Geography
Territory
Argentina is situated in the southernmost limit/extreme of South America, being the eighth country in the world according to its extension. The territory is divided into 23 provinces plus the National Territories. This vast land encompasses mountains (of different types), lakes, ice fields (glaciers) alternating with very arid zones, plains (pampa) as well as having a great variety of climates.
Limits
Argentina borders with Boliva and Paraguay to the north. To the south, with Chile and the Atlantic Ocean. To the east it has borders with Brazil, Uruguay and the Atlantic Ocean and to the west with Chile, along the Andes range.
Extension
The total surface of its lands is 3.761.274Km2, 2.791.810 of which corresponds to the American continent; 969.464 Km2 to the Antarctic continent (which includes the South Orkney Islands) and the islands of South Georgia and South Sandwich.
Thus Argentina is the fourth largest country in the Americas (after Canada, U.S.A. and Brasil) and the eighth largest in the world.
Regions
Argentina is divided into 5 regions:
1. North: comprising the provinces of Salta, Jujuy, Tucumán, Catamarca and Santiago del Estero.
2. Centre: Buenos Aires and Córdoba
3. Littoral: Formosa, Chaco, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Misiones and Entre Ríos
4. Cuyo: San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza and La Rioja
5. Patagonia: La Pampa, Neuquén, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.
Climate
The Northwest of Argentina is notable for its hot and dry climate; the Northeast, on the other hand, is hot and humid, subtropical. The centre of the country has a temperate climate while in Patagonia the climate is colder.
Here are some interesting pieces of information, meteorological phenomena that have become part of the mythology of ….
· ‘El veranito de San Juan’, the equivalent of a British ‘Indian summer’, is one of the better known of such events. It is so called because it usually happens around the feast of St.John the Baptist, 24th June. It can last between 3 and 7 days and can reach temperatures of up to 24; it is common to see people sunning themselves in the plazas even though it is the middle of winter.
· La tormenta de Santa Rosa’, a cycle of heavy rain and electrical storms tha usually coincides with the festivities in honour of Santa Rosa de Lima on the 30th August and marks the end (or better the beginning of the end) othe cold season and the start of spring.
· On 9th July 2007 the city of Buenos Aires was covered by a fall of snow for the second time since records began (?). The previous snowfall had happened in 1918.
Population
Argentina is a country with low demographic density. A great percentage of its population is white, owing to the important migrations from Europe (mainly Spaniards and Italians) at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Roughly a third of the population resides in Buenos Aires and its environs, what is called Greater Buenos Aires.
The indigenous groups which still keep their customs and language are very much a minority: Tehuelches, Tobas, Calchaquíes, Guaraníes, etc.
The principal cities of Argentina are Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, Tucumán, La Plata, Salta.
Principal rivers (length):
1. Salado del Norte 2.000 km
2. Paraná 1.800 km
3. Uruguay 1.100 km
4. Bermejo –Teuco 1.000 km
5. Negro 635 km
6. Pilcomayo 850 km
7. Colorado 860 km
8. Salado (Buenos Aires) 700 km
9. San Juan 500 km
10. Mendoza 400 km
11. Chubut 810 km
Physical Geography
The ‘cordillera de los Andes’, the most important mountain range of the American continent, runs along the west of the country from north to south and constitutes the frontier with Chile. It has a length of 4.441km and its highest peak is the Aconcagua at 6.959m. Most of the highest peaks are found in the central section of the range.In the north west there is a very arid and dry plateau, the Puna de Atacama, which reaches 3.800m aabove sea level, and also the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which reaches 3.440m in the town of La Quiaca (near the border with Bolivia).
Towards the south, the Andes sink into the straits of Magellan and reappear in Tierra del Fuego, in the Antarctic peninsula and in the islands of the South Atlantic.
One can also include the system of the precordillera, slightly lower, which runs from Catamarca to Neuquén.
Besides these majestic mountain groups there are two other formations, much lower, one in the province of Córdoba (las Sierras de Córdoba) and one in the province of Buenos Aires (la Sierra de La Ventana).
The rest is occupied by a vast plain, la pampa, that covers the central region and much of the northeast.
Highest peaks:
1. Acancagua (Mendoza) 6959m
2. Bonete (La Rioja) 6872m
3. Tupungato (Mendoza) 6800m
4. Pissis (La Rioja) 6779m
5. Mercedario (San Juan) 6770m
6. Llullaillaco (Salta) 6723m
7. Lincancaur (Salta) 6620m
8. Incahuasi (Catamarca) 6620m
9. Galán (Catamarca) 6600m