Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE HISTORY
OF ARGENTINA
A land of Native American civilizations for millennia, Argentina became a
Spanish colonial backwater before transforming itself into one of the world's
richest countries by the late 19th century. A study in paradox, it followed this
by an era of populist politics, dictatorships, and fluctuating economic cycles.
Never losing its vitality, today, while retaining many populist policies and in
the face of a volatile economy, it is nevertheless enjoying a robust recovery.
Spanish Settlement
Brief explorations into the region
were made in the early 1500s by
the Spanish and Portuguese, but the
first serious attempt by Europeans at
settling Argentina came in 1536.
Spanish explorer Pedro de Mendoza
sailed into the Río de la Plata estuary,
founding the settlement of Nuestra
Señora Santa María del Buen Aire on its
southwestern bank. However, under
attack from natives, Mendoza abandoned
the region in 1537. Further efforts at
settling the country emerged from the
central Andes. Spanish conquistadors
moved south from the defeated Inca
Empire and east from the Chilean frontier,
founding settlements such as Santiago
del Estero in 1553 and Salta in 1582. By
the 1600s, these focused on providing
foodstuffs and livestock for the Spanish
Viceroy in Lima.
Meanwhile, forced labor and the
introduction of European diseases
devastated indigenous populations,
which dropped by over 90 percent in
four generations.
The vast area now known as
Argentina was relatively sparsely
populated until the period of
European colonization in the 16th
century. The most densely populated
areas were the Litoral northeast and
Andean Northwest. In the former, the
semi-nomadic Guaraní inhabited large
villages, ruled over by male chiefs. They
subsisted mainly on manioc, wild game,
and maize. In the northwest, a number
of distinct sedentary cultures had
evolved, each interlinked by trade.
Collectively known as the Diaguita,
these peoples were conquered and
absorbed by the Inca Empire around
1480. Farther south, the Huarpe, who
inhabited the Cuyo region, and the
Mapuche, in northern Patagonia, had
developed settled communities,
subsisting on hunting, fishing, and the
growing of crops such as corn and
quinoa. Other groups were nomadic
hunter-gatherers, including the
Pampa and the Tehuelche, who
roamed the central plains and
Patagonian steppe respectively.
AD 1520
Ferdinand Magellan makes
landfall in Patagonia
10,000 BC
First
human settlements
appear in Argentina
Detail of rock
painting dating
from 7000 BC
AD 1480
Incan armies conquer
northwest Argentina
15,000 BC
AD 1
AD 500
AD 1000
AD 1500
AD 1536
Mendoza founds
settlement on
banks of Río de
la Plata
AD 1516
Spanish
expedition lands in
Río de la Plata estuary
5000 BC
First farming
settlements appear
An 18th-century artwork depicting European explorers consorting with indigenous tribes in Argentina
