted.

LGTB clubs only exist in the biggest cities; however, in small cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, there is usually at least one gay-friendly club where a mixed gay-heterosexual crowd goes out, this is often the case with clubs with electronic music. In smaller places (exception: well-known tourist places), however, the intolerance against gays, which is widespread among the rural population, is often a problem.

 

Hotels

In Argentina there are several types of accommodation besides regular hotels. Hosterías are mostly larger country hotels with a garden and often with a swimming pool, but less comfort than in normal hotels, whereby the two names hotel and hostería overlap a bit and the prices hardly differ. Hotels and hosterías are categorized with stars (one to five stars) that provide information about price and services and roughly correspond to the international "star categories" - one star is considered simple accommodation, two stars as middle class, three stars upper middle class, four stars upper class and five stars luxury class.

Residenciales and Hospedajes are small, rather basic hotels; the bathroom often has to be shared here. They are divided into categories "A" and "B", with the B residenciales often only offering the bare essentials, e.g. B. No TV. Albergues and hosteles are comparable to youth hostels and hostels respectively, but accommodate guests of all ages. In addition to rooms, you can also rent single beds in them. These multi-bed rooms are often very cramped, but the operators often speak foreign languages and there are usually lockers for valuables. Hotel prices are still quite cheap compared to Europe, with the exception of the top price range.

It should be noted that love hotels are also referred to as "hotel". They are usually recognizable by their lighting (red-pink), their name and the addition "albergue transistorio" or "hotel alojamiento".

In some Argentinian cities, especially on busy highways, there are also motels based on the US model, where you can drive to your bedroom.

Camp
There are plenty of campsites in Argentina, almost every village has a campsite somewhere. There are two price systems: either you pay per person and per tent or car (the normal case) or you pay a flat rate for a parcel (parcela), the latter system being particularly common in large tourist resorts. The price of a pitch mostly depends more on its location than on its comfort. Camping Municipal are usually very inexpensive campsites that are managed by the respective municipality. With the exception of the high-price pitches in the tourist areas, the equipment on the campsites cannot be compared with Europe; many campgrounds in remote areas offer only minimal amenities (e.g. no hot water) and are sometimes completely shadeless. On the other hand, these courses in particular are often located in very idyllic natural landscapes and only cost minimal fees.

Free camping is actually only allowed where it is expressly stated - especially in nature and national parks, where there are almost always small camping areas. In practice, however, this prohibition is almost never observed in remote areas. If an area is clearly identifiable as private property (e.g. by a fence or a house), you should always ask the owner for permission to camp and also to enter the area - otherwise you risk being mistaken for a thief or tramp! You can also often camp at petrol stations, some even have showers, since long-distance drivers also spend the night there.

A warning: In many areas, especially in central and western Argentina, the risk of forest fires is very high. You should therefore be careful when making a fire and observe the relevant prohibitions. Tens of thousands of hectares of forest and bushland burn down every year, a large part of which is caused by careless campers and grillers.

 

Learning and studying

Many Argentinian universities have cooperation programs with German universities. Detailed information can be found on the website of the German Academic Exchange Service and on the websites of the respective universities themselves. You can get any degree you want in Argentina with a student visa, but not at all universities (especially smaller universities do not accept foreigners).

Important universities are the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) and the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP); as is the nationwide Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN). There are also many private universities, but they have a dubious reputation for being impossible to fail an exam at. The Universidad Católica, which has branches in several cities in Argentina and is comparable in quality to the state universities, is usually rated the best. However, it is considered to be very conservative in the treatment of students.

Student exchange programs also exist in many Argentinian cities.

Spanish language courses in Argentina have become very popular, especially after 2002. There are facilities for learning Spanish mainly in the metropolises of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario and Mendoza, but also in some smaller cities. Some courses also include internships.

 

Security

Despite the sensationalist media reports, crime in Argentina is not that much higher than in Europe, for example, and the murder rate has even been falling since the turn of the millennium (according to the Ministry of Justice it was 9.2 in 2002 and 5.8 in 2008 per 100,000 inhabitants). However, almost all cities have "red zones" where muggings are common; these are often poorer neighborhoods and slums (known as villas miserias). If you have to, you should only visit such quarters with a companion, preferably with a goal and only during the day. The best thing to do is to ask the locals, as the focus of crime often changes. In contrast to many Latin American countries, however, the areas around the bus stations are almost always safe (exception: Villa 31 in Buenos Aires, which you do not have to cross when going to the bus station). In small towns you don't have to worry about your belongings - the locals even leave their expensive mountain bikes without a lock!

Tips:
Pickpockets take advantage of crowded buses and subways. Valuables (smartphones and digital cameras, for example, are very popular) should therefore not be packed in the outer pockets of the backpack or in the back of your trousers. In such situations, backpacks are often carried with a strap on the chest.
Watches, jewelery and cameras can be carried in city centers without any problems - provided you are careful about pickpockets - but only if they are not valuable objects in poorer suburbs.
Groups of young people who are conspicuously hiding on the outskirts of large cities (e.g. behind trees or in bushes) should always be avoided, as these are often petty criminals who attack passers-by for a few pesos. Since not all of them have firearms, small and frail individuals are at greater risk of being mugged. In principle, one should never defend oneself.
Hotels are mostly safe, but there is a general security problem at campsites in major tourist centers, as these are sometimes poorly cordoned off. It's a good idea to lock the tent with a small suitcase lock (most locals do the same) and leave valuables with the site management or in a guardaequipaje (luggage storage service, found mainly at bus stations). These services can be trusted in the vast majority of cases. There are also lockers at some bus stations.
Credit cards and larger amounts of money should be carried on the skin and appropriate bags should be bought. These are rarely discovered even during a raid.
If you are traveling in more dangerous areas, you should have a small amount of money (equivalent to around 10 US dollars) with you in order to be able to "offer something" to the thieves in the event of an attack - otherwise they can become very aggressive, even murders are nice because of this happened. The size of this amount depends on the appearance.

 

Health

There are no particular health risks in most of Argentina. In the north, isolated tropical diseases have appeared, particularly in the jungle areas of Misiones, Tucumán and Salta, with dengue fever being the most common. There is also a purely theoretical risk of contracting malaria in these areas, but in practice this disease only occurs very rarely and prophylaxis is only necessary if you stay in remote areas in the wild for a long time ( e.g. on longer trekking tours in the jungle areas). In Argentina, with an HIV prevalence of 0.6%, AIDS is about as widespread as in the USA. People who have frequent informal, unprotected sex contacts are particularly at risk, as are visitors to brothels, whose hygienic standards are usually miserable, also because they live in a working in a legal gray area (prostitution is officially illegal and disguised as "dating" in special bars).

Eating and drinking can almost always be enjoyed without any problems. Caution with sensitive stomachs is advised with extremely cheap offers, especially in tenedor libre restaurants (see above) and stands on the street. But you have to be particularly unlucky to get food poisoning in such cases.

Hospitals and doctors are common in cities. In public hospitals, which are free of charge, long waiting times for treatment are often the norm. Therefore, should the z. B. can afford through a travel insurance, prefer a private clinic, also to keep the state hospitals free for those who depend on them. If possible, complex treatments, such as rare diseases, should be carried out in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario or Mendoza.

 

Climate and travel time

Argentina shares a wide variety of climate zones. The best travel time varies depending on the area: in Patagonia the summer months, in the center (Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza) spring and autumn and in the north the dry winter months (summer is very humid there). All major cities can get stiflingly hot in midsummer, and they're dead in January when many people go on vacation.

In the Pampa region (e.g. Buenos Aires) and Mesopotamia, the climate is temperate to subtropical and humid all year round. Summers are muggy (average highs 28°C in Buenos Aires and around 33°C in Misiones) and winters are cool to mild (15°C in Buenos Aires, around 22°C in Misiones). The weather character alternates between longer periods of sunshine and cloudy rainy weather, which can sometimes last for several days. The rains are often very intense. Strong winds are also common.

Central and north-west Argentina (e.g. Córdoba, Mendoza and Tucumán), the Sierras Pampeanas and the Chaco are very dry in the winter months. Summers are hot and relatively humid (average high temperature 32°C in Cordoba, sweltering 37°C in Formosa) and winters are dry and mild (19°C in Cordoba, 24°C in Formosa). The rainiest months are November and December. The driest area of the region is the Puna with only 80 - 300 mm of rainfall a year, while the subtropical jungles in Tucumán get up to 1,200 mm, and still often experience periods of drought in winter.

Patagonia is dry all year round, with slightly more rain in winter than in summer. Exceptions are the southern Andes and southern Tierra del Fuego, which are significantly wetter all year round. Temperatures are generally mild throughout the year, but vary widely between north and south. San Antonio Oeste has an average maximum temperature of 32 °C in summer, in Comodoro Rivadavia it is 25 °C and in Ushuaia only 15 °C. In winter, the difference is somewhat smaller, with San Antonio and Comodoro Rivadavia reaching 12 °C, Ushuaia still 3 °C.

 

Rules and respect

Behaviors are generally quite similar to those in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean.

