 history . pre-colombian argentina |
Along with numerous nomadic tribespeople, two main indigenous groups existed in Argentina before the European arrival. In the northwest, near Bolivia and the Andes, inhabited the Diaguita, while further south and to the east were the Guarani. Together the Diaguita and the Guarani constitute the origins of permanent agricultural civilization in Argentina, both developing the cultivation of maize. The Diaguita are also remembered for having successfully prevented the powerful Inca from expanding their empire into Argentina from what is now Bolivia.
It was perhaps a legacy of this successful resistance that enabled the native peoples of Argentina to carry on a prolonged campaign against colonization and rule by the Spanish. The first Spaniard to land in Argentina, Juan de Solis, was killed in 1516, and several attempts to found Buenos Aires were stymied by the local inhabitants. Inland cities were more successful, and it wasn't until the late 16th century that Buenos Aires was securely established.
Despite its military success, indigenous resistance was inexorably weakened by the introduction of diseases from Europe. Even after the native threat became minimal, however, Argentina was still mostly neglected by Spain, which was more interested in developing Lima and the riches of Peru. Buenos Aires was forbidden to trade with foreign countries, and the city became a smuggler's haunt. The restrictive trade policy probably did little to endear Spain to the colonists.
Indian resistance inhibited Spanish incursions and discouraged Spanish settlement. Buenos Aires was not successfully established until 1580, and remained a backwater for 200 years. A declining and unevenly distributed Indian population, which could not be milked for its labor, led to the creation of huge cattle ranches, known as haciendas - the genesis of the legendary gaucho (cowboy) and the source of great wealth for a lucky few.
 February 1516 - Rio de la Plata |
In February 1516, the Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis, then engaged in search of a southwest passage to the East Indies, piloted his vessel into the great estuary now known as the Rio de la Plata and claimed the surrounding region in the name of Spain. Sebastian Cabot, an Italian navigator in the service of Spain, visited the estuary in 1526. In search of food and supplies, Cabot and his men ascended the river later called the Parana to a point near the site of modern Rosario. They constructed a fort and then sailed the river as far as the region now known as Paraguay. Cabot, who remained in the river basin for nearly four years, obtained from the natives quantities of silver (Spanish la plata), a name that was soon applied to the river system and most of the region watered by it.
| Early Settlements |
Colonization of the region begun in 1535 by the Spanish soldier Pedro de Mendoza. In February 1536, Mendoza, who had been appointed military governor of the entire continent south of the Rio de la Plata, founded Buenos Aires. In its efforts to establish a permanent colony, the Mendoza expedition encountered severe hardships, chiefly because of difficulties in obtaining food. Hostile natives forced the abandonment of this settlement five years later. In 1538 Domingo Martinez de Irala, one of Mendoza's lieutenants, founded Asuncion (now the capital of Paraguay), which was the first permanent settlement in the La Plata region. From their base at Asuncion, the Spanish gradually won control over the territory between the Parana and Paraguay rivers. The small herds of livestock brought from Spain had meanwhile multiplied and spread over the Pampas, creating the conditions for a stable agricultural economy. Santiago del Estero, the first permanent settlement on what is now Argentine soil, was established in 1553 by Spanish settlers from Peru. Santa Fe was founded in 1573, and in 1580 the resettlement of Buenos Aires begun. In 1620 the entire La Plata region was attached to the viceroyalty of Peru for administrative purposes. Because of the restrictive commercial policies of the Spanish government, colonization of the La Plata region proceeded slowly during the next 100 years. Buenos Aires, the center of a flourishing trade in smuggled goods, grew steadily. By the middle of the 18th century, its population numbered close to 20,000. In 1776 the territory occupied by present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay was separated from Peru and incorporated as the viceroyalty of La Plata.
Buenos Aires became the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, acknowledgment that the region had outgrown Spain's political and economic domination. However, continuing dissatisfaction with Spanish interference led to the revolution of 25 May 1810 and eventual independence in 1816.
| XIXth century |
The British attacked Buenos Aires in 1806 and 1807, as Spain had come under the control of Napoleonic France. The colony managed to repulse Britain's attacks without any assistance from their mother country, an act of strength that no doubt helped to foster the region's growing sense of independence.
When the French captured Spain's King Ferdinand VII, Argentina fell completely under the rule of the local viceroyalty, which was highly unpopular. The locals rebelled against the viceroyalty and declared their allegiance to the captive king. By 1816, the deep division between Argentina and its mother country had become quite apparent, and a party of separatists decided to declare the country's independence. One of the new patriots, Jose de San Martin, crossed the Andes and conquered Lima. Along with Simon Bolivar, Martin is credited with breaking the shackle of Spanish rule in South America.
Early independence in Argentina was marked by an often bitter struggle between two political groups: the Unitarists and the Federalists. The Unitarists wanted a strong central government, while the Federalists wanted local control. | Independence revealed the seething regional disparities which Spanish rule had obscured. The Federalists of the interior (conservative landowners, supported by the gauchos and rural working class) advocated provincial autonomy, while the Unitarists of Buenos Aires (cosmopolitan city dwellers who welcomed the injection of European capital, immigrants and ideas) upheld Buenos Aires' central authority. After a disastrous and tyrannical period of rule by the nominally Federalist Juan Manuel Rosas, Buenos Aires and Unitarism prevailed, ushering in a new era of growth and prosperity with the Unitarist constitution of 1853.
