1.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
2.
Spanish Empire
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The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there. Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
3.
Juan Manuel de Rosas
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Juan Manuel de Rosas, nicknamed Restorer of the Laws, was a politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Although born into a family, Rosas independently amassed a personal fortune. Rosas enlisted his workers in a militia, as was common for rural proprietors. Victorious in warfare, personally influential, and with vast landholdings and he eventually reached the rank of brigadier general, the highest in the Argentine army, and became the undisputed leader of the Federalist Party. In December 1829, Rosas became governor of the province of Buenos Aires, in 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognising provincial autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. When his term of office ended in 1832, Rosas departed to the frontier to wage war on the indigenous peoples, after his supporters launched a coup in Buenos Aires, Rosas was asked to return and once again took office as governor. Rosas reestablished his dictatorship and formed the repressive Mazorca, an armed parapolice that killed thousands of citizens, elections became a farce, and the legislature and judiciary became docile instruments of his will. Rosas created a cult of personality and his regime became totalitarian in nature, Rosas faced many threats to his power during the late 1830s and early 1840s. Rosas persevered and extended his influence in the provinces, exercising control over them through direct and indirect means. By 1848, he had extended his power beyond the borders of Buenos Aires and was ruler of all of Argentina, Rosas also attempted to annex the neighbouring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. When the Empire of Brazil began aiding Uruguay in its struggle against Argentina, Rosas declared war in August 1851 and this short conflict ended with the defeat of Rosas and his flight to Britain. His last years were spent in living as a tenant farmer until his death in 1877. Rosas garnered a public perception among Argentines as a brutal tyrant. In 1989, his remains were repatriated by the government in an attempt to promote unity, seeking forgiveness for him. Rosas remains a figure in Argentina in the 21st century. Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas was born on 30 March 1793 at his familys house in Buenos Aires. He was the first child of León Ortiz de Rosas and Agustina López de Osornio, León Ortiz was the son of an immigrant from the Spanish Province of Burgos. A military officer with a career, León Ortiz had married into a wealthy Criollo family
4.
Peru
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Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures spanning from the Norte Chico civilization in Caral, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima, ideas of political autonomy later spread throughout Spanish America and Peru gained its independence, which was formally proclaimed in 1821. After the battle of Ayacucho, three years after proclamation, Peru ensured its independence, subsequently, the country has undergone changes in government from oligarchic to democratic systems. Peru has gone through periods of political unrest and internal conflict as well as periods of stability, Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is a country with a high Human Development Index score. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing, the Peruvian population, estimated at 31.2 million in 2015, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages and this mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music. The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans, thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, the Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, the earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using such as irrigation and terracing, camelid husbandry. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money, the oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal, the Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BC along what is now Perus Pacific Coast was an example of early pre-Incan culture. The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, on the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo, in the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco
5.
Pampas
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These vast plains are a natural region only interrupted by the low Ventana and Tandil hills near Bahía Blanca and Tandil, with a height of 1,300 m and 500 m, respectively. The climate is warm, with precipitation of 600 to 1,200 mm, more or less evenly distributed through the year and this area is also one of the distinct physiography provinces of the larger Paraná-Paraguay Plain division. These plains contain unique wildlife because of the different terrains around it, some of this wildlife includes the rhea, the pampas deer, several species of armadillos, the pampas fox, the white-eared opossum, the elegant crested tinamou, and several other species. The climate of the Pampas is generally temperate, gradually giving way to a subtropical climate in the north. Summer temperatures are more uniform than winter temperatures, generally ranging from 28 to 33 °C during the day, however, most cities in the Pampas occasionally have high temperatures that push 38 °C. This occurs when a warm, dry, northerly wind blows from southern Brazil, autumn arrives gradually in March, and peaks in April and May. In April, highs range from 20 to 25 °C and lows from 9 to 13 °C, the first frosts