Dress and Appearance: Many Argentines attach great importance to their dress and appearance in general, especially when going out and especially when dining in fine restaurants. In everyday life, too, you should make sure that you look reasonably well-groomed - otherwise you will be put in a corner with vagabonds and hippies, who are particularly noticeable among older Argentines. And: The young, alternative Argentinians also value what they wear, women in particular pay great attention to figure-hugging clothing. The cliché that used to be common in Argentina that you should only go into the city center in smart clothes no longer applies today - shorts can also be found in city centers.
Behaviour: Many Argentines always try to remain nice and friendly to those around them just to look good - even if they don't really interest them. For example, as a foreigner in a pub, you can be sure that many people will invite you to the "Asado" - and then you're surprised if the person concerned doesn't even remember his name the next day. Or: You ask for directions on the street and are surprised that although the person addressed seemed to know everything perfectly, the information was wrong. This can be misunderstood as superficiality by foreigners, but it is part of Argentine culture and also contributes to a pleasant atmosphere. You shouldn't necessarily believe everything you're told. Nevertheless, profound conversations are possible in the circle of friends even after a short time, as soon as trust has been established.
Queuing and drawing numbers: Central Europeans, who expect a "hot-blooded temperament" from Argentines, might find the discipline with which Argentines queue up on many occasions strange. Even at bus and train stops there are markers behind which you line up. On the other hand, people never try to push oneself in such a queue - it is considered extremely impolite, not even young people do it (the exception is discotheques, where pushes can definitely occur). In almost all authorities, but also in shops, it is customary to draw a number, which is then announced either on a display board or by calling out. Only: In order to get the number, you often have to stand in line first...
Ladies First: Ladies First is still strictly enforced throughout the country. It is common on buses, subways, etc. to offer the seat, especially to older women. Women, especially mothers with young children, are also often let in front of men in queues, at elevators and when boarding public transport.
Eating and drinking: Although you go to a good restaurant in smart clothes, there is only a dress code in a few very exclusive restaurants. Eating on the street and on the bus is quite uncommon and considered rude by older Argentines, although it seems to be becoming more common among young people. Of course, this does not apply to long-distance buses, where they often even serve a little something. Almost all of Argentina, except for a few small towns, prohibits the consumption of alcohol in public. However, the enforcement of this ban varies, in parks or on the beach, for example, the law enforcement officers do not take it as seriously as on the street. However, if you are found drunk in public, you can be almost certain that the police will take care of you. There are often police checks at night, especially at nightlife hotspots, during which drunk people, but unfortunately sometimes also uninvolved passers-by, are put in a drunk tank for a few hours. It is best to avoid these controls. In most cities, including Buenos Aires and Córdoba, there are alcohol sales curfews (for kiosks and shops usually 11:00 p.m. or 12:00 a.m., for bars and discos 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m.). However, these laws are not always respected.
Viveza Criolla: One of the "Argentinian virtues" often criticized in the media is the so-called viveza criolla, "native cunning". What is meant is the alleged habit of the Argentines to get all sorts of advantages through trickery and to cheat the ignorant. For example, if foreigners charge a higher price for a good or service than local residents, or if change is given in a taxi in a currency that has long been out of use (e.g. Australes). Although such rip-offs are not generally to be expected, they can certainly occur. Perhaps it is therefore advantageous to find out about the usual prices first, especially if you are planning a larger investment, such as buying a car or house.
Partnership and sexuality: In terms of heterosexual partnerships, Argentina is now almost as liberal as in Europe - you can usually show your romantic feelings in public anywhere. At most, in rural, remote areas, kissing that is too wild still meets with rejection. Having sex in public is a criminal offense everywhere, though, so if you must, make sure no one is watching. There are a large number of love hotels (hotel alojamiento / albergue transistorio, colloquially telo). An Argentinian specialty are the so-called villa cariño, mostly secluded but safe streets where a large number of couples meet in their cars and you can sometimes even order food and drinks to the car.
Information for gays and lesbians: When it comes to homosexuality and LGTB, the country is unfortunately not quite as tolerant as Central Europe, even though conditions have improved significantly after democratization in 1983 and especially since the centre-left government took office in 2003 have. However, public kissing, especially between two men, can still be considered a public nuisance and can take a few hours to the police station. Since Argentinian women are generally quite at ease with each other, lesbian couples have it easier than men. Gays also often risk malicious ridicule from traditionally macho-oriented Argentines. Basically, the big cities, but also tourist resorts, are more liberal than small towns and villages. In contrast, in the trendy districts of Buenos Aires (especially Palermo and Recoleta), Córdoba (Güemes and Nueva Córdoba) and Rosario as well as in the large cities of Patagonia, homosexuality can also be lived out in public without any problems. In every big city there are still institutions such as cultural and political associations, media and fanzines, bars and clubs for homosexuals that actively defend themselves against discrimination and do lobbying.
Nude bathing: Nude bathing and nudism in general is prohibited outside of marked areas and can be prosecuted as an administrative offence. Sometimes you get a warning even for publicly moving. But as everywhere, the rule here is "where there is no plaintiff, there is no judge", and in view of the many secluded lakes and beaches, nude bathers can also get their money's worth. There are also a few naturist beaches and naturist camps (campamento nudista or campamento naturista), see the Ser Nudista page for a list of organized naturist areas. While topless is tolerated, it often attracts onlookers and can draw derisive comments, as Argentinian women are quite prudish in this regard. But don't be afraid of American conditions, especially when it comes to small children - if they run around naked on the beach, nobody cares.
Topics of Conversation: Due to the conflict over the Falkland Islands or the Falklands War of 1982, it is best to avoid talking about these topics and Britain in general. The Argentines don't speak of the "Falklands" either, but of the "Malvinas". These are very sensitive issues for many Argentines and can trigger a strong reaction and create an uncomfortable situation for you. Wearing British symbols (e.g. flags or football shirts) should also be avoided. Although there are no documented abuses in this regard, locals can get very upset and you may receive icy looks and treatment from the populace. In addition, one should avoid talking about the earlier times under the Peróns, the military dictatorship, the topics of politics, corruption and religion. These are sensitive issues for many Argentines and can also cause a strong reaction. Comparing Argentina to its neighbors Brazil and Chile should also be avoided as they are seen as competitors primarily in the economic sphere. Historical conflicts also play a role here.

 

Post and telecommunications

With the exception of very remote areas, the communication network in Argentina is very well developed and can be compared to Europe.

phone
Many Argentines now have smartphones and, to a lesser extent, landlines, even in remote areas. Public telecentros with telephone booths and often also fax and internet connections have become increasingly rare since around 2010. The same applies to public telephones (rarely "cells"). It should be noted that long-distance calls and international calls via the telephone network are significantly more expensive than in Europe, which is why messaging apps are now used almost exclusively for this purpose.

There are mobile phone antennas in almost every town. The most common standard is (as of 2022) LTE (4G), but in remote regions there is sometimes only GSM or Edge (2G). 5G is increasingly being expanded in large cities and tourist locations. Mobile phone companies are Movistar (Telefónica Group), Personal (Telecom) and Claro (América Móviles). The previously frequent incompatibilities with networks and devices have mostly no longer existed since the 3G era.

When calling an Argentinian mobile phone from abroad, a "9" is appended to the country code 0054, followed by the city code (without the 0) and the phone number (without the 15 at the beginning). E.g. call to Buenos Aires: 0054-9-11-XXXX XXXX. This does not apply to calls to Argentinian landlines.

Note: In the years 2011/2012 numerous area codes changed, also in larger cities. So it can happen that z. B. old area codes can still be found on the Internet. With the mobile phone number * 120 (asterisk-120) or * 611 (Nextel) you can inquire about the new numbers.

Internet
As early as the mid-1990s, the internet was used by many Argentines in big cities - today the web is ubiquitous. DSL, cable modem and wireless services are available in all cities, in some large cities also FTTH, dial-up services are now only relevant in remote areas.

Internet cafés (cibercafé or cíber) were widespread in the late 1990s and up until around 2007, but today many Argentines have a fixed or mobile connection. Nevertheless, even in small towns you can almost always find a place where you can connect to the network without your own device, often in larger kiosks or switchboards.

WLAN zones (WiFi) are common and can be found in most hotels, restaurants and cafes. In many cities and even smaller towns there are government-sponsored free WiFi zones, but some services such as file sharing are blocked.

post
There are several postal companies in Argentina, the largest is the ex-monopolist Correo Argentino, there are also OCA, Andreani and UPS and DHL for parcel shipping.

Really valuable shipments to Argentina should not be sent with the Correo Argentino (also not with Deutsche Post or DHL), but with UPS and similar services, the theft or loss of the entire package has often occurred. It should be noted that valuable shipments are subject to customs duties.

Domestic shipping, on the other hand, is relatively safe. Here is the cheap and safe alternative of the encomienda; the package is handed over to a bus company (usually at the local bus station). The recipient must then also pick it up at the bus station upon presentation of the ID. Of course, this is only possible if the route is served by a bus line. Another possibility are comisionistas, small entrepreneurs who transport mail on certain routes in their own car. They are often more flexible than the bus companies, deliver directly to the recipient and are hardly more expensive. Since you have to trust these service providers, you should seek advice from locals.

 

Etymology

The name of the country, "Argentina", is derived from the Latin word lat. argentum ("silver"), which in turn comes from the Greek ἀργήντος (argentos), earlier ἀργήεις, which meant "white", "shining". Αργεντινός (argentinos) is a Greek adjective meaning "silver". The name arose after Sebastian Cabot picked up Juan Diaz de Solis left by the expedition on the shores of Francisco del Puerto, who told Cabot about the "White King" and the Silver Mountains located north of La Plata. Cabot believed the legend and, leaving the original plan to explore navigation on the way to the Moluccas, found by the Magellan-Elcano expedition, went in search of silver. But the information turned out to be false - there are no deposits of valuable metals in the La Plata basin (rather, the legend spoke about the Inca Empire), but the rumor about silver was the reason why the country was named "Argentina".

The first use of the name Argentina can be attributed to the 1602 poem "Argentina and the conquest of the Rio de la Plata" (Spanish: La Argentina y conquista del Río de la Plata) by Martin del Barco Centenera. Although this name for the region was already in common use by the 18th century, in 1776 the country was officially named the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. The independent government formed after the May Revolution of 1810 replaced the name "viceroyalty" with "United Provinces".

The name "Argentina" became famous after its use in the first Argentine anthem of 1813, which had many references to the ongoing Argentine War of Independence. The first official name of the Argentine Republic was recorded in the constitution of 1826. After the return to the confederation of the province of Buenos Aires in 1859, the name of the country was changed to the Argentine Nation. The name Argentine Republic was returned after the adoption of the law of October 8, 1860 and remains to this day.

 

Geography

Argentina is among the ten largest countries in the world. It occupies the southeastern part of the mainland of South America and the eastern part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.

It borders Chile to the west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, and Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast. In the east it is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, in the south by the Drake Passage.

The shores are scarcely indented, only the La Plata estuary cuts into the land for 320 kilometers. The territory of Argentina is elongated in the meridional direction. Its greatest length from north to south is 3.2 thousand kilometers. The large length of maritime borders played an important role in the development of Argentina's foreign economic relations.

