Argentina
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Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentina claims the British overseas territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It also claims a part of Antarctica, overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, though all claims were suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina today is one of the G-20 major economies.
Argentina
The name is derived from the Latin argentum (silver), which comes from the Ancient Greek (argēntos), gen. of (argēeis), "white, shining". Α (argentinos) was an ancient Greek adjective meaning "silvery". The first use of the name Argentina can be traced to the early 16th century voyages of the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors to the Río de la Plata ("Silver River").
Etymology
The earliest evidence of humans in Argentina is in Patagonia (Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz) and dates from 11,000 BC (Huarpes, Diaguitas and Sanavirones, among others). The Inca Empire, under King Pachacutec, invaded and conquered present-day
northwestern Argentina in 1480, integrating it into a region called Collasuyu; the Guaraní developed a culture based on yuca, sweet potato and yerba maté. The central and southern areas (Pampas and Patagonia) were dominated by nomadic
cultures, the most populous among them being the Mapuches.
European explorers arrived in 1516. Spain established the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542 encompassing all its holdings in South America, and established a permanent colony at
Buenos Aires in 1580 as part of the dependency of Río de la Plata. In 1776 this dependency was elevated to a viceroyalty which shifted trade from Lima to Buenos Aires.
History
The area was largely a country of Spanish immigrants and their descendants, known as criollos, and others of native cultures and of descendants of African slaves, present in significant numbers. A third of Colonial-era settlers gathered in Buenos Aires and other cities, others living on the pampas as gauchos, for instance. Indigenous peoples inhabited much of the rest of Argentina. The British invaded twice between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars when Spain was an ally of France, but both invasions were repelled.
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José de San Martín, Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Perú |
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Between 1814 and 1817, General José de San Martín led a military campaign aimed at making independence a reality. San Martín and his regiment crossed the Andes in 1817 to defeat royalist forces in Chile and Perú, thus securing independence. The Congress of Tucumán gathered on 9 July 1816 and finally issued a formal Declaration of Independence from Spain. The Liga Federal was crushed in 1820 by the combined forces of the United Provinces and Portuguese-ruled colonial Brazil, and its provinces were absorbed into the United Provinces of South America. Bolivia declared independence in 1825, and Uruguay was created in 1828 as a result of a truce following the Argentina-Brazil War. The controversial truce led to the rise of Buenos Aires provincial governor Juan Manuel de Rosas, who, as a federalist, exercised a reign of terror and kept the fragile confederation together.
The centralist Unitarios and the Federales maintained an internecine conflict until Rosas' 1852 overthrow after the Platine War, and to help prevent future struggle during the tenuous times that followed, a Constitution was promulgated in 1853. The constitution, drafted by legal scholar Juan Bautista Alberdi, was defended by Franciscan Friar Mamerto Esquiú and endured through difficult early years. National unity was reinforced when Paraguayan dictator López attacked Argentina and Brazil in 1865, resulting in the War of the Triple Alliance, which left more than 300,000 dead and devastated Paraguay
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Hipólito Yrigoyen was an activist for universal (male) suffrage and was Argentina's first president so elected (1916)Argentina increased in prosperity and prominence between 1880 and 1929, while emerging as one of the 10 richest countries in the world, benefiting from an agricultural export-led economy. Driven by immigration and decreasing mortality, the Argentine population grew fivefold and the economy by 15-fold. Conservative interests dominated Argentine politics through non-democratic means until, in 1912, President Roque Sáenz Peña enacted universal male suffrage and the secret ballot.
This allowed their traditional rivals, the centrist Radical Civic Union, to win the country's first free elections in 1916. President Hipólito Yrigoyen enacted social and economic reforms and extended assistance to family farmers and small business; having been politically imposing and beset by the Great Depression, however, Yrigoyen was overthrown in 1930. This led to another decade of Conservative rule, whose economists turned to more protectionist policies and whose electoral policy was one of "patriotic fraud". The country was neutral during World War I and most of World War II, becoming an
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President Juan Perón (1946)In 1946, General Juan Perón was elected president, creating a political movement referred to as "Peronism". His hugely popular wife, Evita, played a central political role until her death in 1952, mostly through the Eva Perón Foundation and the Peronist Women's Party.During Perón's tenure, wages and working conditions improved appreciably, unionization was fostered, strategic industries and services were nationalized, and urban development was prioritized over the agrarian sector.