arrive in mid-April in the south, and in late May or early June in the north. Winters are generally mild, although cold waves do occur, normal temperatures range from 12 to 19 °C during the day, and from 1 to 6 °C at night. With strong northerly winds, days of over 25 °C can be recorded almost everywhere, whereas during cold waves, frost occurs everywhere in the Pampas, although it is much more frequent in the southwest, and less so around the Parana and Uruguay Rivers. Temperatures under −5 °C can occur everywhere, whereas values of −10 °C or lower are confined to the south, snow never falls in the northernmost third, and is rare and light elsewhere, except for exceptional events where depths have reached 30 cm. Springs are very variable, it is warmer than fall in most areas, violent storms are more common, as well as wide temperature variations, days of 35 °C can give way to nights of under 5 °C or even frost, all within only a few days. Precipitation ranges from 1,200 mm in the northeast, to about 500 mm in the southern and western edges. In the west, it is seasonal, with some places recording averages of 120 mm monthly in the summer. The eastern areas have small peaks in the fall and in the spring, however, where summer rain falls as short, heavy storms, winter rain falls mostly as cold drizzle, so that the amount of rainy days is fairly constant. Very intense thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer, and it has among the most frequent lightning, the severe thunderstorms produce intense hailstorms, and both floods and flash floods, as well as the most consistently active tornado region outside the central and southeastern US. Frequent wildfires ensure that only small plants such as grasses flourish, the dominant vegetation types are grassy prairie and grass steppe in which numerous species of the grass genus Stipa are particularly conspicuous. Pampas grass is a species of the Pampas. Vegetation typically includes perennial grasses and herbs, different strata of grasses occur because of gradients of water availability
6.
Afro-Argentines
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At the Argentine national census of 2010 the total population was 40,117,096, of whom 149,493 identified as Afro-Argentine. The Afro-Argentine population resulting from the trade during the centuries of Spanish domination of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata had a major role in Argentine history. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries they comprised up to fifty percent of the population in some provinces, by the late 19th century the Afro-Argentine population consisted mainly of women, who mixed with the large numbers of European immigrants. Over 5% of Argentines state they have at least 1 black ancestor, today there is still a notable Afro-Argentine community in the Buenos Aires districts of San Telmo and La Boca. There are also quite a few African-descended Argentines in Merlo and Ciudad Evita cities, as part of the process of conquest, the economic regimes of the European colonies in America developed various forms of forced labor exploitation of the American aboriginals. This led the Spaniards to supplement aboriginal manpower with slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, mexico and Peru alone lost nearly 90% of their indigenous population in the first 50 years after the Conquest. Well into the 19th century, mining and agriculture accounted for the bulk of activity in America. In the case of Argentina, the influx of African slaves began in the colonies of the Rio de la Plata in 1588, slave traders kidnapped Africans, who were then sold and shipped from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean. Trafficking flourished through the port of Buenos Aires when the city allowed English traders to import slaves through it, to provide slaves to the East Indies, the Spanish crown granted contracts known as Asientos to various companies from other countries, mainly Portuguese, English, Dutch and French. By 1713 Britain, victorious in the War of the Spanish Succession, had the monopoly of this trade, the last Asiento was drawn up with the Royal Society of the Philippines in 1787. Until the 1784 ban, African slaves were measured and then branded, before the 16th century slaves had arrived in relatively small numbers from the Cape Verde islands. Five Africans are estimated to have perished on the voyage for each arrival, the slaves were forced to work in agriculture, livestock, domestic work and to a lesser extent crafts. In urban areas, many slaves made handicrafts for sale, while revenues went to their masters, the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo and Monserrat housed a large quantity of slaves, although most were sent to the interior provinces. An important part of the African population also inhabited other provinces, today one of the slums of the city of Corrientes is still known as Camba Cuá, from the Guarani kamba kua, meaning cave of the Blacks. The area most densely populated by Africans was located in the neighborhood of Monserrat, also known as Barrio del Tambor, slaves would group themselves in societies they called nations, some of which were Conga, Cabunda, African Argentine, Mozambique, etc. The commonalities among the places of the nations included artificially flattened and sanded opened spaces for dancing. In some cases the rooms were carpeted, and curtained, having been provided these items by the slave owner, the nation had its king and queen, previously chosen by democratic election, and a throne was erected where the flag of a particular nation was displayed. The headquarters was the site of social gatherings and dances, often the Afro-Argentine societies centered around the barrios, such as the del Mondongo nation or the del Tambor society
7.
