Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the far south of South America. It covers an area of 2,780,085 km2 (1,073,397 mi2), making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourth-largest country in the Americas, and the eighth-largest country in the world. Argentina shares the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, and is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. Argentina is a federal state divided into twenty-three provinces, and one autonomous city, which is the federal capital and largest city of the nation, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system. Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, and a part of Antarctica.
The earliest recorded human presence in modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The Inca Empire expanded to the northwest of the country in pre-Columbian times. The modern country has its roots in Spanish colonisation of the region during the 16th century. Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The Argentine Declaration of Independence on July 9 of 1816 and the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1825) were followed by an extended civil war that lasted until 1880, culminating in the country's reorganisation as a federation. The then sparsely populated country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with several subsequent mass waves of millions of European immigrants (mainly Italians and Spaniards) significantly influencing its culture and demography.
The National Autonomist Party dominated national politics in the period called the Conservative Republic, from 1880 until the 1916 elections. The Great Depression led to the first coup d'état in 1930 led by José Félix Uriburu, beginning the so-called "Infamous Decade" (1930–1943). After that coup, four more followed in 1943, 1955, 1962, and 1966. Following the death of President Juan Perón in 1974, his widow and vice president, Isabel Perón, ascended to the presidency, before being overthrown in the final coup in 1976. The following military junta persecuted and murdered thousands of political critics, activists, and leftists in the Dirty War, a period of state terrorism and civil unrest that lasted until the election of Raúl Alfonsín as president in 1983.
Argentina is a regional power, and retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs. A major non-NATO ally of the United States, Argentina is a developing country with the second-highest HDI (human development index) in Latin America after Chile. Its economy is the second-largest in South America, and it is a member of G-15 and G20. Argentina is also a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization, Mercosur, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Organization of Ibero-American States.
The description of the region by the word Argentina has been found on a Venetian map in 1536. The name Argentina derives from the Latin word argentum, meaning "silver". Early 16th century explorers around the Río de la Plata became aware of the abundance of silver in the region.
The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venetian and Genoese navigators, such as Giovanni Caboto. In Spanish and Portuguese, the words for 'silver' are respectively plata and prata and '(made) of silver' is plateado and prateado, although argento for 'silver' and argentado for 'covered in silver' exist in Spanish. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin.
The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region. Although "Argentina" was already in common usage by the 18th century, the country was formally named "Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata" by the Spanish Empire, and "United Provinces of the Río de la Plata" after independence.
The 1826 constitution included the first use of the name "Argentine Republic" in legal documents. The name "Argentine Confederation" was also commonly used and was formalised in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the country's name as "Argentine Republic", and that year's constitutional amendment ruled all the names since 1810 as legally valid.
In English, the country was traditionally called "the Argentine".
Evidence suggests that humans inhabited parts of what is now Argentina as early as 21,000 years ago. In 2015, fossilised bones of a large, extinct armoured mammal called Neosclerocalyptus were unearthed near Buenos Aires. These bones bore cut marks indicative of butchering with stone tools, implying human activity during the Last Glacial Maximum. Further south, the Piedra Museo site in Santa Cruz Province has yielded human remains and artifacts dating back approximately 11,000 years. Discoveries at this site include spearheads associated with extinct megafauna such as Mylodon and Hippidion, highlighting the advanced hunting practices of early inhabitants. Another significant site is the Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands), also located in Santa Cruz. This cave features stencilled handprints and hunting scenes created between 7,300 BC and 700 AD, offering insights into the lives of early hunter-gatherer communities.
Until the period of European colonisation, Argentina was relatively sparsely populated by a wide number of diverse cultures with different social organisations, which can be divided into three main groups. The first group were basic hunters and food gatherers without the development of pottery, such as the Selkʼnam and Yaghan in the extreme south. The second group were advanced hunters and food gatherers, who included the Puelche, Querandí and Serranos in the centre-east; and the Tehuelche in the south, all of them conquered by the Mapuche spreading from Chile, and the Qom and Wichi in the north. The last group were farmers with pottery, such as the Charrúa, Minuane and Guaraní in the northeast, with slash and burn semisedentary existence; the advanced Diaguita sedentary trading culture in the northwest, which was conquered by the Inca Empire around 1480; the Tonocoté and Hênîa and Kâmîare in the country's centre, and the Huarpe in the centre-west, a culture that raised llama cattle and was strongly influenced by the Incas.
Europeans first arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. The Spanish navigators Juan Díaz de Solís and Sebastian Cabot visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively. In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza founded the small settlement of Buenos Aires, which was abandoned in 1541.
Further colonisation efforts came from Paraguay—establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata—Peru and Chile. Francisco de Aguirre founded Santiago del Estero in 1553. Londres was founded in 1558; Mendoza, in 1561; San Juan, in 1562; San Miguel de Tucumán, in 1565. Juan de Garay founded Santa Fe in 1573 and the same year Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera set up Córdoba. Garay went further south to re-found Buenos Aires in 1580. San Luis was established in 1596.
The Spanish Empire subordinated the economic potential of the Argentine territory to the immediate wealth of the silver and gold mines in Bolivia and Peru, and as such it became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776 with Buenos Aires as its capital.
Buenos Aires repelled two unsuccessful British invasions in 1806 and 1807. The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and the example of the first Atlantic Revolutions generated criticism of the absolutist monarchy that ruled the country. As in the rest of Spanish America, the overthrow of Ferdinand VII during the Peninsular War created great concern.