Area - 2.8 million km² (excluding the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, disputed by Argentina and the UK). It is only slightly larger than Kazakhstan and ranks 8th in the world in terms of area.

The nature of Argentina is diverse due to the large extent from north to south and differences in relief. According to the structure of the surface, the country can be divided into approximately 63 ° W. into two parts: flat (north and east) and elevated (south and west).

Along the entire western border of Argentina are the Andes - the largest mountain range in the Western Hemisphere, formed mainly during the Alpine orogeny. They are distinguished by the complexity and diversity of the geological structure.

In the northwest, between the northern border of the country and 28 ° S. sh., at an altitude of 3000-4000 m lies a vast closed volcanic plateau Puna. The mountains that frame Pune from the east rise to 6500 m. They are crowned by the snowy peaks of the Nevados.

South of the Andes, they narrow sharply. They reach their greatest height in the central part (between 32° and 37° S), where alpine pointed landforms predominate. Here the highest peaks of South America crowned with powerful snow caps rise: Aconcagua (6962 m), Tupungato, Mercedaryo. The combination of various forms of relief with different colors of the slopes and the snowy attire of the mountains creates a special beauty of the Andean mountain landscapes.

In the north, from the northern border to 29 ° S. sh., and to the Parana River in the east, the Gran Chaco plain (25-50 m) is spread, filled with detrital material and alluvial sediments.

The interfluve of the Parana and Uruguay is basically a flat area composed of red sandstones and marls overlain by a thick layer of clayey alluvium and loess. The northern part of the area is a lava plateau, which is part of the lava plateau of the Brazilian Plateau. The central part of Mesopotamia is a flat swampy lowland. And the south is a hilly plain, crossed by sandstone ridges - cuchillas.

 

Natural resources

Due to the diversity of the relief and the peculiarities of the geological structure, Argentina has a rich mineral and raw material base for the development of industry. But there are almost no world-class deposits (as in other countries of Latin America). In the western regions there are ore minerals. The country is distinguished by reserves of uranium, manganese, copper ores, beryllium; there are lead-zinc, tungsten and iron ores. In terms of uranium ore reserves, Argentina is among the top ten countries in the world.

Of the fuel and energy resources, natural gas and oil are of the greatest importance. The main deposits are confined to sedimentary rocks in the troughs of the Patagonian platform and the intermountain troughs of the Andes (in the provinces of Neuquen, Mendoza, Salta) and on Tierra del Fuego. Argentina's proven natural gas reserves are estimated at 600 billion cubic meters. Its production has increased (especially with the discovery of a deposit in the province of Neuquen). There are small reserves of brown coal in Patagonia.

Argentina stands out for its reserves of non-metallic minerals, including sulfur. There are quite numerous deposits of various building materials (marble, granite, etc.).

At the same time, the geological knowledge of the territory as a whole is low. But one of the main problems in the development of Argentina's industries lies not so much in the absence of certain types of raw materials (although there is a shortage of coking coal, bauxite, potash salts, etc.), but in their extremely unfavorable location (mainly in outlying, sparsely populated areas). So, for example, in Patagonia (30% of the country's territory) there is a combination of sources of mineral raw materials and fuel, water and forest resources. This area already accounts for half of the mining industry. However, only 3% of the country's population lives in this area.

The natural basis for economic development was, first of all, the rich land resources of Argentina. In the structure of the land fund, agricultural land occupies about 70% (but pastures predominate). Plowed a significant part of the territory of the Pampas. A favorable combination of agro-climatic resources determined the country's specialization in the international division of labor in grain farming and animal husbandry on natural pastures.

Among the water resources of Argentina, the main role belongs to the rivers. The river network is better developed in the northeast, where two high-water rivers merge at the common mouth of La Plata. Parana is the second (after the Amazon) river in South America in terms of length and basin area. The largest rivers of Argentina have a rain type of food. The main economic hydropower potential belongs to the rivers of Patagonia, originating in the mountains, as well as the rivers of the Paraná and Uruguay basins. But only a small part of this potential is used.

 

Mountain ranges and mountains

In the Argentine Andes there are almost 100 mountains over 6000 m high. They include the highest mountain on the American continent, Aconcagua at 6961 m and the two highest volcanoes on earth, Ojos del Salado at 6880 m and Monte Pissis at 6795 m. In the southern Andes, the mountains are less high; many are always snow-covered because of the damp and cold climate. In the Sierras Pampeanas, too, very great heights are sometimes measured: The Sierra de Famatina in the province of La Rioja also reaches over 6000 m. The heights of this mountain complex, however, fall towards the east, in the Sierras de Córdoba only a maximum of 2800 meters are reached .

The northern Patagonids (Mesetas Patagoniens) still have a height of 4700 m in the south-east of Mendoza, their height decreases towards the south-east. In the other areas of Argentina, the mountains rarely reach a height of more than 1000 m. These include the Sierras Australes Bonaerenses (Sierra de la Ventana and Sierra de Tandil) on the Atlantic coast and the hills and mountains of Misiones.

 

Rivers and lakes

Argentina's hydrology is dominated by the tributaries of the Río de la Plata. Its catchment area covers about 5,200,000 km². About a third of this is in Argentina, the rest in Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Río Paraná and the Río Uruguay are tributaries of the Río de la Plata. In the north on the border with Brazil is the Iguazú National Park. In it the Iguazú River with the Iguazú Falls, which are three times the size of Niagara Falls. The Río Colorado has the second largest drainage basin in northern Patagonia, with its largest tributary, the Río Salado del Oeste, draining much of western Argentina, although much of its water volume evaporates along the way or seeps into swamps due to the arid climate.

Argentina has two major lake areas. The most extensive is at the foot of the southern Andes, where a long chain of meltwater lakes stretches from the province of Neuquén to Tierra del Fuego. In addition, there are numerous lowland lakes in the western central Pampa and in the southern Chaco, some of which are only a few meters deep and often saline. The flatland lake Mar Chiquita with 5770 km² in the province of Córdoba as well as the Andean lakes Lago Argentino (1415 km²) and Lago Viedma (1088 km²) are located in the Los Glaciares National Park, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is also the Perito Moreno glacier.

 

Islands

Despite its long coastline, Argentina has only a few islands. The largest is the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, which belongs to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago with 47,020 km², shared by Argentina (Tierra del Fuego province, 21,571 km²) and Chile (25,429 km²). The only other island area of importance is the south of the province of Buenos Aires, where there are two extensive mudflats in the bays of Bahía Blanca and Bahía Anegada. The islands there are flat and uninhabited, with the exception of Isla Jabalí, on which the seaside resort of San Blas is located. The largest island is Isla Trinidad with 207 km². There are also some smaller rocky islands off the Patagonian coast.

The Falkland Islands (also Malwinen, English Falkland Islands, Spanish Islas Malvinas) are a disputed territory under international law, a group of islands in the southern Atlantic. They belong geographically to South America, are 600 to 800 km east of southern Argentina and Tierra del Fuego at 52° South and 59° West and are British Overseas Territory. They have been claimed by Argentina since 1833. Argentina's occupation of the islands on April 2, 1982 sparked the Falklands War, which lasted until June 14, 1982 and ended in Argentina's defeat. The largest islands of the Falkland Islands are East Falkland (Soledad) with 6683 km² and West Falkland (Gran Malvina) with 5278 km². Under the same status is the territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, southeast of the Falkland Islands.

 

Climate

The northern half of Argentina is in the subtropics (in the far north-east a small part reaches the always-humid tropics) and the southern half in the cool-temperate zone. There are great contrasts from fully humid to fully arid climates across the entire country. Added to this are the mountainous climates of the Andes.

Northwest Argentina is dry in the Andes with a short rainy season in summer. In it you will find the Puna high desert, the west of which is one of the areas in the world with the least rainfall, as well as the semi-desert, barren Monte at the foot of the Andes in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and La Rioja.

The eastern slopes of the Fore Andes are home to subtropical cloud forests in the provinces of Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy, which are very wet in summer due to rain from the humid east winds, but relatively dry in winter. To the east, the Gran Chaco joins in the central north, its rainfall is concentrated in the summer, the same applies to the region of the Sierras Pampeanas in central Argentina. In both regions, precipitation decreases towards the west.

The Northeast and Pampas regions are wet year-round, with the highest rainfall occurring in the subtropical rainforest of Misiones Province.

The south (Patagonia) lies in the west wind zone, which is why the western part receives more precipitation here than the east. The Andes are perpetually wet and cool-temperate in temperature. They act as a barrier for the humid Pacific winds, so that the adjacent Patagonian strata to the east are very dry and semi-desert. In this region, the Pampero wind, which regularly blows from the southwest every one to two weeks, determines the climate. A special case is the climate in the southern part of Tierra del Fuego with a cool oceanic climate, where both Pacific and Atlantic influences determine the weather because the Andes climate divide is missing there. There, the amounts of precipitation are relatively high and the temperatures show a relatively small deviation between summer and winter.

 

Flora

In the subtropical dry forests of the Gran Chaco, tropical-subtropical plants thrive, such as rosewood (Dalbergia), guaiac trees (Guaiacum officinale), Rio rosewood (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and quebracho trees (Schinopsis lorentzii), from which tannic acid is extracted, but also palm trees . In many cases, Algarrobo trees (mainly Prosopis alba and Prosopis nigra) are also formative. The south and east of the Chaco, with its milder climate, is used intensively for agriculture, while the north is still largely pristine.

The pampa is an extensive subtropical grassland with various grasses. Apart from non-native eucalyptus (Eucalyptus), American plane (Platanus occidentalis) and acacia (Acacia), there are no trees here. The only tree native to the pampas is the evergreen ombú. Due to the very fine stone-free and fertile soil, agricultural use is very productive, so that only little original vegetation has been preserved.

In the arid central areas of Argentina, many cacti (Cactaceae) and thorn bushes can be found in the arid semi-deserts.

Patagonia is already in the rain shadow of the Andes and is a barren and largely treeless arid landscape. Grasses like those in the pampas predominate here, but mostly shrubs in dry semi-deserts and shrubby savannah formations. Because of the stony soil and the harsh climate, grain cultivation (except along river valleys) is not possible, instead the Patagonian plateau is used for pasture.