Formerly stable prices and exchange rates were disrupted, however: the peso lost about 70% of its value from early 1948 to early 1950, and inflation reached 50% in 1951. Foreign policy became more isolationist, straining U.S.-Argentine relations. Perón intensified censorship as well as repression: 110 publications were shuttered, and numerous opposition figures were imprisoned and tortured. Over time, he rid himself of many important and capable advisers, while promoting patronage. A violent coup
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Arturo Frondizi (second from left) hosts U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1961)Following an attempt to purge the Peronist influence and the banning of Peronists from political life, elections in 1958 brought Arturo Frondizi to office. Frondizi enjoyed some support from Perón's followers, and his policies encouraged investment to make the country self-sufficient in energy and industry, helping reverse a chronic trade deficit for Argentina. The military, however, frequently interfered on behalf of conservative interests and the results were mixed.[16] Frondizi was forced to resign in 1962. Arturo Illia, elected in 1963, enacted expansionist policies; but despite prosperity, his attemp
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The policies of dictator Jorge Videla and economist José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz left a traumatic legacyThough repressive, this new regime continued to encourage domestic development and invested record amounts into public works. The economy grew strongly, and income poverty declined to 7% by 1975, still a record low. Partly because of their repressiveness, however, political violence began to escalate and, from exile, Perón skillfully co-opted student and labor protests, which eventually resulted in the military regime's call for free elections in 1973 and his return from Spain.
Taking office that year, Perón died in July 1974, leaving his third wife Isabel, the Vice President, to succeed him in office. Mrs. Perón had been chosen as a compromise among feuding Peronist factions who could agree on no other running mate; secretly, though, she was beholden to Perón's most fascist advisers. The resulting conflict between left and right-wing extremists led to
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Leopoldo Galtieri's takeover of the Falkland Islands in 1982 cost Argentina lives and prestigeThe self-styled National Reorganization Process intensified measures against armed groups on the far left such as People's Revolutionary Army and the Montoneros, which from 1970 had kidnapped and murdered people almost weekly. Repression was quickly extended to the opposition in general, however, and during the "Dirty War" thousands of dissidents "disappeared". These abuses were aided and abetted by the CIA
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This new dictatorship at first brought some stability and built numerous important public works; but their frequent wage freezes and deregulation of finance led to a sharp fall in living standards and record foreign debt. Deindustrialization, the peso's collapse and crushing real interest rates, as well as unprecedented corruption, public revulsion in the face of alleged human rights abuses and, finally, the country's 1982 defeat by the British in the Falklands War discredited the military regime and led to free elections in 1983.
Raúl Alfonsín (left) greets supporters with his trademark salute (1983)Raúl Alfonsín's government took steps to account for the "disappeared", established civilian control of the armed forces and consolidated democratic institutions. The members of the three military juntas were prosecuted and sentenced to life terms. The previous regime's foreign debt, however, left the Argentine economy saddled by the conditions imposed on it by both its private creditors and the IMF, and priority was given to servicing the foreign debt at the expense of public works and domestic credit. Alfonsín's failure to resolve worsening economic problems caused him to lose public confidence. Following a 1989 currency crisis that resulted in a sudden and ruinous 15-fold jump in prices, he left office five months early.
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Newly elected President Carlos Menem began pursuing privatizations and, after a second bout of hyperinflation in 1990, reached out to economist Domingo Cavallo, who imposed a peso-dollar fixed exchange rate in 1991 and adopted far-reaching market-based policies, dismantling protectionist barriers and business regulations, while accelerating privatizations. These reforms contributed to significant increases in investment and growth with stable prices through most of the 1990s; but the peso's fixed value could only be maintained by flooding the market with dollars, resulting in a renewed increase in the foreign debt. Towards 1998, moreover, a series of international financial crises and overvaluation of the pegged peso caused a gradual slide into economic crisis. The sense of stability and well being which had prevailed during the 1990s eroded quickly, and by the end of his term in 1999, these accumulating problems and reports of corruption had made Menem unpopular.
