Argentina is the second largest country of the South American continent with a very diverse geography and a large bio-diversity.
Jaguars roam in the tropical north, condors soar over the pampas and penguins populate the frigid south.
Early humans left
their colored signs in the Cueva de las Manos in
Patagonia 13.000 years ago.
When the Spanish colonizers arrived
in the 1500's, they found the land populated with Mapuches in the south and Incas in the northwest.
For the next 3 centuries
Argentina's territory was part of the Spanish Empire until independence was won in 1818. But soon after, a vicious civil war
broke out that would last for half a century..
Starting in 1880 waves of European immigrants, mainly from Spain and Italy, changed
the demographics such that today Argentina has a distinct European touch, certainly in the large cities.
In the
20th century the country saw several military coups and a dirty war that only ended in 1982 after a humiliating defeat by the British
in the Falkland War.
Since 1983 Argentina is a democratic federal republic with an seesaw economy based on agriculture and
industry. The country suffers from high inflation rates.
