Sinise's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (August 17, 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.[25] In June 2008, Sinise donated $2,300 to the Republican presidential primary campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain.[26]
Nicolle Wallace, a former adviser to George W. Bush and the
presidential campaign of John McCain, stated in May 2009 that she
believed Sinise could help bring about a resurgence of the Republican
Party. Wallace stated, "The natural strengths that an actor brings to
politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012.
We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with
Obama’s eloquence." Other names mentioned were those of Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno.[27] Sinise narrates the online virtual tour for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and spoke at the centennial celebration of Reagan's birth at the library in February 2011. In September 2012, Sinise donated to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.[28] Sinise's Republican leaning has been written into his character of Mac Taylor who has a picture of Ronald Reagan
displayed in his office, and is once the subject of a joke by one of
his colleagues about an eight-hour documentary about Reagan he keeps
watching over and over. Sinise hosted a 10-minute online video tour of
the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on its website, indicating his
reverence for the 40th U.S. President.
The name "Argentina" is derived from Latinargentum ("silver", plata in Spanish), a noun associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin.[21]
The first written use of the name can be traced to La Argentina,[D] a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region and the foundation of Buenos Aires.[22]
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.[23] The name "Argentine Confederation" was also commonly used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853.[24] In 1860 a presidential decree settled the country's name as "Argentine Republic",[25] and that year's constitutional amendment ruled all the names since 1810 as legally valid.[26][E]
In the English language, the country was traditionally called "the Argentine", mimicking the typical Spanish usage la Argentina.[27] This fell out of fashion during the mid to late 20th century, and now the country is simply referred to as "Argentina".
The earliest traces of human life in the area now known as Argentina are dated from the Paleolithic period, with further traces in the Mesolithic and Neolithic.[15]
Until the period of European colonization Argentina was relatively
sparsely populated by a wide number of diverse cultures with different
social organizations,[28] which can be divided into three main groups:[29]
Basic hunters and food gatherers without development of pottery, like the Selknam and Yaghan in the extreme south.
Advanced hunters and food gatherers like the Puelche, Querandí and Serranos in the center-east; and the Tehuelche in the south—all of them conquered by the Mapuche spreading from Chile[30]—and the Kom and Wichi in the north.
President Julio Argentino Roca giving his constitutionally-mandated annual report to Congress, 1886
Overpowering Urquiza in the 1861 Battle of Pavón, Bartolomé Mitre secured Buenos Aires predominance and was elected as the first president of the reunified country. He was followed by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Nicolás Avellaneda; these three presidencies set up the bases of the modern Argentine State.[50]
Starting with Julio Argentino Roca in 1880, ten consecutive federal governments emphasized liberal economic policies. The massive wave of European immigration
they promoted—second only to the United States'—led to a
near-reinvention of Argentine society and economy that by 1908 had
placed the country as the seventh wealthiest[18] developed nation[19]
in the world. Driven by this immigration wave and decreasing mortality,
the Argentine population grew fivefold and the economy 15-fold:[51] from 1870 to 1910 Argentina's wheat
exports went from 100,000 to 2,500,000 t (110,000 to 2,760,000 short
tons) per year, while frozen beef exports increased from 25,000 to
365,000 t (28,000 to 402,000 short tons) per year,[52] placing Argentina as one of the world's top five exporters.[53] Its railway mileage rose from 503 to 31,104 km (313 to 19,327 mi).[54] Fostered by a new public, compulsory, free and secular education system, literacy skyrocketed from 22% to 65%, a level higher than most Latin American nations would reach even fifty years later.[53] Furthermore, real GDP grew so fast that despite the huge immigration flux, per capita income between 1862 to 1920 went from 67% of developed country levels to 100%:[54]
By 1865 Argentina was already one of the top 25 nations by per capita income.
By 1901 it had raised to the 10th place ahead of Germany, Austria and France.