In the foothills of the Andes and on Tierra del Fuego there is a strip of grass steppes and forests several hundred kilometers long. Unlike the northern hemisphere, there are no pure coniferous forests in the southern hemisphere; even the native mountain forest is made up exclusively of deciduous trees (especially beech species (Nothofagus) such as coihue, lenga and Antarctic beech), which are supplemented regionally by a second tree layer of conifers (e.g. Alerce, Chilean cedar, Chilean river cedar, Chilean yew tree, plum - Locust Yew, Patagonian Yew and Chilean Araucaria). Today, however, many Andean slopes are characterized by imported softwoods such as spruce (Picea), cypress (Cypressus), pine (Pinus), cedar (Cedrus) and other timber. The tree line is around 3500 m.

The flower of the Ceibos (cockscomb tree or coral tree) is one of the national symbols as the so-called "national flower".

 

Fauna

The fauna of Argentina, although not as rich and diverse as in other countries of Latin America, has many endemic species. Almost all of these animals live in the Andes and their foothills, as well as in the sparsely populated region of Patagonia. In Pune there is a relic spectacled bear.

In the open semi-desert spaces of Patagonia and in the Chaco savannahs, a puma is common. In the Andes, there are also vicuñas, which have soft wool, and chinchillas (chinchillas) with delicate silver fur. However, both of them were subjected to almost complete extermination. Lots of rodents, armadillos. In the Chaco, Mesopotamia, Patagonia, nutrias and otters are widespread.

Swamps and lakes are inhabited everywhere by waterfowl, many of which stand out for their bright colors. On the banks of the reservoirs you can see flamingos, herons. In the forests there are hummingbirds, among which there are endemic species, for example, the so-called fluttering emerald in the Patagonian Andes. The stove-maker living in Argentina became in 1928 one of the national symbols of the country.

The Valdes Peninsula is one of the centers of seasonal animal migration. From June to December, southern right whales come here, from September to March-April - Magellanic penguins and killer whales, from December to March - gray dolphins. All year round you can see colorful dolphins, elephant seals, sea lions, guanacos, Patagonian maras, rhea ostriches, gray foxes and armadillos.

Jaguar, toucan.

 

History

Pre-Columbian Period

Research assumes that human settlement in present-day Argentina dates back to around 15,000 BC. from North America.

The Pampas Indians Het (Querandíes), Charrúa and other small tribes living in the Pampa region of today's Argentina were not settled until the Spaniards arrived and lived as hunters and gatherers or fishermen. The tribes in the northwest of the country (e.g. the Diaguita), on the other hand, practiced agriculture and animal husbandry from around the time of the early European Middle Ages and were particularly advanced in the area of architecture. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Inca Empire expanded strongly southward and, around 1450, encompassed large parts of northwestern Argentina to the north of what is now Mendoza province.

 

Colonial era

Europeans first reached the region with the voyage of Amerigo Vespucci in 1502. Today's Argentina was colonized by the Spanish from two directions in the 16th century. From the estuary of the Río Paraná on the Atlantic, Spanish branches were founded on the river system of the Río de la Plata (“Silver River”), including Buenos Aires first in 1536. However, the Spaniards were only able to establish themselves there permanently in 1580, after the first attempt to found the city had failed due to the resistance of the indigenous Pampas inhabitants. After the La Plata colony was initially administered from Asunción, which was founded in 1537, the rise of the re-established Buenos Aires to become the most important economic center of the colony in the course of the 17th century saw the increasing institutional separation of the southern part of the silver country from the northern part, the today's Paraguay. The northwestern parts of present-day Argentina (particularly in the Gran Chaco) were occupied by the Spanish from Peru in the 1540s.

The areas of present-day Argentina (Patagonia) further south of Buenos Aires in the southern cone remained in fact outside of Spanish rule during the colonial period. They were ruled for about 300 years by Indian horsemen (Puelche), who were in an exciting cultural exchange with the colonists. In several campaigns, the colonists or their descendants finally conquered the areas in the 19th century with great losses on the part of the indigenous population. At the same time, Mapuche peoples from western Patagonia were able to maintain a high degree of independence well into the mid-19th century.

Administratively, today's Argentina was initially part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included all of South America with the exception of Venezuela and the Portuguese sphere of influence. In 1776, the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata with the capital Buenos Aires was split off, which included Argentina, today's Paraguay, Uruguay and parts of today's Bolivia.

The Latinized name Argentina ("Silver Land") for the colony first appears in the title of the historical long poem La Argentina by Martín del Barco Centenera, printed in Portugal in 1602, in which the former conquistador and deacon describes the conquest of the La Plata colony and in the process tried to imitate the style of La Araucana, the successful verse novel by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga about the war of conquest in Chile.

 

Formation of a nation state

The independence declared in Buenos Aires on May 25, 1810 under the influence of the French Revolution and the coalition wars in Europe initially had only local effects as the May Revolution, but led to a nationwide war of liberation against the Spaniards. The country finally gained independence on July 9, 1816 in San Miguel de Tucumán. Like Paraguay before it in 1811, Bolivia split off in 1825 and Uruguay in 1828 from what was then the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

Between 1816 and 1880 Argentina's development was characterized by dictatorships (under the Bonarensian governor Juan Manuel de Rosas) and civil wars. The provinces were initially largely autonomous, and the country was only briefly united in 1826-1827. In 1853, today's Argentine Republic was founded, initially without the breakaway province of Buenos Aires, and a federal constitution was passed in its first capital, Paraná. In 1861 and 1862, after a military conflict, the province of Buenos Aires rejoined, national elections were called, and Bartolomé Mitre became the first all-Argentinian president. During his reign, the Triple Alliance War took place from 1864 to 1870, in which Argentina, together with Brazil and Uruguay, prevailed against expansive tendencies in Paraguay, which at that time had developed into one of the strongest military powers in South America. Through this war, Argentina gained the territory of today's states of Misiones, Formosa and Chaco.

 

Immigration and economic boom

The years from 1880 to 1912 were characterized by large numbers of immigrants, mainly Italians and Spaniards, who settled in the cities and in the so-called "colonies" in the countryside. Politically, this time can be described as a sham democracy, because the government of Julio Argentino Roca and the following governments were oligarchically oriented, with great influence of the large landowners. The majority of the population were denied their political rights through an ingenious system of electoral fraud by the governing party, the Partido Autonomista Nacional, which governed uninterruptedly from 1874 to 1916; the immigrants also had no voting rights.

From 1893, border problems with Chile worsened after Bolivia ceded part of the Puna de Atacama to Argentina. This had been occupied by Chile since the Saltpeter War. An arms race broke out between Chile and Argentina. Only the British King Edward VII was able to settle the border dispute in 1902. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego were redivided, giving 54,000 km² to Chile and 40,000 km² to Argentina.

In 1912, universal male suffrage was introduced by President and leader of the PAN's liberal wing, Roque Sáenz Peña. As a result, the Unión Cívica Radical, which emerged from the bourgeois protest movement, came to power in 1916. This was followed by the fickle so-called Etapa Radical from 1916 to 1930. The Unión Cívica Radical ruled until 1930, when a military coup reinstated a conservative system. The 1930s in particular are now referred to as the Década infame, the notorious decade in which democracy existed only on paper and electoral fraud was the order of the day.

 

Peronism

During the first half of the 1940s, a young officer, Juan Domingo Perón, maneuvered his way to power. First Minister of Labor under the Ramírez military regime, he quickly became a popular hero among the working class for his far-reaching concessions to the unions, so that after his fall in July 1945 mass demonstrations forced his return. In 1946 he was elected President.

Argentina was officially neutral during World War II. It initially sympathized with the Axis powers, but towards the end of the war supported the Allies. Before and during the war, Argentina was a destination for refugees from Europe, including around 45,000 Jews; after the war numerous national socialists and fascists found refuge in Argentina as well as in other Latin American countries via the so-called "rat line". Among the most prominent Nazi war criminals in Argentina were Adolf Eichmann, who was kidnapped by the Mossad in 1960 and sentenced to death in Israel, Josef Mengele, Walther Rauff and Erich Priebke. Large assets belonging to the National Socialists were also transferred to Argentina via so-called key companies.

On March 15, 2015, the discovery of a building from the 1940s in a forest area of the Teyu Cuare Natural Park about 1000 kilometers north of the state capital Buenos Aires became known. It has never been used. According to the Center for Urban Archeology (CAU), evidence such as the architectural style and objects found suggest that it was intended as a hiding place for fugitive Nazi greats. "The National Commission into the Investigation of Nazi Activities (CEANA) estimates that at least 180 war criminals fled to the South American country."

Under Perón, who sympathized with fascist ideas, Argentina's goal was to ward off communism by making concessions to workers. During his first reign, the country's industrialization, which had begun after the Great Depression around 1930, was deepened and an import substitution policy was implemented. The accelerated industrialization and the active social policy led to an unprecedented level of prosperity for the masses, which has not yet been reached again, who therefore supported the increasingly authoritarian regime, but also to rising inflation and national debt. In Perón's second term, economic difficulties and conflicts with the powerful Catholic Church arose.

In 1955 he was deposed in a coup and fled into exile in Spain.

 

Instability and dictatorships

In the period that followed, Argentina experienced alternating economic ups and downs. Until 1983 there was a period of instability in which the country was alternately controlled by civilian and military governments. The democratically elected governments Frondizis (1958-1962) and Illias (1963-1966) were prematurely overthrown by the anti-Peronist military. From 1966 to 1973 there was a longer right-wing conservative military dictatorship under Onganía and his successors, which was finally abandoned after popular protests in 1973. The country found its way back to democracy for a short time, the still popular Perón was allowed to enter again and was soon able to regain power.

Perón's second term of office, from October 1973 to his death on July 1, 1974, brought only a minor calm to Argentina's political and economic situation. After his death, his third wife, Isabel Perón (known as "Isabelita"), whom he had made vice-president, was installed as president at the instigation of the Peronist party. This, a former nightclub dancer, was completely overwhelmed with this office and served only as a puppet for right-wing Peronists like José López Rega, who had already used a paramilitary group with the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina under Perón, which tortured and murdered opponents of the regime. In addition, economic problems increased and inflation rose sharply. Several guerrilla groups (guerilleros) such as the Montoneros were active in this context and various kidnappings occurred. The kidnapping in October 1975 of Heinrich Metz, the production manager responsible for Mercedes-Benz's Argentina site (he was later released for a ransom of several million US dollars) triggered a wave of refugees who worked for German companies in Argentina.

