HISTORY. 1 lie river Plata was entered in 1515 by Juan Diaz de Solis, who was searching for a southwest passage to the East Indies, and in 1527-S Sebastian Cabot ascended the Paranii to its confluence with the Paraguay. there founding a colony, and giving the name La Plata (silver) to the latter stream, from the stories of hoards of silver which he heard from the India as, who told him that the metal came from the head waters of the river in the west, i.e. Peru. In 1535 Don Pedro de :Mendoza visited the new country, and founded Buenos Ayres, which was abandoned by the colonists in 1537 ; was rebuilt in 1542, was abandoned again in 1543, and was not permanently established until 1580. Meanwhile Ascunci6n (1537). Santa F6 (1573), and other places had been settled. and horses and. cattle had been introduced. Spanish colonists from Peru had founded cities in the northwest, Tucu man (1565). and C6rdoba (1573), and down to 1776 the basin of the river Plata was a depend ency of the viceroyalty of Peru. In that year the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres was formed, inelud ing Bolivia, Paraguay. and Uruguay, and the country was governed by viceroys until 1806, when, during the war of France and Spain against England, Buenos Ayres and Montevideo were occupied by the English. Buenos Ayres, however, was recaptured by the inhabitants. who, forced to defend themselves, saw the need and advisability of independence of the mother coun try. Accordingly, they refused in 1808 to acknowl edge Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. and in 1310 the struggle for independence began. A provisional government was instituted tinder a junta gubernatim, which was replaced early in 1814 by a "Supreme Board of the United Provinces," under the virtual control of one man, Antonio de Posados. Civil strife followed, and in 1816 a general congress declared the independence of the "United Provinces of Rio de la Plata." though this was not substantially attained with out war (1817-24), and was not recognized by Spain until 1842. During 1820-23 there was war with Brazil for the possession of the Banda Oriental (Urug,uayl. which in 1828 was finally recognized by both as an independent State, and from 1827-31 the Plata provinces were practically isolated from each other. In 1S:31 Buenos Ayres, Entre Rios. Corrientes, and Santa Fe formed a federal compact. and invited the others to join them; but little hut anarchy resulted till 1835, when General Prows (q.v.) was installed as dic tator. ills efforts to make Buenos Ayres supreme led to his downfall in 1352. In 1853 a constitu tion, still in force. was adopted for the "Argen tine Republic," hut Buenos Ayres refused to ac cept the document, and in 1854 declared itself in dependent. but was defeated in 1859, and obliged to reenter the Confederation. Hostilities were soon renewed (1861), however, and though the province did not. again become independent. it in creased greatly in relative importance. and the city of Buenos Ayres supplanted Parana as the capital of the Confederation. During 1365-70, under the presidency of General Mitre and of Sarmiento, a war was waged against Paraguay by the Argentine Republic, Brazil, and Uruguay, with little benefit to the Republic. In 1881 a
treaty was made with Chile by which Argentina acquired all the country east of the Andes, comprising Patagonia and the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego. In July, 1890, a revolution broke out, aided by the army and navy—the result of the political and financial corruption of the cabinet officers and the stagnation in busi ness produced by debasement of the currency. President Celman was forced to resign. and was succeeded by Dr. Carlos Pellegrini, who held office until October, 1892, when Dr. Luis Saenz Pefia was inaugurated. f8aenz-Pefla made a vigorous effort to put the country on a proper financial basis, conditions having continued very bad since the failure of the Itarings, which was largely brought about by their extensive dealings in unproductive Argentine securities. Repeated political disturbances at the various provincial capitals, however, prevented any successful finan cial reorganization or sufficient commercial im provement. and in .January, 1895, Saenz-Pefia resigned, and the Vice-President, S. Jose Uri burii, took the executive chair. He held office until 1898, when Lieut.-Gen. Julio A. Roca, who had occupied the place between 1880 and 1886, was again elected President. The boundary difficulties with Chile and Bolivia, which very frequently threatened serious trouble between the States during the later years of the Nine teenth Century, are referred to in the accounts of those countries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. General description and staBibliography. General description and sta- tistics: Greger, Die Republik Argentina (Basel, 1883) ; Bovio, Geografia de hi Reptiblica Argen tina (Buenos Ayres. 1888) ; van Bruyssel, La Republique Argentine, scs rrssou•ces etc. (Brussels, 1888) Guilaine, La IMpublique Argentine, physique it eeonomique (Paris, 1889) ; Child, 7'he ,8'panish-Anierican Republics (New York, 1891) ; Latzina, GeograTh de in RepUblica Argentina (Buenos Ayres and Paris, 1891) ; Turner, Argentina and the Argentines (London, 1892) ; Mulhall, Handbook of the Ricer Plato Republics (London. 1893) ; Latzina, Diceionario geografico argentino (Buenos Ayres, 1894) ; Se gundo eenso de la Rcigibliea Argentina de 189.5 (Buenos Ayres, 1808), contains a wealth of in formation descriptive, statistical, historical. on every important subject with regard to the country and people; Gubernatis, L'Argentina, rieordi r lettuce (Florence. 1898) ; Maertens. Sin!-.1inerika linter besonderer Berifeksichtigung A (Berlin, 1899) ; Lix-Klett, Estu dios sobre produceion, enni&eio, finanns f' inter cses genera/es de la Repiiblieu Argentina (Buenos Ayres, 1900). Climate: Analcs de la (tieing. vietcoroldgiea Argentina (Buenos Ayres, 1880— date, annual). Flora and Fauna: Hudson. The Yaturulist in La Plata (London, 1892) : Comparaeion de las floras y faunas de las repUblieas de Chile p Argentina (Santiago. 1893) Selatter and Hudson, Argentine Orni thology (London, 1888-89). History: Dominguez. Eisto•y of the Argentine liepublie, translated by 'Williams (Buenos Ayres, 1866) ; His M•ia de la RepUbliea Argentina (Buenos Ayres, 1900).