| Highlights |
The heart and soul of the capital Buenos Aires remains, as in colonial days, around the Town Hall region and Plaza de Mayo from where the independence movement began. Highlights are the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace), Cathedral (burial sight of Argentina's liberator, San Martin), Nuestra Senora de la Merced and the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). There are scores of museums, including The National Art Museum, the Folk Art Museum. Don't miss the Teatro Colon. The city of Cordoba is a lively university town with interesting architecture and cultural scene, whilst Salta has a colonial cathedral containing a gold altar and is set amidst arid, cactus-strewn, multicoloured, mineral rich mountains. Tucuman, the 'Garden of Argentina', has some of the finest colonial churches in the country. One of the most famous sights in the whole country is the staggering Iguazu Falls on the border with Brazil and Paraguay, thundering 70m to the bed of the Parana River. Mar del Plata, one of the most popular resorts on the Atlantic coast, has several kilometres of fine beaches. Mendoza, a balmy city only 6 hours drive from Santiago de Chile is famous for its vineyards. Heading south, explore the gorgeous turquoise glacial lakes around Bariloche. You can ski at world class resorts Cerro Chapelco, Tronador and San Martin de Los Andes during the winter. Further south is El Chalten, a windswept valley town where hikers can head to the famous Mount Fitzroy, a haven for climbers and trekkers, and the tourist ridden El Calafate that has sprung to service the staggering, toothpaste-blue Perito Moreno Glacier that every year creaks and cracks into an icy lake. Visit Ushuaia, the city that sells itself as 'the End of the World' due to its position at Argentina's southernmost tip, the gateway to Antarctica.
Argentina is a vast country, and so it follows that it has an enormous amount to offer the hungry traveller. Buenos Aires is an elegant shopper's paradise and a cosmopolitan cultural centre, with its seductive tango shows and top end restaurants where you can enjoy an exquisite steak accompanied by a hefty bottle of Malbec for even less than you might imagine.
Outside of the capital, the landscape swings from the steamy jungle in the northeast, humming with wildlife, to the wide open Pampas where you can gallop for miles in the sole company of cows and horses; from the perfectly preserved national parks in the south that harbour lakes glowing with glacial minerals and majestic Araucaria trees, to the vast reflective salt flats in the desert north. The only thing that remains a constant in this enormously diverse country is the people, who are unfailingly welcoming and affectionate, never far from offering you a steaming sip of the country's favourite drink: mate.
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| History |
Europeans first arrived in what is now known as Argentina in the early 16th century. After becoming a viceroyalty of Spain in the 1770s, Argentina achieved independence in 1816.
Between the mid-19th century and 1946, Argentina swung from civilian to military rule, and from radical to conservative policies.
A coup resulted in the rise of Lieutenant General Juan Domingo Perón as president in 1943. After winning the election of 1946, Perón instigated a policy of extreme nationalism and social improvement. At his side throughout his rise to power was his second wife, former actress Eva Perón, until her death from cancer in 1952; she remains Argentina's most iconic female figure.
President Perón was overthrown in 1955, but ensuing administrations failed to secure the full allegiance of either the people or the trade unions, and he was re-elected in 1973. On his death, a year later, Perón's third wife Isabel took office, but she was deposed by a military coup in 1976.
The end of the Peronista period heralded perhaps the darkest period in Argentina's history. Driven by an obsessive fear of 'Communism' and 'subversion', the new military regime instituted a reign of terror in which 'disappearances', torture and extra-judicial murder were commonplace.
Wearing white headscarves, the mothers of those who 'disappeared' during the Dirty War, as it is known, can still be seen silently marching around Plaza de Mayo every Thursday afternoon
Argentina's invasion of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) in 1982, led to defeat at the hands of the British, an event which causes friction between the two nations even today. Ironically, the Dirty War ended only when the Argentine military attempted a real military operation in the Falklands.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner succeeded her husband, Néstor Carlos Kirchner, in 2007, becoming Argentina's first elected female president. She came to power promising more of the same centre-left populist policies that had served her husband so well, achieving economic recovery and enormous popularity. Soon, however, the US claimed to have found evidence of 'suitcase scandals' - where illegal money from Venezuela was allegedly couriered in to aid her election.
In early 2008, Kirchner took a hard line with the country's farmers, imposing export tax hikes. The whole agricultural sector rebelled, blocking major roads, and consequently seeing food shortages in several parts of the country. Former Kirchner acolytes were then involved in violent actions against the protesters, bringing back horrific memories of former strong-arm governments. Cristina Kirchner's popularity has plummeted, and in 2009 she lost her majority in Congress. After the boom years, Argentina's inflation remains high and the economy continues to sputter. The country teeters on the edge of recession, but a weakening peso makes Argentina a cheap travel destination.
In 2010, Argentina became the first country in South America to legalise same-sex marriage.
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