In 1976 there was another military coup and a military dictatorship was installed under the leadership of Jorge Rafael Videla, led by a three-member junta who ruled with open state terror. The period between 1976 and 1978 is therefore also known as the "Dirty War". Among the estimated 30,000 Desaparecidos (“disappeared”) were numerous students whose mothers banded together to demonstrate on the square in front of the government building (Plaza de Mayo), despite their self-endangerment, and thus went down in history. The aim of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) was and is to get information about the whereabouts of their children. The organization Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo), founded in 1977, has set itself the goal of bringing back to their families the children of the disappeared who were born in captivity and put up for illegal adoption.

After their parents were killed, the orphans were raised as spoils of war by people close to the dictatorship. Only about 100 of these children have found out about their true identity to date. Despite all the efforts of relatives and the searchers, there is still no trace of 400 others. In later court cases against responsible military officers, which could only be enforced with difficulty, it became known that the military authorities had disposed of numerous people in a cruel way: the victims were drugged and thrown out of the plane over the Río de la Plata or the open sea . The German Elisabeth Käsemann was also one of the victims of the dictatorship in 1977. The documentary film The Girl – What happened to Elisabeth K.? contains statements by surviving relatives and politically responsible persons.

In 1971, to settle sovereignty disputes (see Beagle Conflict) over the islands at the southern tip of America, Argentina and Chile commissioned an international tribunal to decide on a binding interpretation of the 1881 border treaty. In 1977, the Beagle Arbitration Court ruled that all islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego belonged to Chile. In 1978 Argentina declared the decision null and void and prepared the military capture of the islands (see Operation Soberanía), which could only be prevented through the mediation of Pope John Paul II. It was only in 1984, as part of the process of democratization, that Argentina finally recognized the verdict in the 1984 Friendship and Peace Treaty between Chile and Argentina – after the exchange of navigation rights and a shift of the maritime border to the west.

In April 1982, Argentina, under the new junta chief Leopoldo Galtieri, began the Falklands War against Britain. It was about the Falkland Islands off Argentina (referred to as "Islas Malvinas" in Argentina), which according to Argentine legal opinion belong to their own national territory, but are also regarded as their own sovereign territory by Great Britain and have been under its administration since 1833. The invasion by Argentine soldiers was successfully reversed by UK forces with air raids, a naval war and a landing operation. Argentine troops surrendered on June 14, 1982.

 

Democratic Argentina since 1983

In 1983 the country returned to democracy. The first president of this era was Raúl Alfonsín (Unión Cívica Radical), who resigned prematurely in 1989 as a result of a severe economic crisis. The Peronist Party returned to power with Carlos Menem. Menem's neoliberal economic policy and the 1:1 peg of the Argentine peso to the US dollar was extremely successful during his first term in office and was able to stabilize the country. During his second term of office, however, the negative sides of this economic policy became more and more noticeable.

Between 1998 and 2002, the country fell into a severe economic crisis again, during which economic power fell by 20%. In 1999 the Menem government was replaced by a centre-left coalition with President Fernando de la Rúa. However, De la Rúa was unable to quickly and sustainably improve the muddled economic situation left behind by his predecessor. Presidential hesitation, infighting within the coalition and strong extra-parliamentary opposition from the unions, traditionally close to the Peronists, increasingly weakened de la Rúa. This culminated at the end of 2001 in the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa after severe unrest and looting.

There were subsequently several Peronist interim presidents until Eduardo Duhalde was put in charge of managing the crisis. This dissolved the dollar parity again. In May 2003, after a very chaotic presidential election, Néstor Kirchner, who belongs to the social-democratic wing of the Peronist Party, was elected the new head of state. Despite his low election results, Kirchner was very popular with the population during his tenure because he was able to successfully overcome the crisis and therefore improve the country's overall situation. The economy experienced a strong growth spurt: in 2003 Argentina recorded a growth in gross domestic product of +8.7% compared to -10.9% in 2002. However, Kirchner has also faced criticism, particularly for his autocratic leadership style and partly because of his cooperation with the Piquetero protest movement, which was interpreted as populism.

In the elections for the Argentine Senate and the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in October 2005, Néstor Kirchner's supporters emerged victorious with around 40% of the votes. His wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, defeated the wife of former President Eduardo Duhalde, Hilda González de Duhalde, who also belongs to the Peronist Party, in the election for senators in the province of Buenos Aires. The president was thus strengthened and was able to rely on a large majority in both chambers, including within his own party.

The ruling Peronists, in particular Kirchner's electoral platform, Frente para la Victoria, won the presidential and parliamentary elections on October 28, 2007 with an overwhelming victory. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was able to prevail in the first ballot with 45.3% of the votes and thus avoid a runoff. She took office on December 10, 2007. Kirchnerismo was also slightly strengthened in Parliament.

As a result, the Peronist Party was affected by factional fighting. Official splitting of the party was even considered several times. However, after Kirchner took over as party chairman in 2008, the situation within the governing party stabilized again.

However, the Frente para la Victoria (FPV) lost in the parliamentary elections on June 28, 2009. As a result, Néstor Kirchner handed over the leadership of the Peronist Party to the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli. In October 2010 he died of a heart attack.

In 2015 there was a change of power: in the first run-off in Argentine history, Mauricio Macri, party leader of the conservative Propuesta Republicana party and mayor of Buenos Aires since 2007, narrowly defeated candidate Daniel Scioli, who was supported by the Kirchner government. According to Argentina's constitution, Cristina Kirchner could not stand for re-election; she has been president for two terms.

After 2016, Macri ended the exchange control system in place since 2012 and floated the exchange rate of the peso, abolished subsidies for gas, electricity and public transport, and reduced agricultural taxes on exports.

After economic recession, high inflation and strong popular protests in 2019, Macri had to admit defeat in the presidential elections to the electoral formula Alberto Fernández / Cristina Fernández (Frente de Todos).

 

Politics

Under the 1994 constitution, Argentina is a federal, republican, presidential democracy.

In September 1947, after Eva Perón's personal commitment to this project, active and passive women's suffrage was passed by Parliament. In some provinces, women had been given the right to vote and stand for election earlier.

The President of the Nation (“Presidente de la Nación Argentina”, “Poder Ejecutivo Nacional”) is the head of state and head of government in person and has a powerful position, including the ability to govern by decree. He is directly elected in two ballots every four years (until 1995: every six years) together with the Vice-President, who deputizes for him in his absence. To win in the first round, the winning candidate must have 45 or more percent of the valid votes cast, or 10 percentage points ahead of the runner-up when the score is between 40 and 45 percent. In all other cases there is a runoff. If one of the two most successful candidates in the first round does not participate in the run-off election (last in 2003), the other candidate is considered the winner, so the third-placed candidate does not move up in this case. A presidency is possible for a maximum of two consecutive terms, but a renewed candidacy is permitted after a break of four years. The president must be an Argentine citizen, among other things, and had to belong to the Roman Catholic faith until the 1994 constitutional reform.

The legislature (general term: Congreso, Congress, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate) is usually elected at different times in all provinces.

The number of deputies in the Chamber of Deputies is determined by proportional representation and is distributed among the provinces according to a specific key; it amounts to around one deputy per 152,000 inhabitants. The deputies are elected for four years, although half of the deputies are elected every two years. The number of senators is three per province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. In contrast to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate is elected according to a special case of majority voting; The party with the most votes gets two senator seats and the party with the second most votes gets one seat. The senators are elected for a period of six years, with one third of the senators being elected every two years.

Since the economic crisis, the debate about political reform has arisen, as the current system is very opaque, especially for voters, and encourages both a cult of personality and corruption.

For example, elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives are usually held together with mayoral elections, which leads to distortions due to the so-called Listas Sábanas. This is due to the fact that in Argentina there are no crosses on ballots, each party has its own ballot (Lista Sábana) and you cast your vote by choosing the right ballot. However, if there are many simultaneous elections, you can split the votes. In this case, if you want to vote for candidates from different parties, you have to cut the ballot papers apart and throw only the appropriate sections into the ballot box. However, only a few voters make use of this option, which leads to distortions when elections are held more frequently on the same day. Listas Sábanas (German: sheet (large) lists) are called the ballot papers because they are often very large.

The respective majorities in the legislature are also hardly made public, which is also due to the fact that the composition changes almost every year.

 

Parties

The party landscape in Argentina is characterized by great fragmentation and discontinuity. The second half of the 1990s up to the Argentina crisis in particular marked a clear turning point, after which numerous new groups emerged, some of which were split off from the traditional parties.

One of the largest parties today is the PJ (Partido Justicialista, usually called in German: Peronist Party), which emerged from the Peronist movement and which gathers about 50% of the electoral potential at the national level. It is followed at some distance today by the UCR (Unión Cívica Radical), which formed a de facto two-party system with the PJ between 1945 and 2003 and has been in government several times. From 2015 to 2019, the Propuesta Republicana (usually referred to as PRO) provided the president with Mauricio Macri. The Propuesta Republicana is seen as conservative-liberal.

The parties ARI (social-democratic), Propuesta Republicana (conservative-liberal) and the oldest left-wing party, Partido Socialista, founded after the Argentina crisis, are of great regional importance and enter into multiple alliances at state level, some of which also integrate parts of the PJ and UCR. There are also numerous regional parties with strong membership, which occupy dominant positions in their respective provinces and also alternately form coalitions with the nationally active parties. In Argentina, therefore, the European right-left schema cannot be clearly applied to certain parties, since many of them frequently change their alignment. Some parties that enjoyed intermittent successes in the 1990s, such as the liberal Acción por la República and the social-democratic Frente Grande, which was part of the government in the Frente País Solidario coalition between 1999 and 2001, are now only of local importance .

