UK Tel: 01209 211 800
Intl Tel: +44 1209 211 800
CESA House
Pennance Road
Lanner
Cornwall
TR16 5TQ
Great Britain
t: 01209 211 800
Intl t: +44 1209 211 800
f: 01209 211 830
Founder member of the Year Out Group and the International Association of Language Travel Agents.
About Argentina
Argentina is Latin America’s second largest country, after Brazil.
It is a country of contrasting landscapes.
With a long border with Chile running through the Andes mountain range, which is home to the tallest mountain on the continent, the Cerro Aconcagua.
The north of the country, bordering Bolivia and Paraguay, has a sub tropical climate. Over 50% of the land is made up of the plains of the Pampas region, a rich agricultural and livestock area with a mild and humid climate. This region includes the province of Buenos Aires, home to around half of the Argentinean population. The south of the country is made up of the stony plateaus of Patagonia, wind swept and fairly inhospitable most of the year, leading to the southern eastern cliffs along the Atlantic coast, with its spectacular and remote sea animal colonies and a sub-Antarctic climate.
Historically linked to Spain from the 1500’s, Argentina became an independent state in the 1820’s. The economic prosperity of the early 1900’s ended with the Wall Street crash of 1929.
The 1940’s saw the rise of Peron, and the iconic figure of his wife Eva, known as Evita. The 1950’s to 1970’s saw a struggle between the Peronist and anti-Peronits factions until the military coup of 1976, after which a military Junta ruled the country. The country faced serious economic problems, charges of corruption, human rights abuses and had to come to terms with the 1982 defeat by the UK in the Falklands War.
The 1980’s and 90’s saw a move back to democratic government, away from military control. 2001 and 2002 saw Argentina face a serious economic crisis; the peso seriously undermined and terrible unemployment that the government had to tackle and the country is now seeing signs of recovery.
Return to: Learn Spanish in Argentina