Néstor Kirchner (second from right) hosts Raúl Alfonsín (right), the Brazilian President Lula da Silva and former Brazilian President José Sarney to commemorate 20 years of productive trade talksPresident Fernando de la Rúa inherited diminished competitiveness in exports, as well as chronic fiscal deficits. The governing coalition developed rifts, and his returning Cavallo to the Economy Ministry was interpreted as a crisis move by speculators. The decision backfired and Cavallo was eventually forced to take measures to halt a wave of capital flight and to stem the imminent debt crisis (culminating in the freezing of bank accounts). A climate of popular discontent ensued, and on 20 December 2001 Argentina dove into its worst institutional and economic crisis since the 1890
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Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president since December 2007Three presidents followed in quick succession over two weeks, culminating in the appointment of interim President Eduardo Duhalde by the Legislative Assembly on 2 January 2002. Argentina defaulted on its international debt, and the peso's 11 year-old tie to the U.S. dollar was rescinded, causing a major depreciation of the peso and a spike in inflation. Duhalde, a Peronist with a center-left economic position, had to cope with a financial and socio-economic crisis, with unemployment as high as 25% by late 2002 and the lowest real wages in sixty years. The crisis accentuated the people's mistrust in politicians and institutions. Following a year racked by protest, the economy began to stabilize by late 2002, and restrictions on bank withdrawals were lifted in December.
Benefiting from a devalued exchange rate the government implemented new policies based on re-industrialization, import substitution and increased exports and began seeing consistent fiscal and trade surpluses. Governor Néstor Kirchner, a social democratic Peronist, was elected president in May 2003 and during Kirchner's presidency Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with a steep discount (about 66%) on most bonds, paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, renegotiated contracts with utilities and nationalized some previously privatized enterprises. Kirchner and his economists, notably Roberto Lavagna, also pursued a vigorous incomes policy and public works investment.[28]
Argentina has since been enjoying economic growth, though with high inflation, which according to the Economist was 15% in June 2009. Néstor Kirchner forfeited the 2007 campaign in favor of his wife Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Winning by a landslide that October, she became the first woman elected President of Argentina and in a disputed result, Fabiana Ríos, a center-left (ARI) candidate in Tierra del Fuego Province became the first woman in Argentine history to be elected governor.
President Cristina Kirchner, despite carrying large majorities in Congress, saw controversial plans for higher agricultural export taxes defeated by Vice President Julio Cobos' surprise tie-breaking vote against them on 16 July 2008, following massive agrarian protests and lockouts from March to July. The global financial crisis has since prompted Mrs. Kirchner to step up her husband's policy of state intervention in troubled sectors of the economy. A halt in growth and political missteps helped lead Kirchnerism and its allies to lose their absolute majority in Congress, following the 2009 mid-term elections.
Modern history
The total surface area (excluding the Antarctic claim) is 2,766,891.2 km2 (1,068,302.7 sq mi), of which 30,200 km2 (11,700 sq mi) (1.1%) is water. Argentina is about 3,900 km (2,400 mi) long from north to south, and 1,400 km (870 mi) from
east to west (maximum values). There are four major regions: the fertile central plains of the Pampas, source of Argentina's agricultural wealth; the flat to rolling, oil-rich southern plateau of Patagonia including Tierra del Fuego; the
subtropical northern flats of the Gran Chaco, and the rugged Andes mountain range along the western border with Chile.
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The highest point above sea level is in Mendoza province at Cerro Aconcagua (6,962 m (22,841 ft)), also the highest point in the Southern and Western Hemisphere. The lowest point is Laguna del Carbón in Santa Cruz province, -105 m (−344 ft) below sea level. This is also the lowest point in South America. The geographic center of the country is in south-central La Pampa province. The easternmost continental point is northeast of Bernardo de Irigoyen, Misiones,(26°15′S 53°38′W / 26.25°S 53.633°W / -26.25; -53.633 (Argentina's easternmost continental point)) the westernmost in the Mariano Moreno Range in Santa Cruz province.(49°33′S 73°35′W / 49.55°S 73.583°W / -49.55; -73.583 (Argentina's westernmost point)) The northernmost point is at the confluence of the Grande de San Juan and Mojinete rivers in Jujuy province,(21°46′S 66°13′W / 21.767°S 66.217°W / -21.767; -66.217 (Argentina's northernmost point)) and the southernmost is Cape San Pío in Tierra del Fuego. (55°03′S 66°31′W / 55.05°S 66.517°W / -55.05; -66.517 (Argentina's southernmost point))[34]
The major rivers are the Paraná (the largest), the Pilcomayo, Paraguay, Bermejo, Colorado, Río Negro, Salado and the Uruguay. The Paraná and the Uruguay join to form the Río de la Plata estuary, before reaching the Atlantic. Regionally important rivers are the Atuel and Mendoza in the homonymous province, the Chubut in Patagonia, the Río Grande in Jujuy and the San Francisco River in Salta.