By 1908 it had surpassed Denmark, Canada and The Netherlands to
reach the 7th place behind Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, United
States, Great Britain and Belgium. Argentina's per capita income was 70%
higher than Italy's, 90% higher than Spain's, 180% higher than Japan's
and 400% higher than Brazil's.[18]
Despite these unique achievements, the country was slow to meet its original goals of industrialization:[55]
after steep development of capital-intensive local industries in the
1920s, a significant part of the manufacture sector remained
labor-intensive in the 1930s.[56]
In 1912, president Roque Sáenz Peña enacted universal and secret male suffrage, which allowed Hipólito Yrigoyen, leader of the Radical Civic Union (or UCR), to win the 1916 election.
He enacted social and economic reforms and extended assistance to
family farmers and small businesses. Argentina stayed neutral during World War I. The second administration of Yrigoyen faced an economic crisis, influenced by the Great Depression.[57]
Perón created a political movement known as Peronism. He nationalized strategic industries and services, improved wages and working conditions, paid the full external debt and achieved nearly full employment. The economy, however, began to decline in 1950 because of over-expenditure. His highly popular wife, Eva Perón, played a central political role. She pushed Congress to enact women suffrage in 1947,[59] and developed an unprecedented social assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society.[60]
However, her declining health did not allow her to run for the
vice-presidency in 1951, and she died of cancer the following year.
Perón was reelected in 1951, even surpassing his 1946 performance. In 1955 the Navy bombed the Plaza de Mayo in an ill-fated attempt to kill the president. A few months later, during the self-called Liberating Revolution coup, he resigned and went into exile in Spain.[61]
The new head of State, Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, proscribed Peronism and banned all of its manifestations; nevertheless, Peronists kept organized underground. Arturo Frondizi from the UCR won the following elections.[62] He encouraged investment to achieve energetic and industrial self-sufficiency, reversed a chronic trade deficit
and lifted Peronism proscription; yet his efforts to stay in good terms
with Peronists and the military earned him the rejection of both and a
new coup forced him out.[63] But Senate president José María Guido reacted swiftly and applied the anti-power vacuum legislation, becoming president instead; elections were repealed and Peronism proscribed again. Arturo Illia was elected in 1963
and led to an overall increase in prosperity; however his attempts to
legalize Peronism resulted in his overthrow in 1966 by the Juan Carlos Onganía-led Argentine Revolution, a new military government that sought to rule indefinitely.[64]
Onganía shut down Congress, banned all political parties and
dismantled student and worker unions. In 1969, popular discontent led to
two massive protests: the Cordobazo and the Rosariazo. The terrorist guerrilla organization Montoneros kidnapped and executed Aramburu.[65] The newly chosen head of government, Alejandro Agustín Lanusse, seeking to ease the growing political pressure, let Héctor José Cámpora be the Peronist candidate instead of Perón. Cámpora won the March 1973 election, issued a pardon for condemned guerrilla members and then secured Perón's return from his exile in Spain.[66]
On the day Perón returned to Argentina, the clash between Peronist internal factions—right-wing union leaders and left-wing youth from Montoneros—resulted in the Ezeiza Massacre. Cámpora resigned, overwhelmed by political violence, and Perón won the September 1973 election with his third wife Isabel as vice-president. He expelled Montoneros from the party[67] and they became once again a clandestine organization. José López Rega organized the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA) to fight against them and the People's Revolutionary Army
(ERP). Perón died in July 1974 and was succeeded by his wife, who
signed a secret decree empowering the military and the police to
"annihilate" the left-wing subversion,[68]stopping ERP's attempt to start a rural insurgence in Tucumán province.[69]Isabel Perón was ousted one year later by Jorge Rafael Videla, initiating the National Reorganization Process, often shortened as Proceso.[70]
The Proceso shut down Congress, removed the judges of the Supreme Court, banned political parties and unions, and resorted to the forced disappearance
of suspected guerrilla members and of anyone believed to be associated
