Argentina

ar'jen-ti'na, or Argentine Republic, a country of South America. The name is Spanish from the Latin argentum, meaning silver.

HISTORY. The history of the country is in many respects that of our original thirteen states. At first a Spanish settlement on the west bank of the La Plata, it had its full share of trouble with Indians. Settlements were wiped out by midnight attacks, and tribes were exterminated. In common with other South American states, Argentina extended and prospered as a colony of Spain. The settlers engaged largely in the raising of cattle. With growing strength, Argentina incited its neighbors to join in a revolutionary war that lasted for seven years. July 9, 1816, a declaration of independence was issued, and Argentina ceased to be a province of Spain. In 1853 a constitution modeled on that of the United States was adopted. The president and vice-president hold office for six years and senators are chosen for a term of nine years. The republic consists of fourteen states and ten territories. Buenos Ayres is the capital. Spanish is the official language. Catholicism is the national religion.

EXTENT OF TERRITORY. Argentina claims the credit of helping its neighbors to throw off the yoke of Spain, and protecting Uruguay and Paraguay from the encroachments of Brazil, having engaged at one time in a costly war to maintain the independence of these states. At the same time the original boundaries of the republic have been extended northward and southward, until Argentina now includes that part of South America, lying east of the Andes as far as the La Plata, from Bolivia to Darwin Sound. Patagonia no longer appears on a map as a no man's land, having been divided--rocks, ice, penguins, Patagonians, and all--between Argentina and Chile. The extreme width of the republic is 1,000 miles. From the southern boundary to the northern is a distance of 2,000 miles. The total area is 1,135,840 square miles, far exceeding that of our Atlantic States.

CLIMATE. The range of climate and variety of productions are even greater than is the case on our Atlantic coast. The northeast portion of Argentina lies low, and is no farther from the equator than is Florida. Cotton, olives, figs, lemons, oranges, grapes, tobacco, sugar-cane, and orchard fruits are produced in abundance. Ships rounding the southern extremity of Patagonia pass within ten degrees of the Antarctic Circle.

MINERALS. The eastern slope of the Andes, from the Strait of Magellan northward to Bolivia, contains mineral wealth,--gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, bismuth, borate of lime, salt, coal, and petroleum, mercury, marble, and asphalt.

AGRICULTURE. In disposing of public lands, Argentina has been more liberal even than the United States. In addition to free homestead grants, the government has loaned the settler $1,000 for the purchase of a team, implements, stock, and seed, to be repaid in five years. Vast districts are devoted to grazing. Butter, beef, tallow, hides, and leather are produced in enormous quantities and are sold largely to England. Seventy-seven million sheep, 28,000,000 cattle, and 5,000,000 horses and mules feed on the grassy pampas of Argentina. Four hundred and eighty million pounds of wool are produced annually. Frozen meats are sent to England by the ship load. In grain producing too, high rank is taken. In addition to flax and lucern, $20,000,000 worth of Indian corn and $95,000,000 worth of wheat are produced each year.

COMMERCE. Being in the southern hemisphere, the spring season comes at the time of our autumn, summer at the time of our winter. The wheat harvest falls in January, and the new wheat is thrown on the market at a time when northern fields are covered with snow. Argentina has so much produce to sell, timber, minerals, products of the stock ranges, fruits, and grains, that, although the merchants of that country buy over $250,000,000 worth of cloth, paper, beverages, chemicals, and pottery abroad, there is still at the end of the year $75,000,000 coming to them from foreign countries. About one-tenth of this business is done with the United States. They buy petroleum oil and agricultural implements and many other articles of us, and sell us a good share of the hides and leather that go into the shoe factories of Lynn and other New England towns.

The population of Argentina was estimated in 1907 to be 6,210,428. Argentina has twenty lines of railway with 15,000 miles of track, and corresponding extensions of telegraph and telephone lines. A system of free public schools and normal schools has been established with care, the latter partly under the direction of instructors obtained from the United States. Manufactures are getting under way. The republic has the resources, the thrift, and the intelligent public spirit that insures national greatness. It is destined to be the second country of the New World.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Buenos Ayres; Cold Storage