There are several large lakes including Argentino and Viedma in Santa Cruz, Nahuel Huapi between Río Negro and Neuquén, Fagnano in Tierra del Fuego, and Colhué Huapi and Musters in Chubut. Lake Buenos Aires and
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The largest oil spill in fresh water was caused by a Shell Petroleum tanker in the Río de la Plata, off Magdalena, on January 15, 1999, polluting the environment, drinking water, and local wildlife.
The 4,665 km (2,899 mi) long Atlantic coast has been a popular local vacation area for over a century, and varies between areas of sand dunes and cliffs. The continental platform is unusually wide; this shallow area of the Atlantic is called the Argentine Sea. The waters are rich in fisheries and possibly hold important hydrocarbon energy resources. The two major ocean currents affecting the coast are the warm Brazil Current and the cold Falkland Current. Because of the unevenness of the coastal landmass, the two currents alternate in their influence on climate and do not allow temperatures to fall evenly with higher latitude. The southern coast of Tierra del Fuego forms the north shore of the Drake Passage.
Climate
The generally temperate climate ranges from subtropical in the north to subpolar in the far south. The north is characterized by very hot, humid summers with mild drier winters, and is subject to periodic droughts. Central Argentina has hot summers with thunderstorms (western Argentina produces some of the world's largest hail), and cool winters. The southern regions have warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall, especially in mountainous zones. Higher elevations at all latitudes experience cooler conditions.
The Andean range over Santa Cruz provinceThe hottest and coldest temperature extremes recorded in South America have occurred in Argentina. A record high temperature of 49.1 °C (120.4 °F), was recorded at Villa de María, Córdoba, on 2 January 1920. The lowest temperature recorded was −39 °C (−38 °F) at Valle de los Patos Superior, San Juan, on 17 July 1972.
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. The Zonda, a hot dry wind, affects west-central Argentina. Squeezed of all moisture during the 6,000 m (20,000 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; when the Zonda blows (June–November), snowstorms and blizzard (viento blanco) conditions usually affect higher elevations.
The Sudestada ("southeasterlies") could be considered similar to the Nor'easter, though snowfall is rare but not unprecedented. Both are associated with a deep winter low pressure system. 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.
The southern regions, particularly the far south, experience long periods of daylight from November to February (up to nineteen hours) and extended nights from May to August.
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Panoramic view of Bristol Beach in the city of Mar del Plata in the low season |
In 2001 census [INDEC], Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, and the official population estimate for 2009 is of 40,134,425. 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 2008 was estimated to be 0.92% annually, with a birth rate of 16.32 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a
mortality rate of 7.54 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants. The net migration rate is zero immigrants per 1,000 inhabitants.
The proportion of people under 15, at 24.6%, is somewhat below the world average (28%), and the cohort of people
65 and older is relatively high, at 10.8%. The percentage of senior citizens in Argentina has long been second only to Uruguay in Latin America and well above the world average, which is currently 7%.
Argentina's population has long
had one of Latin America's lowest growth rates (recently, about one percent a year) and it also enjoys a comparatively low infant mortality rate. Strikingly, though, its birth rate is still nearly twice as high (2.3 children per woman) as
that in Spain or Italy, despite comparable religiosity figures.The median age is approximately 30 years and life expectancy at birth is of 76 years.