with the left-wing. By the end of 1976 Montoneros had lost near 2,000
members; by 1977, the ERP was completely defeated. A severely weakened
Montoneros launched a counterattack in 1979, which was quickly
annihilated, ending the guerrilla threat; nevertheless the Junta stayed
in government. Then head of State Leopoldo Galtieri launched Operation Rosario, which escalated into the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de Malvinas); within two months Argentina was defeated by the United Kingdom. Reynaldo Bignone replaced Galtieri and began to organize the transition to democratic rule.[71]
Northwest, a continuation of the high Puna with even higher, more rugged topography to the far-west;[97] the arid precordillera, filled with narrow valleys or quebradas to the mid-west;[98] and an extension of the mountainous Yungas jungles to the east.[98]
Patagonia, a large southern plateau consisting mostly of arid, rocky steppes[92] to the east, moister cold grasslands to the south and dense subantarctic forests to the west.[102]
Although the most populated areas are generally temperate, Argentina has an exceptional climate diversity, ranging from tropical in the north[103] to subpolar in the far continental south.[104] Climate patterns roughly follow the geographic regional division:[H]
The Northwest climate is varied, with rainfall diminishing north to south and east to west:[95]
Puna, to the high Andean west, is dry and with great temperature
fluctuation but cold overall, frequently falling below freezing point at
night;[95] Yungas, to the east, are tropical, very hot and moist.[105]
Mesopotamia is subtropical overall, with hot and very humid tropical climate in the north,[106] and gradually becoming temperate and semi-humid to the south.[107]
Gran Chaco has very hot subtropical to tropical climate,[103] and humid summers with mild drier winters. With heavy seasonal rainfalls,[107] it is subject to periodic droughts.[108]
Cuyo is generally mild, although mountainous areas have alpine climate with temperatures below freezing much of the year.[109]
Pampas and Sierras Pampeanas are temperate, with hot, stormy summers and cool winters; moisture is higher in the east.[110]
Patagonia is very windy, with mild summers and cold[95] to very cold winters[111] with heavy snowfall and frost,[95] especially in mountainous zones.[112] Precipitation steeply diminishes from west to east.[113]
Major wind currents include the cool Pampero Winds
blowing on the flat plains of Patagonia and the Pampas; following the
cold front, warm currents blow from the north in middle and late winter,
creating mild conditions.[110] The Sudestada
usually moderates cold temperatures but brings very heavy rains, rough
seas and coastal flooding. It is most common in late autumn and winter
along the central coast and in the Río de la Plata estuary.[110] The Zonda, a hot dry wind,
affects Cuyo and the central Pampas. Squeezed of all moisture during
the 6,000 m (19,685 ft) descent from the Andes, Zonda winds can blow for
hours with gusts up to 120 km/h (75 mph), fueling wildfires and causing
damage; between June and November, when the Zonda blows, snowstorms and
blizzard (viento blanco) conditions usually affect higher elevations.[114]
Argentina is a megadiverse country[115] hosting one of the greatest ecosystem varieties in the world: 15 continental zones, 3 oceanic zones, and the Antarctic region are all represented in its territory.[115] This huge ecosystem variety has led to a biological diversity that is among the world's largest:[115][116]
From this total, 529 species of vertebrates and at least 240 plants are threatened, mostly by conversion of natural land for agriculture and deforestation, but also by industrialization, urbanization and a growing number of alien invasive species.[115]
Argentina is also the 9th most biocapable country in the world.[117] In 2013 it had a protected area network consisting of 299 continental zones, covering 6.3% of total mainland area;[115] 21 Ramsar sites;[118] and 11 biosphere reserves,[116] partially sampling most of its 24 terrestrial ecoregions.[119]
The Chamber of Deputies represents the people and has 257 voting
members elected to a four-year term. Seats are apportioned among the
provinces by population every tenth year.[125] As of 2013 ten provinces have just five deputies while the Buenos Aires Province, being the most populous one, has 70.
The Chamber of Senators represents the provinces, has 72 members elected at-large to six-year terms, with each province having three seats; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year.[126] At least one-third of the candidates presented by the parties must be women.
Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can vetolegislative bills before they become law—subject to Congressional override—and appoints the members of the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.[127] The president is elected directly by the vote of the people, serves a four-year term and may be elected to office no more than twice in a row.[128]
Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.[129]
The Judicial is independent of the Executive and the Legislative. The
Supreme Court has seven members appointed by the President—subject to
Senate approval—who serve for life. The lower courts' judges are
proposed by the Council of Magistrates
(a secretariat composed of representatives of judges, lawyers,
researchers, the Executive and the Legislative), and appointed by the
President on Senate approval.[130]
Argentina is a federation of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Provinces are divided for administration purposes into departments and municipalities, except for Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos. The City of Buenos Aires is divided into communes.
Provinces hold all the power that they chose not to delegate to the federal government;[131] they must be representative republics and must not contradict the Constitution.[132] Beyond this they are fully autonomous: they enact their own constitutions,[133] freely organize their local governments,[134] and own and manage their natural and financial resources.[135] Some provinces have bicameral legislatures, while others have unicameral ones.[M]
During the War of Independence the main cities and their surrounding
countrysides became provinces though the intervention of their cabildos. The Anarchy of the Year XX completed this process, shaping the original thirteen provinces. Jujuy seceded from Salta
in 1834, and the thirteen provinces became fourteen. After seceding for
a decade, Buenos Aires accepted the 1853 Constitution of Argentina in
1861, and was made a federal territory in 1880.[137]
A 1862 law designated as national territories
those under federal control but outside the frontiers of the provinces.
In 1884 they served as bases for the establishment of the governorates of Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.[138] The agreement about a frontier dispute with Chile in 1900 created the National Territory of Los Andes; its lands were incorporated into Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca in 1943.[137]La Pampa and Chaco became provinces in 1951. Misiones did so in 1953, and Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut
and Santa Cruz, in 1955. The last national territory, Tierra del Fuego,
became the Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur
Province in 1990.[137]
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the Argentine
Armed Forces, as part of a legal framework that imposes a strict
separation between national defense and internal security systems:[146][147]
The National Defense System, an exclusive responsibility of the federal government,[148] coordinated by the Ministry of Defense, and comprising the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.[149] Ruled and monitored by Congress[150] through the Houses' Defense Committees,[151]
it is organized around the essential principle of legitimate
self-defense: the repelling of any external military aggression in order
to guarantee freedom of the people, national sovereignty, and
territorial integrity.[151]
Its secondary missions include committing to multinational operations
within the framework of the United Nations, participating in internal
support missions, assisting friendly countries, and establishing a
sub-regional defense system.[151]
Benefiting from rich natural resources,
a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector
and a diversified industrial base, the economy of Argentina is Latin
America's third-largest.[156] It has a "very high" rating on the Human Development Index[7] and a relatively high GDP per capita,[5] with a considerable internal market size and a growing share of the high-tech sector.[14]
A middle emerging economy and one of the world's top developing nations,[157][N] Argentina is a member of the G-20 major economies.
Historically, however, its economic performance has been very uneven,
with high economic growth alternating with severe recessions, income
maldistribution and—in the recent decades—increasing poverty. Early in
the 20th century Argentina achieved development,[19] and became the world's seventh richest country.[18] Although managing to keep a place among the top fifteen economies until mid-century,[18] it suffered a long and steady decline and now it's just an upper middle-income country.[158]
High inflation—a
weakness of the Argentine economy for decades—has become a trouble once
again, with rates in 2013 between the official 10.2% and the privately
estimated 25%, causing heated public debate over manipulated statistics.[159][160]Income distribution, having improved since 2002, is classified as "medium", still considerably unequal.[6]
Argentina ranks 102nd out of 178 countries in the Transparency International's 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.[161]
While the country has settled most of its debts, it faces a technical
debt crisis since 31 July 2014. A New York judge blocked Argentina's
payments to 93% of its bonds unless it pays to "Vulture funds" the full
value of the defaulted bonds they bought after its 2001 default.