Sheep were introduced and the Pampas took over the cultivation of cereal crops. European immigration, foreign investment and trade were hallmarks of the new liberalism. However, excessive foreign interests made the economy particularly vulnerable to world economic downturns; wealth was concentrated in the hands of the very few, and unemployment rose as smallholdings failed and farmers were forced to leave the land and head for the cities.
The universal language of Argentina is Spanish, but many natives and immigrants keep their mother tongues as a matter of pride.
| XX th Century |
The first decades of the 20th century saw increasingly weak civilian rule, economic failure, continuing resentment of the landed elite and distrust of British interests, leading to a military coup in 1943 which paved the way for the rise of dictator Juan Perón. An obscure colonel with a minor post in the labor ministry, he won the presidency in 1946 and again in 1952. With his equally popular and charismatic wife Eva at his side, he instituted a stringent economic program which stressed domestic industrialization and self-determination, appealing to both the conservative nationalist and working-class sections. His party was squashed by a military coup in 1955, leading to Perón's banishment to Spain and initiating 30 years of disastrous military rule, interspersed by only brief periods of civilian rule. Perón returned to rule briefly in 1973, dying in office in 1974 and bequeathing power to his third wife, Isabel. Increasing economic problems and political instability led to strikes, political kidnappings and guerrilla warfare. Isabel's government fell in 1976, and the new military government instituted a reign of terror.
The years 1976 to 1983 have been described as the years of the Dirty War. Opposition and criticism were eradicated by paramilitary death squads, which operated with the state's complicity, bringing about the 'disappearance' of between 10,000 and 30,000 citizens. The most famous victims of this period were the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, women who bravely kept an open, public vigil for the 'disappeared' members of their families, and who often 'disappeared' themselves.
This internal conflict ironically came to an end only with the emergence of a 'real' war in the south Atlantic: the battle for the Malvinas/Falklands. General Leopold Galtieri seized the Malvinas from the British to distract attention from Argentina's appalling political corruption and economic mismanagement. Surges of nationalistic hysteria in both countries resulted in a British flotilla sailing across the world to save one of the few remaining pink bits on the map. Britain was the eventual 'victor' in what was a mutually shameful and costly episode. Ownership of the Malvinas, however, remains disputed. In June 1995, the Argentine foreign minister offered to buy the islands, offering each of the 2000 islanders US$800,000 for their nationality. The matter has been further complicated by Britain's belief that oilfields lie offshore, and further bickering seems likely.
Ignominious failure at home and abroad finally sealed the fate of Argentina's military rule, and the country returned to the constitution of 1853. Former Perónist president Menem instituted major economic changes - selling off nationalized industries and opening the economy to foreign investment - which reduced inflation from 5000% to the present rate of 1%. President Fernando de la Rua of the UCR center-left Alliance, elected to a four-year term in 1999, has promised a crackdown on corruption and tough fiscal measures to balance Argentina's budget.
| Today |
President De la Rua’s administration, well into its second year now, has been struggling to bring Argentina’s economy out of a 3-year long economic recession. A bleak global scenario, together with growing political turmoil within and outside the government, forced Argentina to seek international financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund in order to avoid defaulting on its debt obligations. Despite the country’s growth potential and the variety of interesting investment options (telecommunications and mining are just two of the sectors that have just began to develop), international investors have been pulling out of the country until the economy shows clear signs of recovery. In spite of that, direct foreign investment keeps pouring into the country. Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo, who held the same position under former president Carlos Menem administration, has recently implemented a number of measures intended to bring Argentina out of its economic doldrums. Among the most controversial issues, Cavallo sent to Congress a bill intended to include the Euro in the currency of baskets pegged to the Argentine peso, in order to make local exports more competitive.
| Further Reading |
For a taste of the work of important poet and short-story writer, Jorge Luis Borges, try the unsurpassable short-story collection Labyrinths or the playful A Universal History of Infamy. Ernesto Sábato's On Heroes and Tombs is a psychological novel exploring the people and places of Buenos Aires. Manuel Puig's novels such as Kiss of the Spider Woman and Betrayed by Rita Hayworth focus on the ambiguous role of popular culture in Argentina. D F Sarmient's Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants is an eloquent but often condescending contemporary look at Federalism, and both Unitarism and Federalism are analyzed in José Luis Romero's A History of Argentine Political Thought. Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier by Richard W Slatta covers the history of that famous figure. Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle is surprisingly fresh, and his account of the gaucho is a vivid evocation of a way of life which many Argentines still relate to. The many books on Perón include Perón and the Enigma of Argentina by Robert Crassweller. The Disappeared: Voices from a Secret War by John Simpson and Jana Bennett is an excellent account of that shadowy period, the Dirty War. I Counted Them All Out and I Counted Them All Back is a journalistic account of the Falklands War by Brian Hanrahan and Robert Fox. Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia is an informed synthesis of life and landscape, and Gerald Durrell's entertaining accounts of his travels in Argentina include The Drunken Forest and The Whispering Land. Cineastes may want to check out the chilling Apartment Zero, the beautifully off-beat The Man Who Faced Southeast and the film version of Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman. |