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A crowd in Rosario reflects the importance of European immigration to Argentine ethnography and culture.Ethnography
As with other areas of new settlement such as Canada, Australia and the United States, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants. Most Argentines are descended from colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe, and 86.4% of Argentina's population self-identify as European descent An estimated 8% of the population is mestizo, and a further 4% of Argentines are of Arab or East Asian heritage. In the last national census, based on self-identification, 600,000 Argentines (1.6%) declared to be Amerindians (see Demographics of Argentina for genetic studies).
Following the arrival of the initial Spanish colonists, over 6.2 million Europeans emigrated to Argentina from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries Argentina was second only to the United States in the number of European immigrants received, and at the time, the national population doubled every two decades mostly as a result.
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The majority of these European immigrants came from Italy and Spain. Italian immigrants arrived mainly from the Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy regions, initially, and later from Campania and Calabria; up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent, around 60% of the total population. Spanish immigrants were mainly Galicians and Basques.Smaller but significant numbers of immigrants came from France (notably Béarn and the Northern Basque Country), Germany and Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Built in 1906 to welcome hundreds of newcomers daily, the Hotel de Inmigrantes is now a national museum.
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Population pyramid for Argentina (2009)
Immigrant population Argentina (1869–1991)Eastern Europeans were also numerous, and arrived from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and from Central Europe (particularly Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia) Sizable numbers of immigrants also arrived from Balkan countries (Bulgaria and Montenegro).There is a large Armenian community and the Chubut Valley has a significant population of Welsh descent.
Small but growing numbers of people from East Asia have also settled in Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires. The first Asian-Argentines were of Japanese descent, beginning as visitors who eventually settled in the country starting from 1886; officially steady immigration of Japanese began in 1912. Chinese and Koreans followed later. Today, Chinese are the fastest growing community, with 100,000 Chinese-born residing in the largest Argentine cities.
The majority of Argentina's Jewish community are Ashkenazi Jews, while about 15–20% are Sephardic groups, primarily Syrian Jews. Argentina's Jewish
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Although relatively few in number, English immigrants to Argentina have played a disproportionately large role in forming the modern state. Anglo-Argentines were traditionally often found in positions of influence in the railway, industrial and agricultural sectors. The historical English Argentine status was complicated by an erosion of their economic influence during Perón's nationalisation of many British-owned companies in the 1940s and, more recently, by the Falklands War in 1982.
The officially recognized indigenous population in the country, according to the 2004–05 "Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples", stands at approximately 600,000 (around 1.4% of the total population), the most numerous of whom are the Mapuche people.
According to David Levinson "Afro Argentines number about 50,000, nearly all of whom now live in Buenos Aires. Argentina did not import large numbers of slaves, and the Afro Argentine population today is descended from freed slaves and slaves who escaped to Argentina from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. As part of the Europeanization program of the late 1880’s, Afro Argentines were pushed off their land. African identity was defined as inferior, and warfare, disease, and intermarriage decimated the population. Although largely ignored and relegated to low-level jobs, the Afro Argentine community continues to function as a distinct community in Buenos Aires."
Criticisms of the national census state that data has historically been collected using the category of national origin rather than race in Argentina, leading to undercounting Afro-Argentines and mestizos. The 1887 Buenos Aires census was the last in which blacks were included as a separate category.
Illegal immigration has been a recent factor in Argentine demographics. Most illegal immigrants come from Bolivia and Paraguay, countries which border Argentina to the north. Smaller numbers arrive from Peru, Ecuador and Romania. The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents and has launched a program called Patria Grande ("Greater Homeland") to encourage illegal immigrants to regularize their status; so far over 670,000 applications have been processed under the program.
Religion
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The 17th century Cathedral of CórdobaThe Constitution guarantees freedom of religion but also requires the government to support Roman Catholicism economically.[62] Until 1994 the President and Vice President had to be Roman Catholic, though there were no such restrictions on other government officials; indeed, since 1945, numerous Jews have held prominent posts. Catholic policy, however, remains influential in government and still helps shape a variety of legislation. In a study assessing nations' levels of religious regulation and persecution with scores ranging from 0–10 where 0 represented low levels of regulation or persecution, Argentina received a score of 1.4 on Government Regulation of Religion, 6.0 on Social Regulation of Religion, 6.9 on Government Favoritism of Religion and 6 on Religious Persecution.