Argentina vowed to capitulate to what its considered ransom tactics of
the funds[162]
In 2012 manufacturing was the largest single sector in the nation's economy, with 20.3% of GDP.[164] Well-integrated into Argentine agriculture, half of the industrial exports have rural origin.[164]
With a 6.5% production growth rate in 2011,[165] the diversified manufacturing sector[166] is organized around a steadily growing network of industrial parks (314 as of 2013)[167]
In 2012 the leading sectors by volume were: food processing, beverages and tobacco products; motor vehicles and auto parts; textiles and leather; refinery products and biodiesel;
chemicals and pharmaceuticals; steel, aluminum and iron; industrial and
farm machinery; home appliances and furniture; plastics and tires;
glass and cement; and recording and print media.[164] In addition, Argentina has since long been one of the top five wine-producing countries in the world.[164]
Córdoba is Argentina's major industrial center, hosting metalworking,
motor vehicle and auto parts manufactures. Next in importance are the Greater Buenos Aires
area (food processing, metallurgy, motor vehicles and auto parts,
chemicals and petrochemicals, consumer durables, textiles and printing);
Rosario (food processing, metallurgy, farm machinery, oil refining, chemicals, and tanning); San Miguel de Tucumán (sugar refining); San Lorenzo (chemicals and pharmaceuticals); San Nicolás de los Arroyos (steel milling and metallurgy); and Ushuaia and Bahía Blanca (oil refining).[168] Other manufacturing enterprises are located in the provinces of Santa Fe
(zinc and copper smelting, and flour milling); Mendoza and Neuquén
(wineries and fruit processing); Chaco (textiles and sawmills); and
Santa Cruz, Salta and Chubut (oil refining)[168]
The electric output of Argentina in 2009 totaled over 122 TWh (440 PJ), of which about 37% was consumed by industrial activities.[169]
Argentina has the largest railway system in Latin America, with 36,966 km (22,970 mi) of operating lines in 2008, out of a full network of almost 48,000 km (29,826 mi).[170] This system links all 23 provinces plus Buenos Aires City, and connects with all neighboring countries.[171] There are four incompatible gauges in use; this forces virtually all interregional freight traffic to pass through Buenos Aires.[171]
The system has been in decline since the 1940s: regularly running up
large budgetary deficits, by 1991 it was transporting 1,400 times less
goods than it did in 1973.[171]
By 2004 Buenos Aires, all provincial capitals except Ushuaia, and all
medium-sized towns were interconnected by 69,412 km (43,131 mi) of
paved roads, out of a total road network of 231,374 km (143,769 mi).[172] Most important cities are linked by a growing number of expressways, including Buenos Aires–La Plata, Rosario–Córdoba, Córdoba–Villa Carlos Paz, Villa Mercedes–Mendoza, National Route 14 General José Gervasio Artigas and Provincial Route 2 Juan Manuel Fangio,
among others. Nevertheless this road infrastructure is still inadequate
and cannot handle the sharply growing demand caused by deterioration of
the railway system.[171]
In 2012 there were about 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of waterways,[173] mostly comprising the La Plata, Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, with Buenos Aires, Zárate, Campana, Rosario, San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, Barranqueras and San Nicolas de los Arroyos as the main fluvial ports. Some of the largest sea ports are La Plata–Ensenada, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, Quequén–Necochea, Comodoro Rivadavia, Puerto Deseado, Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia and San Antonio Oeste.
Buenos Aires has historically been the most important port; however
since the 1990s the Up-River port region has become dominant: stretching
along 67 km (42 mi) of the Paraná river shore in Santa Fe province, it
includes 17 ports and in 2013 accounted for 50% of all exports.