Central Argentine Railway
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The Central Argentine Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge,5 ft 6 in, private companies, owned by an american bussinessman, that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was established in the 19th century, to serve the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba, in November 1855 the report was presented in Rosario. Campbell had been the engineer in the New York-Harlem railway line and been hired by William Wheelwright to make, the costs estimated by Campbell in the report, were the following, The distance estimated was 396 km and the costs were in Argentine Peso. The studio revealed a costos of GBP4,000 per mile built, a decree promulgated on April granted the company the lands to build roads, docks, stations and stops, that will be given to the company in perpetuity and free of lines. In 1863, the government of Argentina granted the company, led by engineer William Wheelwright, the grant included a clause to populate the lands along and around the railway that were given to the company by the national state. The construction works started in April 1863 with the establishment of the terminus in Rosario, the line, a 1,676 mm broad gauge railway. In September 1867 the line reached Villa María, Córdoba and the works ceased, minister Rawson expressed disagreement for the paralization of the works while passengers also protested against poor conditions of the service. The works for the Rosario Central station and other stations had not begun. The company alleged that they could not continue the extension of the line until the lands were given. On September 1867 the Government authorized a new disbursement of funds for $1,500,000 to conclude the pending works, finally in March 1870 the railway reached the city of Córdoba and it was officially inaugurated by then Presidente of Argentina Domingo Sarmiento on April 13. The CAR was the longest railway system at time and the first to join two provinces. During 18 years the company did not built any km else so in 1888 the railway system still had 396 km of extension, the company sent a commissioner to Europe to bring immigrants to form agricultural colonies, as required by the concession contract. They were settled first in Roldán, the first stop after Rosario, in 1891 the CA opened Fisherton Station in the west of Rosario, as well as new branch entering Rosario from the southwest and a stop on said line. Victoria station was opened in 1891. Trains to Zelaya and Capilla del Señor departed from Victoria for the first time one year later, the CAR also installed the first crossbuck and manually-operated gates in the many level crossings existing by then. The CA absorbed a company, Ferrocarril Oeste Santafesino, in 1900. In 1908, CA was merged with another company, Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway, which served the Buenos Aires–Rosario line. The fused company opened two new stops in Rosario, Parada Cruce Alberdi in the north-center of the city, and Parada Golf, in the limit of the municipality
8.
Paleontology
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms evolution and interactions with each other, paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuviers work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός, palaios, i. e. old, ancient, ὄν, on, i. e. being, creature and λόγος, logos, i. e. speech, thought, study. Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics. The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged, but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend. The simplest definition is the study of ancient life, paleontology is one of the historical sciences, along with archaeology, geology, astronomy, cosmology, philology and history itself. This means that it aims to describe phenomena of the past, hence it has three main elements, description of the phenomena, developing a general theory about the causes of various types of change, and applying those theories to specific facts. Sometimes the smoking gun is discovered by an accident during other research. Paleontology lies on the boundary between biology and geology since paleontology focuses on the record of past life but its source of evidence is fossils. In addition paleontology often uses techniques derived from other sciences, including biology, osteology, ecology, chemistry, techniques developed in engineering have been used to analyse how ancient organisms might have worked, for example how fast Tyrannosaurus could move and how powerful its bite was. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised subdivisions, vertebrate paleontology concentrates on fossils of vertebrates, from the earliest fish to the immediate ancestors of modern mammals. Invertebrate paleontology deals with fossils of such as molluscs, arthropods. Paleobotany focuses on the study of plants, but traditionally includes the study of fossil algae. Palynology, the study of pollen and spores produced by plants and protists. Micropaleontology deals with all microscopic fossil organisms, regardless of the group to which they belong, one example is the development of oxygenic photosynthesis by bacteria, which hugely increased the productivity and diversity of ecosystems. This also caused the oxygenation of the atmosphere, together, these were a prerequisite for the evolution of the most complex eukaryotic cells, from which all multicellular organisms are built
9.
