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Second in South America only to Brazil in size
and population, Argentina is a plain, rising from the Atlantic to the
Chilean border and the towering Andes peaks. Aconcagua (22,834 ft, 6,960
m) is the highest peak in the world outside Asia. Argentina is also
bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay on the north, and by Uruguay and Brazil
on the east. The northern area is the swampy and partly wooded Gran Chaco,
bordering Bolivia and Paraguay. South of that are the rolling, fertile
Pampas, which are rich in agriculture and sheep- and cattle-grazing and
support most of the population. Further south is Patagonia, a region of
cool, arid steppes with some wooded and fertile sections.
First explored in 1516 by Juan Diaz de Solis,
Argentina developed slowly under Spanish colonial rule. Buenos Aires was
settled in 1580; the cattle industry was thriving as early as 1600.
Invading British forces were expelled in 1806—1807, and after
Napoleon conquered Spain (1808), the Argentinians set up their own
government in 1810. On July 9, 1816, independence was formally
declared.
As it had in World War I, Argentina proclaimed
neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but in the closing phase
declared war on the Axis powers on March 27, 1945. Juan D. Peron, an army
colonel, emerged as the strongman of the postwar era, winning the
presidential elections of 1946 and 1951. Peron's political strength was
reinforced by his second wife—Eva Duarte de Peron
(Evita)—and her popularity with the working classes. Although
she never held a government post, Evita acted as de facto minister of
health and labor, establishing a national charitable organization, and
awarding generous wage increases to the unions, who responded with
political support for Peron. Opposition to Peron's increasing
authoritarianism led to a coup by the armed forces, which sent Peron into
exile in 1955, three years after Evita's death. Argentina entered a long
period of military dictatorships with brief intervals of constitutional
government.
The former dictator returned to power in 1973
and his third wife, Isabel Martinez de Peron, was elected vice president.
After her husband's death in 1974, Peron became the hemisphere's first
woman chief of state, assuming control of a nation teetering on economic
and political collapse. In 1975, terrorist acts by left- and right-wing
groups killed some 700 people. The cost of living rose 355%, and strikes
and demonstrations were constant. On March 24, 1976, a military junta led
by army commander Lt. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla seized power and imposed
martial law.
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