In 2013 there were 161 airports with paved runways[174] out of more than a thousand.[171] The Ezeiza International Airport, about 35 km (22 mi) from downtown Buenos Aires,[175] is the largest in the country, followed by Cataratas del Iguazú in Misiones, and El Plumerillo in Mendoza.[171]Aeroparque, in the city of Buenos Aires, is the most important domestic airport.[176]
Print media industry is highly developed in Argentina, with more than
two hundred newspapers. The major national ones include the centrist Clarín, the best-seller in Latin America and the second most widely circulated in the Spanish-speaking world; La Nación (center-right, published since 1870), Página/12 (left-wing, founded in 1987), the Buenos Aires Herald (Latin America's most prestigious English language daily, dating back to 1876), La Voz del Interior (center, founded in 1904),[177] and the Argentinisches Tageblatt (German weekly, published since 1878).[178]
Argentina began the world's first regular radio broadcasting on 27 August 1920, when Richard Wagner's Parsifal was aired by a team of medical students led by Enrique Telémaco Susini in Buenos Aires' Teatro Coliseo.[179][180] By 2002 there were 260 AM and 1150 FM registered radio stations in the country.[181]
The Argentine television industry is large, diverse and popular across Latin America, with many productions and TV formats
having been exported abroad. Since 1999 Argentines enjoy the highest
availability of cable and satellite television in Latin America,[182] as of 2014 totaling 87.4% of the country's households, a rate similar to those in the United States, Canada and Europe.[183]
By 2011 Argentina also had the highest coverage of networked
telecommunications among Latin American powers: about 67% of its
population had internet access and 137.2%, mobile phone subscriptions.[184]
Argentines have three Nobel Prize laureates in the Sciences. Bernardo Houssay, the first Latin American among them, discovered the role of pituitary hormones in regulating glucose in animals. César Milstein did extensive research in antibodies. Luis Leloir discovered how organisms store energy converting glucose into glycogen and the compounds which are fundamental in metabolizingcarbohydrates. Argentine research has led to the treatment of heart diseases and several forms of cancer. Domingo Liotta designed and developed the first artificial heart successfully implanted in a human being in 1969. René Favaloro developed the techniques and performed the world's first ever coronary bypass surgery.
Argentina's nuclear programme has been highly successful. In 1957
Argentina was the first country in Latin America to design and build a research reactor with homegrown technology, the RA-1 Enrico Fermi.
This reliance in the development of own nuclear related technologies,
instead of simply buying them abroad, was a constant of Argentina's
nuclear programme conducted by the civilian National Atomic Energy Commission
(CNEA). Nuclear facilities with Argentine technology have been built in
Peru, Algeria, Australia and Egypt. In 1983, the country admitted
having the capability of producing weapon-grade uranium, a major step needed to assemble nuclear weapons; since then, however, Argentina has pledged to use nuclear power only for peaceful purposes.[185] As a member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Argentina has been a strong voice in support of nuclear non-proliferation efforts[186] and is highly committed to global nuclear security.[187] In 1974 it was the first country in Latin America to put in-line a commercial nuclear power plant, Atucha I.
Although the Argentine built parts for that station amounted to 10% of
the total, the nuclear fuel it uses are since entirely built in the
country. Later nuclear power stations employed a higher percentage of
Argentine built components; Embalse, finished in 1983, a 30% and the 2011 Atucha II reactor a 40%.[188]
Despite its modest budget and numerous setbacks, academics and the
sciences in Argentina have enjoyed an international respect since the
turn of the 1900s, when Dr. Luis Agote devised the first safe and effective means of blood transfusion as well as René Favaloro, who was a pioneer in the improvement of the coronary artery bypass surgery. Argentine scientists are still on the cutting edge in fields such as nanotechnology, physics, computer sciences, molecular biology, oncology, ecology, and cardiology. Juan Maldacena, an Argentine-American scientist, is a leading figure in string theory. Argentine built satellites include LUSAT-1 (1990), Víctor-1 (1996), PEHUENSAT-1 (2007),[189] and those developed by CONAE, the Argentine space agency, of the SAC series.[190] The Pierre Auger Observatory near Malargüe, Mendoza, is the world's foremost cosmic ray observatory.[191]
Space research has also become increasingly active in Argentina.
Argentina has its own satellite programme, nuclear power station designs
(4th generation) and public nuclear energy company INVAP, which provides several countries with nuclear reactors.[192] Established in 1991, the CONAE has since launched two satellites successfully and,[193] in June 2009, secured an agreement with the European Space Agency on for the installation of a 35-m diameter antenna and other mission support facilities at the Pierre Auger Observatory.