According to the World Christian Database, Argentines are 92.1% Christian, 3.1% agnostic, 1.9% Muslim, 1.3% Jewish, 0.9% atheist, and 0.9% Buddhist and other. Argentine Christians are mostly Roman Catholic. Estimates for the number professing this faith vary from 70% of the population, to as much as 90%, though perhaps only 20% attend services regularly Evangelical churches have been gaining a foothold since the 1980s, and count approximately 9% of the total population amongst their followers. Pentecostal churches and traditional Protestant denominations are present in most communities. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming over 330,000 (the seventh-largest congregation in the world), are also present.
Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America with about 230,000. The community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003. Muslim Argentines number about 500,000–600,000, or approximately 1.5% of the population; 93% of them are Sunni. Buenos Aires is home to one of the largest mosques in Latin America. A recent study found that approximately 11% of Argentines are non-religious, including those who believe in God, though not religion, agnostics (4%) and atheists (5%). Overall, 24% attended religious services regularly. Protestants were the only group in which a majority regularly attended services.
Language
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"Voseo" in a Buenos Aires billboardThe official language of Argentina is Spanish, usually called castellano (Castilian) by Argentines. A phonetic study conducted by the Laboratory for Sensory Investigations of CONICET and the University of Toronto showed that the accent of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires (known as porteños) is closer to the Neapolitan dialect of Italian than any other spoken language. Italian immigration and other European immigrations influenced Lunfardo, the slang spoken in the Río de la Plata region, permeating the vernacular vocabulary of other regions as well.
Argentines are the largest Spanish-speaking society that universally employs what is known as voseo (the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú (you), which occasions the use of alternate verb forms as well). The most prevalent dialect is Rioplatense, whose speakers are primarily located in the basin of the Río de la Plata. Elements of word use (not pronunciation per se) in Argentine voseo are also prevalent in Central American dialects; particularly in Nicaragua.
According to one survey, there are around 1.5 million Italian speakers (which makes it the second most spoken language in the country) and 1 million speakers of North Levantine dialect of Arabic (spoken in Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus).
Standard German is spoken by between 400,000 and 500,000 Argentines of German ancestry,making it the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.
Some indigenous communities have retained their original languages. Guaraní is spoken by some in the northeast, especially in Corrientes (where it enjoys official status) and Misiones. Quechua is spoken by some in the northwest and has a local variant in Santiago del Estero. Aymara is spoken by members of the Bolivian community who migrated to Argentina from Bolivia. In Patagonia there are several Welsh-speaking communities, with some 25,000 estimated second-language speakers. More recent immigrants have brought Chinese and Korean, mostly to Buenos Aires. English, Brazilian Portuguese and French are also spoken. English is commonly taught at schools as a second language as are, to a lesser extent, Portuguese and French.
Urbanization
See also: List of cities in Argentina by population
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Population distributonArgentina is highly urbanized, with the ten largest metropolitan areas accounting for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten living in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires proper, and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world. The metropolitan areas of Córdoba and Rosario have around 1.3 million inhabitants each, and six other cities (Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe) have at least half a million people each.
The population is unequally distributed amongst the provinces, with about 60% living in the Pampa region (21% of the total area), including 15 million people in Buenos Aires Province and 3 million in Córdoba Province, Santa Fe Province and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Seven other provinces each have about one million people: Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. Tucumán is the most densely populated (with 60 inhabitants/km², the only Argentine province more densely populated than the world average), while the southern province of Santa Cruz has less than 1 inhabitant/km².
Most European immigrants settled in the cities which offered jobs, education and other opportunities enabling them to enter the middle class. Many also settled in the growing small towns along the expanding railway system and since the 1930s many rural workers have moved to the big cities. Urban areas reflect the influence of European immigration, and most of the larger ones feature boulevards and diagonal avenues inspired by the redevelopment of Paris. Argentine cities were originally built in a colonial Spanish grid style, centered around a plaza overlooked by a cathedral and important government buildings. Many still retain this general layout, known as a damero, meaning checkerboard, since it is based on a pattern of square blocks. The city of La Plata, designed at the end of the nineteenth century by Pedro Benoit, combines the checkerboard layout with added diagonal avenues at fixed intervals, and was the first in South America with electric street
Geography
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