Argentina

General Information about Argentina

Argentina is the second largest country in South America and eighth in the world.
Argentina occupies a land area of 2,791,810 square kilometers, between the Andes in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. Argentina is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast and Chile in the west and south.
The country claims the British territory of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Under the name of Antarctica Argentina also claims 969,464 square miles of Antarctica, joining other claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom.
The country is formally called the Republic of Argentina. For various legal reasons, it used the name of Argentina.

Origins and History of the Name Argentina :
The name Argentina derives from the Latin Argentum (silver). When the first Spanish conquerors of the Rio de la Plata named it Mar Dulce the Indians gave him gifts of silver to the survivors of the expedition, who were led by Juan Díaz de Solís. The Legend of Hill of Plata, a mountain rich in silver, arrived in Spain around the year 1524, and the name was first seen on a map printed in 1536 in Venice.
The source of silver was the area where the city of Potosí was founded in 1546. An expedition that followed the silver trail through the Paraná, reached the source which was already claimed by explorers who had already achieved coming from Lima, capital of the viceroyalty. The name Argentina was first used in the book by Ruy Díaz de Guzmán, History of the discovery, population, and conquest of the Río de la Plata (1612). On that book there is named as Tierra Argentina.

Geography of Argentina

Main features of Argentina
The total area of Argentina (not including Antarctica claimed) is divided as follows
Total: 2,766,890 Km2
Land: 2,736,690 km2
Water: 30.200 Km2
Argentina is about 3700 kilometers from north to south and 1400 kms from east to west. It could be divided into four parts: The fertile plains of La Pampa, located in the center of the country, the source of agriculture in Argentina, Patagonia, rich in oil and gas, located in the south to Tierra del Fuego, the subtropical region Chaco in the north and the mountainous area of Los Andes, along the border with Chile.

The highest point above sea level is located in Mendoza. The Cerro Aconcagua is 6.962 meters, being the highest mountain in America and around the southern and western hemisphere. The lowest point is Laguna del Carbón in Santa Cruz located at 105 meters below sea level. This is the lowest point of South America. The country’s geographic center is located in the central area of La Pampa.

Music of Argentina

The main genres of popular music in Argentina are folklore, tango, rock, tropical music (cumbia) and electronics.
The Tango, both music and lyrics (often sung with a typical vocabulary of the city of Buenos Aires, called slang) is the musical symbol of Argentina. The predecessor was the style milonga, which was evolving into modern tango.

For 1930, the tango was refocused, before putting into the dance and now paying special attention to the lyrics and poetry, with singers like Carlos Gardel, Roberto Goyeneche, Hugo del Carril, Tital Merello and Edmundo Rivero. The golden age of tango (1930 to mid-1950) was a reflection of the heyday of jazz and swing in the United States, represented also with great orchestras and bands like those of Osvaldo Pugliese, AníbalTroilo and Juan Francisco Canaro D’Arienzo. After 1955 tango turned more intellectual and melody oriented. The leader of this new movement was the talented Astor Piazzolla. Today the tango is again a popular music and in recent years emerged the so-called Neo Tango, becoming a global phenomenon with groups like Tanghetto, Bajo fondo and Gotan Project.

Tags: Travel to Argentina South America. In case you’re interested in knowing more info on reptéri parkolás, stop by ferihegyparkolas.eu General information of Argentina. Tours and travel in Argentina.