The facility will contribute to numerous ESA space probes, as well as
CONAE's own, domestic research projects. Chosen from 20 potential sites
and one of only three such ESA installations in the world, the new
antenna will create a triangulation which will allow the ESA to ensure
mission coverage around the clock.[194]
Tourism
in Argentina is characterized by its cultural offerings and its ample
and varied natural assets. The country had 5.28 million visitors in
2010, ranking in terms of the international tourist arrivals as the top
destination in South America, and second in Latin America after Mexico. Revenues from international tourists reached US$4.93 billion in 2010, up from US$3.96 billion in 2009.[195] The country's capital city, Buenos Aires, is the most visited city in South America.[196]
Tourist destinations:
Balvanera, filled with picturesque Dutch style tenements.
In the 2001 census [INDEC], Argentina had a population of 36,260,130, and preliminary results from the 2010 census were of 40,091,359 inhabitants.[197][198]
Argentina ranks third in South America in total population and 33rd
globally. Population density is of 15 persons per square kilometer of
land area, well below the world average of 50 persons. The population
growth rate in 2010 was an estimated 1.03% annually, with a birth rate
of 17.7 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 7.4
deaths per 1,000 inhabitants. The net migration rate has ranged from zero to four immigrants per 1,000 inhabitants.[2]
The proportion of people under 15 is 25.6%, a little below the world
average of 28%, and the proportion of people 65 and older is relatively
high at 10.8%. In Latin America this is second only to Uruguay and well above the world average, which is currently 7%. Argentina has one of Latin America's lowest population growth rates, recently about 1% a year, as well as a comparatively low infant mortality rate. Its birth rate of 2.3 children per woman is still nearly twice as high as that in Spain or Italy, compared here as they have similar religious practices and proportions.[199][200] The median age is approximately 30 years and life expectancy at birth is 77.14 years.[2]
Argentina became in 2010 the first country in Latin America and the
second in the Americas to allow same-sex marriage nationwide.[201] It was the tenth country to allow same-sex marriage.[202]
Norwegian-Argentine children, during the celebration of the National Day of Norway.
As with other areas of new settlement such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay, it is considered that Argentina is a country of immigrants.[203][204][205] Argentines usually refer to the country as a crisol de razas (crucible of races, or melting pot).
During the 18th and 19th centuries especially, Argentina was the
country with the second biggest immigration wave in the world, with 6.6
million, second only to the USA
in the numbers of immigrants received (27 millions) and ahead of such
other areas of new settlement like Canada, Brazil and Australia.[206][207]
Strikingly, at those times, the national population doubled every two decades. This belief is endured in the popular saying "los argentinos descienden de los barcos"
(Argentines descend from the ships). Therefore, most Argentines are
descended from the 19th- and 20th-century immigrants of the great immigration wave to Argentina (1850–1955),[208][209]
with a great majority of these immigrants coming from diverse European
countries. The majority of these European immigrants came from Italy and Spain.[210] The majority of Argentines descend from multiple European ethnic groups with an Italian majority (55% of Argentines have Italian origins), followed by Spanish plurality. An estimated 17% of the population also have French origins, and 8% descend from Germans.
Argentina is home to a significant population of Arab and partial Arab background, mostly of Syrian and Lebanese origin (in Argentina they are considered among the White people, just like in the USA Census). The Asian population in the country numbers at around 180,000 individuals, most of whom are of Chinese[211] and Korean descent, although an older Japanese community that traces back to the early 20th century also exists.
