Essay Title: Adopt-a-Country Report: Argentina This essay is a general description of Argentina, including economy, geography, and population statistics.

Essay by pr0phet_triumvirHigh School, 11th grade December 2003

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The country of Argentina is located in the southern region of South America. A Spanish colony until 1816, it was torn by interior political conflict between civilian, liberal, conservative, and military factions. After WWII, a long period of authoritarian rule was followed by a military junta in 1976; democracy returned 1983.3

Argentina, the second-largest country in South America, lies between Chile and Uruguay, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. It has 2,736,690 sq km of land, is the eighth largest country in the world1, and is slightly less than 30% the size of the USA. Its coastline is 4,989 km long, and its perimeter is 9,665 km long. 37,812,817 people call Argentina home, and it has a growth rate of 1.13%. It has a temperate climate, although the southwest is sub Antarctic and the southeast is arid. Its capital is Buenos Aires, and it has a democratic government, although as I will explain later it is in severe disarray, and it has had six presidents in the last seven months.3

Argentina's official language is Spanish, although many citizens speak English, French, German, and Italian. 92% of the population consider themselves Roman Catholic, although less than 20% of these actually practice the religion. Their literacy rate is 96.2%.3

The official name of Argentina is The Argentine Republic (Spanish Rebública Argentina). The national holiday is Revolution Day, on May 25, the day it decided (in 1810) to free itself from Spain. Their Constitution was written May 1, 1853, and revised in August 1994. The current President of the Argentine Republic is Eduardo Alberto Duhalde, who was selected by the National Congress on January 1, 2002, to fill the spot of the former president, De La Rua, who resigned on December 20, 2001. The president appoints the cabinet. The next presidential elections will be...