ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, the confederation of the Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, South America—the Latinized epithet and the Spanish term being merely copy and original of one and the same misnomer. Lat. 30' to 41° s., long. 54' to 70° 31' w. This confederation, as constituted by its reunion with Buenos Ayres in 1859, consists of what may be roughly termed a rectangle comprising of lat. and 18° of long. On the w. it is bounded by the Andes, which separate it from Chili and the desert of Atacama; on the n. by Bolivia; by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic on the e.; and on the s. by Patagonia. The republic embraces 14 provinces, divided into 173 departments. The following table is compiled from the census of 1869: Foreigners—of whom there were reckoned to be about 200,000 in the republic, consisting of Americans, Italians, Spaniards, French, English, Swiss, Germans, and others—are included in these numbers. The A. R. claims, besides the provinces enumerated, the desert of Gran Chaco in the n.; and that which, in the s., lies between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro; Patagonia is also within the region to which it asserts a right. These wide and wild domains, however, have been hitherto sources rather of disquiet than desirable acquisitions, as the Indians occasionally commit inroads upon the settled provinces.
Except the most purely Indian districts to the west of Buenos Ayres, the provinces of the A. R. lie chiefly in the basin of the Rio de La Plata, embracing much the larger half of the same. Mountains abound in the n.w. ; and elevated ranges are found also in Entre Rios. which is situated, as its name implies, between the Parana and the Uruguay. But, with these exceptions, nearly the whole country presents boundless plains, covered alternately with rich pasturage and gigantic thistles. The climate and productions vary considerably—being tropical and temperate respectively to the n. and s. of Corrientes (in 27° 27' n. lat.). Agriculture, however, of every description is very backward— less, perhaps, than of the surface being under cultivation. The rearing, in fact, of live-stock is the grand business of the country. Millions of cattle wander at will across the plains, or are kept on breeding-estates of vast extent ; and likewise of mules and horses there are immense bands. Besides the Rio de La Plata, which is rather an estuary than a river, and its far-reaching affluents, the hydrography of the A. R., com prises the head-waters of some southern streams, which fall into the open Atlantic, such as the Rio Colorado, the Rio Negro, etc.; and along the w. border, under the shadow, as it were, of the.Andes, salt lakes are common. In connection, doubtless, with this feature in the hydrography, mines of rock-salt exist, and salt here and there abundantly encrusts the plains, both to the satisfaction and benefit of the roaming herds.. The names of the country and its estuary are, as already characterized, to a great extent, misnomers, yet silver ore, gold, copper, sulphur, coal, and alum have been found near the Andes. Little mining has yet been done. The export trade, chiefly in hides and wool, is increasing, and there are several lines of railway.
In 1515, Juan Diaz da Solis, while searching for a passage into the Great South sea newly seen by Balboa, entered the Rio de la Plata. In 1526, Sebastian Cabot, son of the discoverer of Newfoundland, penetrated nearly to the confluence of the Parana and the Paraguay, being arrested by the rapids, which afterwards gave name to Corrientes. In 1535, Buenos Ayres was founded, to command, though indirectly, the most prac ticable channel of the only outlet of the country, a city which, in conjunction with its own colony of Montevideo, on the opposite bank, has virtually monopolized the his tory of a regin oequal in extent to western Europe. Gradually other cities were planted, partly by colonists from Spain, and partly by adventurers from Peru, each city gen erally giving its own name to its own province. The chief staples of the country
horses and cattle—had been largely introduced before 1552. Down to 1775, the basin of the Rio de In Plata was a dependency of the viceroyalty of Lima. In that year, however, was erected the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, which, to the basin in question, added Bolivia, under the name of upper Peru, thus embracing the head-waters of the Amazon, and also most of the plateau of Titicaca. The year 1806 ushered in a new order of things. Spain, as an allY of France, being then at war with England, both Buenos Ayres and Montevideo were occupied by the English—a change which, brief as was its duration, virtually sowed the seeds of revolution. The colonists had felt the inconvenience of belonging to a state which left them, in a great measure, to defend themselves; they had successfully tried their strength against a foe more powerful than their own masters; and they had been encouraged, not less by the sayings than by the doings of their invaders, to assert their independence. These influences were, in fact, instantaneously exemplified. The triumphant militia, after deposing and expelling the legitimate viceroy for cowardice, elected in his stead the French officer who had led them to victory. Thus had the viceroyalty of Buenos AyreS become peculiarly ripe for taking its share in the outbreak, Napoleon's dethronement of the Bourbons, in the spring of 1808, almost immediately occasioned throughout Spanish America. The constituents of the A. R. did not, however, submit to the sovereignty of Joseph Bona parte when he was shuffled on to the Spanish throne to replace Ferdinand VII. In 1810, they organized a government in the name of the latter monarch. This arrange ment, which lasted only for a short and inglorious period, ended, like a great many others, in utter confusion. In 1816, a general congress declared the independence of the " united provinces of Rio de la Plata;" but those provinces, in 1827, returned once more to a state of isolation. In 1831, Buenos Ayres, Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Santa F6, sometimes classed as the coast or riverine states, entered into a federal compact, and invited the others to form a voluntary alliance with them. This Argentine confedern, tion led to little but anarchy till 1835, when gen. Rosas was elected captain-general or governor of it, with all but absolute power. He secured quiet and order for a time; but the great aim of his policy, both warlike and commercial, being to acbieve.the suprenf acy of Buenos Ayres, the struggles with this end in view, to which lie Was goaded on also by personal ambition and reckless daring. led to his ultimate overthrow in 1851: Buenos Ayres, refusing to submit to. Ur4uiza;t1I'd next govetriOr Of R., declared itself independent in 1854; but was compelled by a signal defeat at Copesla, in 1859, to /v enter the confederation. Continuing restless, another war, in which its army was ably led by gen. Mitre, placed that province in the position of supremacy which it still holds. In 1865, the A. R. became involved, along with Brazil and Uruguay, in a war against Paraguay, which ended only with the death of Lopez, president of Para guay, in 1870, and which accomplished little in the interest or to the credit of the A. R. The boundless interior of this country has a standing feud with the narrow seaboard which shuts it out from the ocean; the Banda Oriental has been a bone of contention between the Brazilians and the Argentines; while England and France, with a view to the freedom of commerce, have thrown their weight in favor of its separate and inde pendent existence. The jealousies also of Buenos Ayres and Montevideo are constant sources of irritation; and the relations with Chili are unfriendly, owing to disputed territory in Patagonia.