Argentina

Argentina The Argentine Republic (República Argentina) since 1853. Previously it was the United Provinces of South America (or of the Río de la Plata ‘River Plate’) (1816–53); part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776–1816); and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1776). The Spanish plata also means ‘silver’, thus Río de la Plata is the ‘River of Silver’ or ‘Silver River’. The name is said to have been coined by Spanish explorers who were attracted to the area by rumours of great mineral wealth and who then noticed the silver ornaments worn by the natives. Thus the name Argentina from the Spanish argentino ‘silvery’ is really a Latin name meaning ‘(Land of) the Silver (River)’. The first Europeans to arrive were the Spanish in 1515 and in 1534 the Spanish king despatched Pedro de Mondoza to take control of the government of the lands of the Río de la Plata. Two British invasions of Buenos Aires, the capital, in 1806 and 1807, and the entry of Napoleonic forces into Spain in 1808, encouraged the population of Buenos Aires, much larger than the rest of the country, to rise against the Spaniards in 1810 and independence was declared in 1816. Sometimes called ‘The Argentine’.