Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Capital
Buenos Aires, a federal district since 1880, has served as the capital of
Argentina since the colonial viceroyalty was established in 1776.
Geography
Area
Covering a land area of 1.7 million square miles (2. 737 million square
kilometers), Argentina encompasses subtropical and temperate forests,
high deserts, snow-capped Andean mountain ranges, fertile prairies,
and Antarctic wastes. It is about one-third the size of the continental
United States. If this southern hemisphere country were superimposed
on the northern hemisphere, its Antarctic tip would lie within the
Hudson Bay of Canada, its semiarid Chaco region would rest in north-
ern Mexico, and the capital of Buenos Aires would be located at the
same latitude as Memphis, Tennessee.
Boundaries
Argentina is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by
Antarctica, on the west by Chile, on the northwest by Bolivia, the north
by Paraguay, and the northeast by Brazil and Uruguay.
Topography
The Andean cordillera forms a high mountain spine along Argentina's
entire 3,195-mile, (5,150-kilometer) boundary with Chile. A series of
foothills run through the westernmost states culminating in the prov-
ince of Córdoba. The southern provinces, together forming a region
known as Patagonia, are interspersed with river valleys draining east-
ward from the Andes directly into the South Atlantic.
The broad Pampas region, made up mainly of relatively flat plains,
dominates the landscape between Córdoba, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires,
and northern Patagonia. The eastern Pampas receives plentiful rainfall,
while its western reaches tend to be drier. The Pampas serves as the
breadbasket of southern South America. The area known as the Gran
Chaco, which borders Bolivia and Paraguay, is semiarid and sparsely
populated.
The great river basin made up of the Paraná, Paraguay, Bermejo, and
Uruguay Rivers sustains navigation throughout the northeastern prov-
inces of Argentina. For centuries, these rivers have served as the prin-
cipal Atlantic trade routes, through the estuary of the Río de la Plata to
Paraguay and southwestern Brazil.