Since the late 1990s there have been substantial debates between wings of the PFY, which are ideologically very different. The wings are usually inscribed with the name of their leading personality. Kirchnerismo, which ruled between 2003 and 2015 (starting from Néstor and Cristina Kirchner), is social-democratically oriented, while Menemismo, which dominated in the 1990s, was economically liberal. Another wing was Duhaldismo, which ruled in the province of Buenos Aires for a long time and was originally allied with Kirchnerism. After Kirchner seized power, the alliance between the two blocs broke up due to differences, especially in relation to Carlos Menem, and Duhaldismo lost its importance overall. With Macri's presidency from 2015 to 2019, the PJ appeared somewhat more united again.

Among the parties with more extreme orientations, various communist parties (Partido Comunista Revolucionario, Partido Obrero, Izquierda Unida and Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores) have a certain importance on the left. In the case of the right, this only applies to the right-wing conservative-nationalist Partido del Campo Popular (which emerged from MODIN), which is considered a collective movement for those nostalgic about the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

 

Foreign policy

Argentine President Mauricio Macri declared at the beginning of his term in December 2015 that he wanted to strive for good relations with all countries. He was clearly counting on reviving relations with Europe and the USA and bringing Argentina back onto the world stage. This included the swift resolution of the conflict with US hedge funds in April 2016, which brought the country back to international financial markets. Another priority for the Macri government is relations with the countries of the region, particularly with Brazil. Pursuing the sovereignty claim raised on the Falkland Islands/Malvinas remains a constitutional goal of Argentine foreign policy, but should not stand in the way of cooperation with Great Britain on other issues.

Relations with its neighbors in the region, especially Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, and issues of regional cooperation – especially in Mercosur and UNASUR – are among Argentina's classic foreign policy priorities.

Argentina is a member of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), founded in December 2011, of which all 33 American states except the USA and Canada are members.

Argentina has been on the list of major non-NATO ally since 1998, making it one of the US's closest diplomatic and strategic partners outside of NATO. However, relations with the USA suffered considerably under the socialist governments. The Argentine government has announced a clear revival in relations with the USA, and the USA has acknowledged Argentina's first economic and foreign policy steps with initial gestures. Former US President Obama visited Argentina in March 2016 and bilateral relations clearly gained momentum.

With a view to trade diversification, Argentina has strengthened its ties with China, India and Russia. China is now Argentina's second most important trading partner after Brazil.

Relations with Germany are close and based on numerous cultural, economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries. There is a German minority in the country.

Argentina belongs to the G20 and is an active member of the United Nations (troop contributor to the UN mission MINUSTAH in Haiti). It was a member of the UN Human Rights Council from 2013 to 2015 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2013/2014.

 

Ethnicities

ethnic composition
According to official statistics, more than 90% of the population descends at least in part from immigrant Europeans, mostly Italians. The high number of individuals who have at least one European ancestry have created a myth of white Argentina. Until the early 1990s, it was assumed that the proportion of mestizos – descendants of both Europeans and indigenous people – was less than 10%. According to more recent findings, however, their proportion is much higher. Recent genetic studies revealed between 53% and 65% European, 31-40% Indian and 4% African heritage. This discrepancy is attributed to the fact that the mestizos used to suffer from severe discrimination and therefore declared themselves "white". In Argentina, an estimated 300,000 people are of Roma descent, many of whom have abandoned their own culture and assimilated due to discrimination and a lack of cultural support.

Indigenous population
Only a minority of Argentines are exclusively descendants of the 30 ethnic groups that lived on the country's territory before the arrival of the Spaniards. On the one hand, this is because Argentina was only densely populated in the northwest before the colonial era, and on the other hand, because the remaining indigenous people were largely exterminated by the Spaniards and later by the Argentines. The State Institute for Indigenous Affairs (INAI) estimates the number of indigenous people at around 1 million, but indigenous organizations such as AIRA (Asociación de Indígenas de la República Argentina) estimate the number at more than 1.5 million.

In 2001, about 2.8% of all Argentine households had Indigenous household members, with proportions varying widely from province to province. In Jujuy province, for example, the share was the largest at 10.5%. The proportion was lowest in the province of Corrientes at 1.0%. In the capital, Buenos Aires, it was 2.3%.

The largest groups are the Kollas in Jujuy and Salta, the Mapuche (Araucanians) in Neuquén and Río Negro, the Wichí and Toba in the Chaco and Formosa, and the Guaraní in the northern provinces. Only a minority of the indigenous people live in their ancestral settlement areas, many have moved to the big cities, where they often live under poor conditions as poorly paid workers. There are neighborhoods in Rosario and Resistencia that are only inhabited by Toba Indians, the same applies to Kollas in San Salvador de Jujuy and San Miguel de Tucumán. Since the 1980s, there have been movements within these tribes aimed at preserving and spreading traditional culture, for example via radio stations and in schools.

 

Immigration and emigration

The number of foreigners in the 2010 census was 1,805,957 (4.6% of the population), with the largest groups being Paraguayans (550,713), Bolivians (345,272), Chileans (191,147), Peruvians (157,514) and Italians (147,499). ). The province of Santa Cruz (12%), the city of Buenos Aires and Tierra del Fuego (both 11%) have the highest proportion of foreign-born. In 2017, 4.9% of the population were migrants.

Historically, the largest wave of immigration was recorded between 1857 and the mid-20th century, almost exclusively from Europe. Between 1857 and 1920, people mainly came from Italy (around 2.3 million immigrants) and Spain (1.6 million immigrants). The number of immigrants from Germany is estimated at 70,000 for the period 1857-1920. In the middle of the 20th century, migration to Argentina continued to level off, apart from a brief resurgence around the time of World War II. After a phase of negative migration balances between 1975 and 2001, the balance sheet has been slightly positive again since the Argentine crisis. Today, it is primarily citizens of the neighboring countries of Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay as well as the South American countries of Peru and Venezuela who immigrate to Argentina. During the Pinochet dictatorship, immigration also took place from Chile, but this reversed after 2001 due to redemocratization and the meanwhile higher standard of living in the neighboring country. Overall, about 68% of immigrants come from American states. About 2% of all immigrants come from Asia (mainly Koreans).

Since the 1990s there has been an increasing number of immigrants from Europe, who mainly move here because of the untouched nature. In contrast to the other immigrants, they usually already have a secure existence or are pensioners, so they are trying to improve their quality of life by moving. Other groups of foreigners (particularly Italians and Spaniards) are still living immigrants of the main wave (until 1950). Europeans represent about 28% of foreigners.

Since the Argentina crisis between 1998 and 2002, waves of emigration have increased. Argentines left for Europe and North America, and to a lesser extent Brazil and Chile. However, this wave of emigration has largely subsided due to the relatively rapid recovery of Argentina's economy.

 

Languages

The sole official language in Argentina is Spanish. There are also a number of more or less widespread minority languages spoken by the indigenous population. The most common are Quechua (in two local variants) and Guaraní, and Mapudungun is also spoken in some areas. In the province of Chaco, the languages of the Wichí, the Toba (people) and the Mocoví have official status; in the province of Corrientes this applies to the Guaraní. The highest number of speakers of autochthonous languages is among the indigenous people in the Chaco, of whom more than half still understand their ancestral language. For other groups such as the Kolla and Mapuche, this figure is far lower.

Argentine Spanish differs in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary from the variants used in Spain and also from other Latin American countries. The double consonant ll is pronounced like German sch or French j, as is the letter y between vowels and a consonantal y at the beginning of a word; this phenomenon is called Yeísmo. The letter z is always pronounced like an unvoiced s, the same applies to the c before e and i, this is called seseo. Furthermore, the voseo prevails in Argentina, i. H. instead of the personal pronoun tú for the 2nd person singular, vos is used. The verbs are conjugated differently (in the present tense always final stressed and with different imperative forms). Furthermore, the 2nd person plural vosotros is also replaced in informal speech by the 3rd person plural ustedes, which is just the polite form in European Spanish. In addition, there are a number of lexical discrepancies.

While the majority of the descendants of Italian immigrants in Argentina have given up the language of their ancestors, some of the descendants of German-speaking and English-speaking immigrants still speak the language of their ancestors. There are districts in Greater Buenos Aires where you still hear a lot of German. In the province of Córdoba there is a relatively large colony of survivors of the WWII warship Admiral Graf Spee who settled in Villa General Belgrano, where some German is still spoken today.

 

Religions

Argentina has not had a state religion since May 20, 1955, which was previously the Roman Catholic denomination. However, Catholicism enjoys a privileged status under the Constitution. According to the Report on International Religious Freedom 2017, 71% of the population is Roman Catholic.

There are officially over 2,500 registered cults and religions, including Protestantism (9%), Jehovah's Witnesses (approx. 1.2%), and others (approx. 1.2%), for example the Pachamama cult in north-west Argentina, the created by merging Christian rites with indigenous religions. The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ, was elected pope by conclave on March 13, 2013, making him the first pope from Latin America. Bergoglio chose the name Francis. Around 400,000 to 500,000 Muslims (1%) live in Argentina. With around 205,000 to 300,000 members (0.6%), the Jewish community is the largest in Latin America. Around 11%-13% of the population stated in surveys that they did not belong to any religion.

 

Social situation

Life expectancy in the period from 2010 to 2015 was 76.0 years (women 79.8, men: 72.2).

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos continuously documents important indicators for assessing the social situation in Argentina.

The country's social situation is characterized by severe inequality in several respects. On the one hand, as in all of Latin America, there is a large wealth gap between the upper and lower classes.

But the differences between the regions of Argentina are also large. For example, the poverty rate, which is calculated using a basket of goods, was around 15% in the capital Buenos Aires in 2008, just over half the national average (23%), while it is 41% in the north-east region ( as of 2007). An average person needed about AR$317 per month in March 2008 to stay below the poverty line. In most households, it is therefore necessary for several family members to contribute to the income. This is also shown by the official statistics: The average monthly per capita income is around AR$ 1156 and thus only slightly above the poverty rate for families, while the average monthly household income is AR$ 2090 (see below).

The northern provinces, especially the province of Tucumán and the north-east (Chaco, Formosa, Santiago del Estero) were hit hardest by poverty and malnutrition until the turn of the millennium. This situation was exacerbated by the relatively high population growth in this region. In contrast, the central provinces (Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza) and the extreme south (Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego) were considered relatively rich.