Family in northern Argentina
Although statistically not significant enough sample size to be a
reliable nationwide projection, a study conducted on 218 individuals in
2010 by the Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach,
has established that the genetic map of Argentina is composed by 79%
from different European, mainly Italian and Spanish ethnicity, 18% of
different ethnicities Native American, and 4.3% of African ethnic
groups, and 63.6% of the tested group had at least one ancestor who was
Indian. [212][213]
Recent Illegal immigration has mostly been coming from Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru, with smaller numbers from Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Romania.[214] The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program[215]
to encourage illegal immigrants to declare their status in return for
two-year residence visas —so far over 670,000 applications have been
processed under the program.[216]
The de facto[C] official language is Spanish, spoken by almost all Argentines.[217] The country is the largest Spanish-speaking society that universally employs voseo, the use of the pronounvos instead of tú
("you"), which imposes the use of alternate verb forms as well. Due to
the extensive Argentine geography, Spanish has a strong variation among
regions, although the prevalent dialect is Rioplatense, primarily spoken in the La Plata Basin and accented similarly to Neapolitan language.[218] Italian and other European immigrants influenced Lunfardo—the regional slang—permeating the vernacular vocabulary of other Latin American countries as well.
There are several second-languages in widespread use among the Argentine population:
English,[O] taught since elementary school. 42.3% of Argentines claim to speak it, with 15.4% of them claiming to have a high level of language comprehension.[citation needed]
Argentina is highly urbanized, with 92% of its population living in cities:[231]
the ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population.
About 3 million people live in the city of Buenos Aires, and including
the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area it totals around 13 million,
making it one of the largest urban areas in the world.[232]
The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each[232] and Mendoza, San Miguel de Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe[232] have at least half a million people each.
The population is unequally distributed: about 60% live in the Pampas
region (21% of the total area), including 15 million people in Buenos
Aires province. The provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe, and the city of
Buenos Aires have 3 million each. Seven other provinces have over one
million people each: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco,
Corrientes and Misiones. With 60 inhabitants per square kilometre
(160 /sq mi), Tucumán is the only Argentine province more densely
populated than the world average; by contrast, the southern province of
Santa Cruz has around 1 inhabitants per square kilometre (2.6 /sq mi)[citation needed]
The Argentine state guarantees universal, secular and free-of-charge public education for all levels.[T]
Responsibility for educational supervision is organized at the federal
and individual provincial states. In the last decades the role of the
private sector has grown across all educational stages.
The University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine, alma mater to many of the country's 3,000 medical graduates, annually.[238]
Health care is provided through a combination of employer and labor union-sponsored plans (Obras Sociales),
government insurance plans, public hospitals and clinics and through
private health insurance plans. Health care cooperatives number over 300
(of which 200 are related to labor unions)
and provide health care for half the population; the national INSSJP
(popularly known as PAMI) covers nearly all of the five million senior
citizens.[239]
There are more than 153,000 hospital beds, 121,000 physicians and 37,000 dentists (ratios comparable to developed nations).[240][241]
The relatively high access to medical care has historically resulted in
mortality patterns and trends similar to developed nations': from 1953
to 2005, deaths from cardiovascular disease increased from 20% to 23% of the total, those from tumors from 14% to 20%, respiratory problems from 7% to 14%, digestive maladies (non-infectious) from 7% to 11%, strokes a steady 7%, injuries, 6%, and infectious diseases, 4%. Causes related to senility led to many of the rest. Infant deaths have fallen from 19% of all deaths in 1953 to 3% in 2005.[240][242]
The availability of health care has also reduced infant mortality from 70 per 1000 live births in 1948[243] to 12.1 in 2009[240] and raised life expectancy at birth from 60 years to 76.[243]
Though these figures compare favorably with global averages, they fall
short of levels in developed nations and in 2006, Argentina ranked
fourth in Latin America.[241]
Argentina is a multicultural country
with significant European influences. Its cities are largely
characterized by both the prevalence of people of European descent, and
of conscious imitation of European styles in fashion, architecture and
design.[244] The other big influence is the gauchos and their traditional country lifestyle of self-reliance.[245] Finally, indigenous American traditions have been absorbed into the general cultural milieu.
Polo,
where Argentina reigns undisputed, having won more international
championships than any other country and been seldom beaten since the
1930s.[291] The Argentine Polo Championship is the sport's most important international team trophy. The country is home to most of the world's top players, among them Adolfo Cambiaso, considered the best in Polo history.[292]
