Land area: 2,736,690 sq km (1,056,636 sq mi)
Total area: 2,766,890 sq km (1,068,296 sq mi)
Population: 40,913,584
Capital and largest city: Buenos Aires - 13,349,000 (metro. area)
Other large cities: Córdoba - 1,486,200; Rosario - 1,276,900; Mendoza - 988,600; Mar del Plata - 683,700
Currency: Peso
Languages: Spanish (official)
Religions: Roman Catholic 92%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%
Ethnicity: European (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%, mestizo, Amerindian and other 3%
Time zone: GMT-3; Daylight Saving Time: GMT-2, from third Saturday in March to first Saturday in October
Electricity:AC 220 V, plugs with 2 V-shaped flat prongs (Australian standard)
Buenos Aires, Casa Rosada
photo by obliot |
Argentina is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though
Mexico,
Colombia and
Spain are more populous. Its continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. Argentina borders
Paraguay and
Bolivia to the north,
Brazil and
Uruguay to the northeast, and
Chile to the west and south.
Argentina's territory can be divided into four major regions:
the subtropical northern flats of the Gran Chaco, the Andes mountains along the western border with Chile, the central plains of the Pampas - fertile, cultivated or cattle-grazing land, and the flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in the south - dominated by cool, arid steppes with some scattered forests. Argentinian's Andes feature the highest peak in the Southern and Western Hemisphere - Mount Aconcagua, at 6,962 m (22,841 ft) of elevation.
