Argentina--part: San Luis,¹ Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, La Pampa and Tierra del Fuego Provinces; Falkland Islands (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland); South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland); British Antarctic Territory (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)--part: South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands

How is the land laid out?

Along the west of Argentina are the Andes Mountains, reaching almost 7,000 meters at Aconcagua. In the north, east of the mountains are treeless, grassy plains, sloping to the east. Further south the land is not as flat, but remains arid. Argentina owns the eastern half of Tierra del Fuego² Island at the continent's southern tip. East northeast of it are the Falkland Islands, and far to their east the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. South of all these islands are the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands.

There are numerous fresh water lakes in the south and some large reservoirs further north.

The most important rivers are the Colorado,³ the Río Negro,⁴ the Chubut, the Deseado, the Santa Cruz,⁵ the Coig and the Gallegos.

UNESCO honors two natural areas as World Heritage Sites: los Glaciares in Santa Cruz Province; and the Valdés Peninsula in Chubut Province. Tourists visit Perito Moreno Glacier in los Glaciares National Park as well as the Valdés Peninsula.⁶

Map

Who lives there?

About 4.5 million people live here. More than 19 in 20 speak Spanish as their first language, and almost all are Roman Catholic Christians.

The only city with more than a million residents is Mendoza. Tourists also visit Bariloche on the Negro River in the north center of the province with the river's name (formal city name San Carlos de Bariloche; city population 110 thousand)⁷ and Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego Province (city population 57 thousand).^{6, 7} Important airports are located in Mendoza, Bariloche, Neuguén in its province (Perón International Airport; city population 231 thousand),⁷ Comodora Rivadavia on the southeast coast of Chubut Province (city population 175 thousand)⁷ and Trelew on the lower Chubut River in the northeast of the province with the river's name (population 98 thousand).^{7, 8}

Who was there before?

Before the Spanish arrived, everyone spoke languages that a few people group as Amerindian. Language groups were Araucanian and Chon.⁹

The pre-Christian religions of Tierra del Fuego believed in a supreme deity, albeit--at least in the case of the Selk'nam--an inactive one.¹⁰

UNESCO honors two areas that preserve pre-Columbian cultural remains as World Heritage Sites: Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas in Santa Cruz Province; and Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System, in Mendoza Province and beyond.

Around the Area

Around the mainland:

Around the islands:

Footnotes

1. Translates from Spanish as Saint Lewis.
2. Translates from Spanish as Land of Fire.
3. Translates from Spanish as Red.
4. Translates from Spanish as Black River.
5. Translates from Spanish as Holy Cross.
6. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-Argentina/, accessed April 30, 2016.
7. 2010 figure from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Argentina_by_population, accessed June 26, 2018.
8. http://www.anna.aero/2012/04/12/argentinas-regional-airports-see-traffic-growth/, acc. Apr. 30, 2016, table: Top 10 domestic routes (all ex-AEP) with a note above it: "41% of domestic capacity is concentrated in Buenos Aires AEP, which remains the main hub. In fact, all 10 of the largest domestic routes by frequency involve this airport, as detailed below." This source was supplemented (for airport names) by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Argentina, accessed the same day.
9. Some group Araucanian and Chon together; some would group Araucanian-Chon and Tupi-Guarani with others into Andean-Equatorial.
10. See Section 29.7 in Mircea Eliade and Joan P. Gouliano, The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions (HarperCollins, 2000).