Argentina

E

Health and Welfare

The National Institute of Social Welfare has administered most Argentine welfare programmes since its founding in 1944. Health services are provided to workers by the various unions and to others by free hospital clinics. Medical standards are relatively high in the cities, and efforts are constantly being made to improve medical facilities located in outlying rural areas. In 1990 the government spent 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health. There is one doctor for every 332 people in Argentina. Life expectancy at birth is 72.8 years for men and 80.4 years for women (2008).

F

Defence

The Argentine military establishment is one of the most modern and best equipped in Latin America and has historically played a prominent part in national affairs. Conscription was abolished in 1995. The army has a strength of about 41,400 (2004). The navy consists of an aircraft carrier (in reserve), six missile-equipped destroyers, and a number of lighter ships and submarines; it has a strength of about 17,500 (2004). The air force, with 12,500 personnel (2004), has about 200 combat aircraft, including jet fighters and bombers.

G

International Organizations

Argentina is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Organization of American States (OAS), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Mercosur.

VI

History

The north-western region of Argentina formed part of the Inca Empire, and the Pampas was dominated by nomadic Native Americans. In February 1516, the Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís, then engaged in a search for a south-west passage to the East Indies, piloted his vessel into the great estuary now known as the River Plate (or Río 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 sailed up the river later called the Paraná to a point near the site of modern Rosario. They constructed a fort and then pushed up the river as far as the region now occupied by 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.

A

Early Settlements

Colonization of the region was 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 River Plate, 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 Martínez de Irala, one of Mendoza’s lieutenants, founded Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay), which was the first permanent settlement in the La Plata region. From their base at Asunción, the Spanish gradually won control over the territory between the Paraná 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 was 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 centre 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.