In addition to the border regions (e.g. Jujuy and Formosa), it is the rich central provinces that have to struggle the most with urban poverty and with it the formation of slums. Immigration from the poorer neighboring countries of Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, as well as internal migration from remote areas of the interior, despite a slowdown in the 1990s, was a problem in the big cities, which kept the number of slum dwellers growing despite social housing programs. For example, in Rosario in 2004, slum dwellers made up more than 15% of the total population. In addition, growth for the slums also came from the so-called new poor, especially in the economically critical years of 1989/1990, 1995 and between 1998 and 2002.

In the Argentina crisis, especially in 2001 and 2002, many indicators of the social situation deteriorated in a very short time. The poverty rate calculated according to a shopping cart rose to over 50%. From 2003 onwards, the values slowly normalized again, but until 2006 the poverty rate remained well above the values of the 1990s at over 20% despite a decline. In the most affected Región Noreste Argentino (northeast region), almost half the population remained poor.

After the economy initially recovered, it slipped back into recession in 2012. In 2016, a third of Argentines were living below the poverty line and newly elected conservative President Macri was forced to implement an austerity program. As a result, the number of people below the poverty line rose from 29% to 41% (December 2019).

For the poverty and misery rate, the incomes on which the rate is based vary by region, so only an approximate average is given. In the case of the inflation rate, the value is only calculated in the Greater Buenos Aires area. However, the INDEC data for the price index has been repeatedly questioned; the IMF therefore reprimanded the country in 2013.

 

Armed forces

Argentina's military has played a dominant role throughout the country's history. Especially in the period between 1955 (coup against Juan Perón) and 1973 (Perón's return and second presidency) and in the period between 1974 (Perón's death) and 1983 (defeat in the Falklands War and redemocratization), Argentina was directly or indirectly shaped by the military. (See also: History of Argentina)

Under the presidencies of Raúl Alfonsíns (1983-1989) and Carlos Menems (1989-1999) attempts were made to weaken the influence of the military and in 1994 conscription was abolished. In 1999 defense spending was only 62% of 1983 spending; over the same period, government spending has generally increased to 152% of 1983 spending.[65] In 2003, the amnesty laws for crimes committed by the military dictatorship (1976–1983) were abolished.

In 2004, the Argentinean armed forces, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, had a total of around 102,300 personnel (soldiers and administration) (army: 50,900 persons (41,400 soldiers), navy: 26,600 persons (17,200 soldiers), air force: 23,600 persons (13,200 soldiers), Ministry of Defense and General Staff: 1,200 people).

Argentina spent almost 0.9% of its economic output or 5.7 billion US dollars on its armed forces in 2017.

 

Economy

Argentina is a rapidly developing agro-industrial state. Since the early 1990s, the country has been actively pursuing a policy of privatization and an even wider attraction of foreign capital. Joining MERCOSUR (South American Common Market) significantly expanded the domestic market of Argentina. Argentina is characterized by the predominance of the manufacturing industry, and it is dominated by heavy industry; however, the traditional sectors of the light industry and especially the food industry still occupy an important place and are of export importance.

However, due to ill-considered reforms, the economic crisis in 2001 led to a significant increase in social tensions and a default (the amount of public debt at that time was $132 billion, making it the largest default in history).

The location of industry is characterized by a high territorial concentration: a significant part of the industrial enterprises of heavy industry is concentrated in the lower reaches of the Parana, in the industrial belt between Buenos Aires and Rosario; more than half of industrial output is produced in Greater Buenos Aires.

In terms of oil production, the country ranks fourth (after Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil) in Latin America. Production fully meets the needs of the country (state-owned companies Enarsa, YPF; private Bridas, Pluspetrol), and the state does not import oil.

Argentina is among the top ten countries in terms of uranium reserves. The country is known for its scientific developments in the field of nuclear energy and the uranium industry (INVAP, Nucleoeléctrica Argentina).

The country's ferrous metallurgy is the oldest on the continent, but it is developing rather slowly, with a large underutilization of capacities due to a lack of raw materials. Most raw materials have to be imported.

Of the non-ferrous metallurgy industries, the following are developed: the production of lead, zinc, copper, and aluminum based on domestic and imported raw materials.

Mechanical engineering occupies a leading position in terms of the cost of production in heavy industry. The most developed are transport engineering (Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Peugeot, etc. have their own plants in Argentina), agricultural engineering, production of equipment for the food industry, and electrical engineering (IBM, Siemens plants). In transport engineering, the automotive industry (Buenos Aires, Cordoba) is in the lead, shipbuilding and ship repair (Buenos Aires, Ensenada), aircraft manufacturing (FAdeA, Aero Boero, Laviasa) and the production of helicopters (Cicaré, AeroDreams) (Cordoba, Buenos Aires) are developed.

Among the export industries, a special place is occupied by meat packing, a traditional and country-specific industry. Argentina is one of the most significant producers of meat, mainly beef, and its exporters. Of other branches of the food industry, the production of vegetable oils, in recent years - soybean, as well as flour-grinding, oil-pressing industries and wine-making have been of export importance. Fruit and vegetable, canning, sugar industries, and beverage production are oriented to the domestic market.

A distinctive feature of Argentina's agriculture compared to other Latin American countries is the fact that it not only fully provides itself with food, but also exports it (while only 2% of workers are employed in agriculture). In terms of per capita food consumption, the country outperforms other countries in the region (1st place). Agricultural and livestock products provide over 50% of export earnings. In terms of the number of cattle, Argentina ranks sixth in the world, in terms of meat production per capita - fifth, and in terms of its consumption - first. Meat is the national food of the Argentines.

In crop production, the main place is traditionally occupied by grain, oilseeds and tobacco crops of export value. In terms of wheat and tobacco harvesting, Argentina is one of the leading countries in the world. According to the World Bank in 2012, the country ranked sixth in the world in terms of wheat exports (8.4 million tons). In addition, Argentina is the most important exporter of eggs, milk, barley and tobacco.

The average wage in Argentina as of September 2018 is 31,898 pesos ($835.44). Effective October 1, 2019, the minimum wage is 16,875 pesos (US$282.09) and 14,512.5 pesos (net, after 14% income tax of US$242.60).

 

Defaults

Until 2020, there were 9 defaults in Argentina, of which three occurred in the 21st century: in 2001, 2014 and 2020. After the 2001 default, Argentina was able to negotiate a restructuring of 93% of the funds. So on July 30, 2014, the maturity date of debt obligations to a part of creditors expired. The amount of non-payment on debts amounted to 1.3 billion dollars. The Argentine authorities refused to confirm the 2014 default. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner denied defaulting, while Economy Minister Axel Kisilof said a "media campaign was unleashed against Argentina to sow the doubt, panic and fear that the word 'default' evokes." In the default of 2020, the situation was different. Argentine Economy Minister Martin Guzmán has proposed that creditors defer payment of interest and principal ($69 billion) for three years, and then pay 94.6% of the principal and 48% of additional accrued interest. Investors did not agree to this and the Argentine government did not pay $ 500 million on its government bonds.

 

Transport

The transport infrastructure of Argentina is relatively developed. The length of roads is 230,000 km (excluding private rural roads), of which 72,000 km are paved and 1,575 km are expressways, many of which are privatized toll roads. In recent years, the length of multi-lane express roads has doubled. Now they connect several large cities with each other. More such roads are under construction. However, they are still not enough to organize the normal movement of 9.5 million cars registered in the country as of 2009 (240 per 1,000 people).

The total length of the railway network is 31.4 thousand km. The province of Tierra del Fuego is home to the world's southernmost railway (Train at World's End). After several decades of declining traffic and insufficient maintenance of infrastructure, in 1992 the Ferrocarriles Argentinos railway company was privatized, most intercity passenger routes were closed, and thousands of kilometers of roads (not included in the above total length) are now unused. Suburban rail services in the Buenos Aires area are still in high demand, though in part because of the ease of transfer to the subway. On a number of lines, intercity transportation is currently being resumed.

Opened in 1913, the Buenos Aires Metro was the first metro system in Latin America and the southern hemisphere. Today it is no longer the largest in South America, but its 87.3 km of lines carry more than 1.2 million passengers a day.

Argentina has about 11,000 km of inland waterways, which carry more goods than rail. This includes an extensive network of canals, although Argentina also has a fair amount of natural waterways, the most significant of which are the Rio de la Plata, Parana, Uruguay, Rio Negro and Paraguay.

Aerolíneas Argentinas is the country's main airline, providing both domestic and international flights. Austral Lineas Aereas is a subsidiary of Aerolíneas Argentinas with a route network covering almost the entire territory of the country. LADE is an Air Force operated airline serving a wide network of domestic routes.

 

Sport

The most popular sport is football. Along with Brazil and France, the men's national team is the only one to have won the most important international trio: the World Cup, the Confederations Cup and the Olympic gold medal.

The first popular sports idol was Jorge Newbery (1875–1914), who distinguished himself as a fencer, boxer and aviator. The mass spread of sports occurred in the first three decades of the 20th century, based on the popular passion for three types of activities: football, boxing and motorsport.

The 1978 FIFA World Cup took place during the military dictatorship that had imposed a terrorist state two years earlier. The 1978 World Cup was entrusted to Argentina, which had been fighting for this right since 1930.

From October 6 to October 18, 2018, the III Summer Youth Olympic Games were held in Buenos Aires. About 4,000 athletes aged 15 to 18 from over 200 countries took part in the competition. They competed for 241 sets of awards in 36 sports programs.

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) was founded on February 21, 1893. It is the eighth oldest football federation in the world.

Argentine football stars: Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi.

Argentina hosted the FIBA ​​World Cup in 1950 and 1990.