Woolly mammoth
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The woolly mammoth is a species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene. The woolly mammoth diverged from the steppe mammoth about 400,000 years ago in East Asia and its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. Mammoth remains had long known in Asia before they became known to Europeans in the 17th century. The origin of these remains was long a matter of debate, the mammoth was identified as an extinct species of elephant by Georges Cuvier in 1796. The woolly mammoth was roughly the size as modern African elephants. Males reached shoulder heights between 2.7 and 3.4 m and weighed up to 6 tonnes, females reached 2. 6–2.9 m in shoulder heights and weighed up to 4 tonnes. A newborn calf weighed about 90 kilograms, the woolly mammoth was well adapted to the cold environment during the last ice age. It was covered in fur, with a covering of long guard hairs. The colour of the coat varied from dark to light, the ears and tail were short to minimise frostbite and heat loss. It had long, curved tusks and four molars, which were replaced six times during the lifetime of an individual and its behaviour was similar to that of modern elephants, and it used its tusks and trunk for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The diet of the mammoth was mainly grass and sedges. Individuals could probably reach the age of 60 and its habitat was the mammoth steppe, which stretched across northern Eurasia and North America. The woolly mammoth coexisted with humans, who used its bones and tusks for making art, tools, and dwellings. Isolated populations survived on St. Paul Island until 5,600 years ago, after its extinction, humans continued using its ivory as a raw material, a tradition that continues today. It has been proposed the species could be recreated through cloning, the first woolly mammoth remains studied by European scientists were examined by Hans Sloane in 1728 and consisted of fossilised teeth and tusks from Siberia. Sloane was the first to recognise that the remains belonged to elephants, others interpreted Sloanes conclusion slightly differently, arguing the flood had carried elephants from the Tropics to the Arctic. Sloanes paper was based on descriptions and a few scattered bones collected in Siberia. He discussed the question of whether or not the remains were from elephants, in 1738, Johann Philipp Breyne argued that mammoth fossils represented some kind of elephant
10.
Race track
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A race track is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals. A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses, racetracks are also used in the study of animal locomotion. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways, a racetrack is a permanent facility or building. Racecourse is a term for a horse racing track, found in countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Hong Kong. Race tracks built for bicycles are known as velodromes, circuit is a common alternate term for racetrack, given the circuit configuration of most race tracks, allowing races to occur over several laps. A race course, as opposed to a racecourse, is a term for non-permanent tracks for sports, particularly running, water sports, road racing. Many sports usually held on racetracks also can occur on temporary tracks, there is some evidence of racetracks being developed in several ancient civilizations. The most developed ancient racetracks were the hippodromes of the Ancient Greeks, both of these structures were designed for horse and chariot racing. The stadium of the Circus Maximus in Ancient Rome could hold 200,000 spectators, racing facilities existed during the Middle Ages, and there are records of a public racecourse being opened at Newmarket in London in 1174. In 1780 the Earl of Derby created a course on his estate at Epsom. Racecourses in the British Isles are based on grass, known as turf tracks, in the United States, the race tracks are dirt. With the advent of the automobile in the late twentieth century. The earliest tracks were modified horse racing courses, racing automobiles in such facilities began in September 1896, at Narragansett Park in Cranston, Rhode Island. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was opened in August 1909, beginning in the early 1900s, motorcycle races were run on high, banked, wooden race tracks called board tracks. During the 1920s, many of the races on the AAA Championship circuit were run on board tracks. Modern racetracks are designed with safety being paramount, following incidents of spectator. These often involve run off areas, barriers, and high fencing, several racetracks are incorporated into larger venues or complexes, incorporating golf courses, museums, hotels, and conference centres. Some racetracks are small enough to be contained indoors, for such as motocross, cycling
Argentina
Buenos Aires