 

Holidays

January 15 - Carnival in Argentina.
February 14 - Valentine's Day (Valentine's Day).
March 24 is the National Day of Remembrance for Truth and Law (Dia Nacional de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia). Day of sad memories of the last dictatorship in the country in 1976.
April 2 - Day of Veterans and the Fallen in the War with the British for the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. Since 2001, April 2 has been celebrated in Argentina as the Day of Veterans and the Fallen in the War.
end of March - April
Catholic Good Friday (Good Friday). The date of the holiday is unique for each year.
Catholic Easter. The date of the holiday is unique for each year.
May 1 - Labor Day (Labor Day).
The third Saturday in May is Father's Day. Congratulations to all men who have children. Lunch or dinner with family. Children give gifts.
May 25 - Anniversary of the first revolution (1810) and the election of the first independent Government of Argentina.
June 20 is Flag Day in Argentina. Flag Day (Dia de la Bandera) is celebrated in Argentina on the day of the death of the flag designer - Manuel Belgrano (06/3/1770 - 06/20/1820) and is an official holiday.
July 9 - Independence Day of Argentina. On July 9, 1816, the Declaration of Independence of the United Provinces of the Silver River (Argentina) was adopted. This date is considered the date of birth of the Republic of Argentina, and the country celebrates an official holiday - Independence Day.
August 17 - Memorial Day of General San Martin in Argentina. On August 17, Argentina celebrates a national holiday - the anniversary of the memory of the hero of the struggle for the independence of Argentina from the Spanish colonialists (1810-1826), General José de San Martin.
September 11 is Teacher's Day in Argentina. It is a very important event for the entire nation. In fact, the whole country celebrates Teacher's Day as a national holiday.
The second Monday in October is Race Day in Argentina (Día de la Raza), a holiday in honor of the indigenous peoples who inhabited Argentina.
The third Sunday in October is Mother's Day. Celebrated in the family circle. They congratulate all women who have children (mothers, aunts, grandmothers, great-grandmothers ... etc.), give gifts, a mandatory dinner with the family.
December 8 - Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the great feasts of the Mother of God celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church.
December 24/25 - Christmas (Gregorian calendar). There is no big difference between Christmas and New Year in Argentina: these two holidays are celebrated in almost the same way. As a rule, Christmas in Argentina is a family holiday, with obligatory gifts.
December 31 / January 1 - New Year. In Argentina, it is not a big holiday, it is celebrated at home, in the circle of relatives and friends. This is a very domestic holiday, as, indeed, many other holidays.

 

Education

The literacy rate in Argentina is 97%. Three out of every eight adults over the age of 20 have a high school education or higher.

School attendance is compulsory for all children from 5 to 17 years of age. The school system in Argentina consists of primary education of 6 or 7 years and secondary education of 5 to 6 years.

Education in Argentina is free at all levels, with the exception of the main part of post-graduate education. Although the literacy rate had been close to absolute since 1947, in the first half of the 20th century, most Argentine youth did not have access to an education higher than the compulsory seven years of primary schooling. With the introduction of free education at the secondary and university levels (in the 1970s), the demand for it often began to exceed budgetary capacity. Accordingly, public educational institutions often lack funds and reduce the quality of education. This has had a beneficial effect on the rise of private education, although it has resulted in disparities between those who can afford it and the rest of society, as private schools often do not have scholarship programs. Approximately one in four schoolchildren and one in six students attend private educational institutions.

About 11.4 million people were involved in formal education in 2006, including 1.5 million students from 85 universities in the country, 38 universities are public. The most significant universities are: University of Buenos Aires, National University of Cordoba, National University of La Plata, National University of Rosario, National Technological University. Public universities faced significant funding cuts in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in a decline in the quality of education.

 

Healthcare

Health care is provided through a combination of employer and union funded plans (Obras Sociales), public insurance, public hospitals and clinics, and voluntary health insurance.

The first government action to improve public health can be considered the introduction by the Spanish Viceroy Juan José de Vertis of the Medical Tribunal to supervise medical practitioners in 1780. After independence, medical schools were founded at the University of Buenos Aires (1822) and the National University of Córdoba (1877). The training of doctors and nurses in these and other schools made possible the rapid development of medical cooperatives, which, during the presidency of Juan Perón, grew into the state-subsidized organizations Obras Sociales. Today their number exceeds 300 (of which 200 belong to trade unions), they provide medical care for more than half of the country's population. The government's INSSJP (or PAMI) covers almost all 5 million retirees.

Health care costs reach almost 10% of the country's GDP and grow in line with the growing proportion of Argentines over 65 (7% in 1970). Public and private spending has historically been roughly evenly distributed: public funds are mostly distributed through Obras Sociales and cover hospitalizations in private and public clinics; private funds are equally divided between the cost of voluntary health insurance and overhead costs.

The country has over 150,000 hospital beds, 121,000 doctors and 37,000 dentists (per capita rates comparable to developed countries). Relatively free access to medical care is historically expressed in the structure and trends of mortality rates comparable with developed countries: from 1953 to 2005, the proportion of deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases increased from 20% to 23%, tumors - from 14% to 20%, diseases of the respiratory system - from 7% to 14%, diseases of the digestive system (non-infectious) - from 7% to 11%, strokes - remained at the level of 7%, injuries - 6%, infectious diseases - 4%. The rest is mostly due to dementia. The proportion of infant deaths fell from 19% in 1953 to 3% in 2005.

Infant mortality has fallen from 70 per 1,000 newborns in 1948 to 12.5 in 2008. Life expectancy at birth has risen from 60 to 76 years. Although these indicators look favorably against the background of the world averages, they are still somewhat below the level of developed countries. In 2006, Argentina ranked 4th in Latin America for this indicator.

 

Science and technology

Argentina has given the world many renowned doctors, scientists and inventors, including three Nobel Prize winners. Argentines are responsible for some breakthroughs in medicine. Their research has led to significant advances in the treatment of injuries, heart disease, and some forms of cancer. Domingo Liotta successfully implanted the world's first artificial heart in a human in 1969. René Favaloro developed the technique and performed the world's first coronary bypass. Francisco de Pedro invented a more reliable artificial heart pacemaker.

Bernardo Usay, the first Latin American Nobel Prize winner in science, explored the role of the pituitary gland in regulating glucose levels in animals. Cesar Milstein did extensive research on antibodies. Louis Leloir discovered the body's process of storing energy by converting glucose into glycogen, as well as compounds that are fundamental in the metabolism of carbohydrates. Dr. Luis Agote developed the first safe method of blood transfusion. Enrique Finochetto invented a number of surgical instruments, such as the surgical scissors that bear his name ("Finochetto's scissors") and the surgical rib splitter.

Argentina is developing its own nuclear program, trying to avoid complete dependence on foreign technology. In 1957, a research reactor was built, and in 1974, the first commercial reactor in Latin America. Nuclear facilities using Argentine technologies (INVAP) were built in Peru, Algeria, Australia, and Egypt. In 1983, the country was recognized as having the capability to produce weapons-grade uranium, a critical step in the production of nuclear weapons. However, from that moment on, Argentina pledged to use nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes. As a member of the IAEA Board of Governors, Argentina supports the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and supports global nuclear security.

Croatian immigrant Juan Vucetich is considered the founder of modern fingerprinting. Inventor Raul Pateras Pescara, who specialized in the engine, auto and aircraft industries, in particular in the creation of new models of helicopters. Laszlo Biro, an Argentinean of Hungarian origin, was the first to mass-produce the modern ballpoint pen. Eduardo Taurozzi invented the pendulum internal combustion engine. Juan Maldacena is one of the leaders in the development of string theory. The Argentines launched a number of artificial Earth satellites into orbit, including LUSAT-1 (1990), Víctor-1 (1996), PEHUENSAT-1 (2007), as well as satellites of the SAC series of the Argentine space agency CONAE. The Pierre Auger Observatory near the city of Malargue in the province of Mendoza is the most advanced cosmic ray observatory. Argentina became the first country in Latin America to fly a jet aircraft (FMA I.Ae. 27 Pulqui). The asteroid (469) Argentina, discovered in 1901, is named after Argentina.

 

Mass media

Printed publications
The print media industry is highly developed and independent of the state. More than 200 newspapers are published. The main national newspapers are published in Buenos Aires. The centrist Clarín is the most popular publication in Latin America and the second largest in the Spanish-speaking world. Other national newspapers: La Nación (center-right, published since 1870), Página/12 (leftist), Ámbito Financiero (business conservative), Olé (sports), Crónica (populist).

Two newspapers in foreign languages ​​are published with relatively large circulation: Argentinisches Tageblatt in German and Buenos Aires Herald in English (published since 1876). The main regional publications include: La Voz del Interior (Cordoba), Rio Negro (General Roca), Los Andes (Mendoza), La Capital (Rosario), El Tribuno (Salta), La Gaceta (Tucuman). Among the magazines, Noticias is published with the largest circulation. Argentinean publishers, including Atlántida, Eudeba, Emecé and many others, are considered, along with Spanish and Mexican publishers, in the Spanish-speaking world. El Ateneo is the largest chain of bookstores in Latin America.

Radio and television
Argentina is a pioneer in radio broadcasting. At 21:00 on August 27, 1920, Sociedad Radio Argentina announced: "We are now transmitting to your homes a live broadcast of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal from the Coliseo Theater in Buenos Aires." Only about 20 houses in the city had receivers for listening. The world's first radio station remained the only one in the country until 1922, when Radio Cultura began broadcasting. By 1925, there were already 12 radio stations in Buenos Aires and 10 in other cities. The 1930s saw the golden age of radio in Argentina, with broadcasts of variety shows, news, soap operas, and sporting events.

There are currently 260 AM radio stations and 1150 FM radio stations in Argentina. Music and youth programs dominate the FM format. News, debates and sports programs form the backbone of AM broadcasting. Amateur radio communication is widespread in the country.

The television industry in Argentina is vast and diverse. The channels are widely broadcast in Latin America and received worldwide. Many local programs are broadcast by television in other countries. Foreign producers also buy the rights to adapt programs to their markets. There are five nationwide television channels in Argentina. All provincial capitals and major cities have at least one local station. The availability of cable and satellite TV channels in Argentina is similar to North America. Many cable networks serve the entire Spanish-speaking world from Argentina: Utilísima Satelital, TyC Sports, Fox Sports en Español (shared with the US and Mexico), MTV Argentina, Cosmopolitan TV, and the news network Todo Noticias.

Since October 2014, the Russian TV channel RT has been broadcasting in Spanish in the country.