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.
Uruguay
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Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in the southeastern region of South America. It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east, with the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. Uruguay is home to an estimated 3.42 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the area of its capital and largest city. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres, Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America, only larger in size than Suriname. Uruguay was inhabited by the Charrúa people for approximately 4000 years before the Portuguese established Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the region, in 1680. Montevideo was founded as a stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a struggle between Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to influence and intervention throughout the 19th century. Modern Uruguay is a constitutional republic, with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government. Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, lack of corruption, e-government, on a per-capita basis, Uruguay contributes more troops to United Nations peace-keeping missions than any other country. It ranks second in the region on economic freedom, income equality, per-capita income, Uruguay is the third-best country on the continent in terms of HDI, GDP growth, innovation and infrastructure. It is regarded as a country by the UN. Uruguay is also the third-best ranked in the world in e-Participation, Uruguay is an important global exporter of combed wool, rice, soybeans, frozen beef, malt and milk. Nearly 95% of Uruguays electricity comes from energy, mostly hydroelectric facilities. The Economist named Uruguay country of the year in 2013, acknowledging the innovative policy of legalizing the production, sale, the name of the namesake river comes from the Spanish pronunciation of the regional Guarani word for it. There are several interpretations, including bird-river, the name could also refer to a river snail called uruguá that was plentiful in the water. The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrúa, the Portuguese discovered the region of present-day Uruguay in 1512. The Spanish arrived in present-day Uruguay in 1516, the indigenous peoples fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited their settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries
3.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
4.
Quechua language
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Quechua /ˈkɛtʃwə/, also known as runa simi, is an indigenous language family, with variations spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Andes and highlands of South America. Derived from an ancestral language, it is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Approximately 13% of Peruvians speak Quechua and it is perhaps most widely known for being the main language of the Inca Empire, and was disseminated by the colonizers throughout their reign. Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of the Inca Empire, the Inca were one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke forms of Quechua. In the Cusco region, Quechua was influenced by languages such as Aymara. The Cuzco variety of Quechua developed as quite distinct, in similar ways, diverse dialects developed in different areas, related to existing local languages, when the Inca Empire ruled and imposed Quechua as the official language. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century and it was officially recognized by the Spanish administration and many Spanish learned it in order to communicate with the local peoples. Clergy of the Catholic Church adopted Quechua to use as the language of evangelization, given its use by the Catholic missionaries, the range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas. In the late 18th century, colonial officials ended administrative and religious use of Quechua, the Crown banned even loyal pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vegas Comentarios Reales. Despite a brief revival of the immediately after the Latin American nations achieved independence in the 19th century. Gradually its use declined so that it was mostly by indigenous people in the more isolated. Nevertheless in the 21st century, those speaking Quechua language speakers number 8 to 10 million people across South America, the oldest written records of the language are by missionary Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published his Grammatica o arte de la lengua de los indios de los reynos del Perú in 1560. In 1975 Peru became the first country to recognize Quechua as one of its official languages, the major obstacle to the usage and teaching of Quechua is the lack of written materials in that language, such as books, newspapers, software, and magazines. The Bible has been translated into Quechua and is distributed by certain missionary groups, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially a spoken language. In recent years, Quechua has been introduced in intercultural education in Bolivia, Ecuador. Even in these areas, the governments are reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking populations, some indigenous people in each of the countries are having their children study in Spanish for the purposes of social advancement. Radio Nacional del Perú broadcasts news and agrarian programs in Quechua for periods in the mornings, Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed in much of the Andean region, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua
5.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
6.
Provinces of Argentina
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Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, during the War of Independence the main cities and their surrounding countrysides became provinces though the intervention of their cabildos. The Anarchy of the Year XX completed this process, shaping the original thirteen provinces, Jujuy seceded from Salta in 1834, and the thirteen provinces became fourteen. After seceding for a decade, Buenos Aires Province accepted the 1853 Constitution of Argentina in 1861, a law from 1862 designated as national territories those under federal control but outside the frontiers of the provinces. In 1884 they served as bases for the establishment of the governorates of Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. The agreement about a dispute with Chile in 1900 created the National Territory of Los Andes, its lands were incorporated into Jujuy, Salta. La Pampa and Chaco became provinces in 1951, Misiones did so in 1953, and Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, in 1955. The last national territory, Tierra del Fuego, became the Tierra del Fuego, Argentina is a federation of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Provinces are divided for administration purposes into departments and municipalities, except for Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires City itself is divided into communes. Provinces hold all the power that they not to delegate to the federal government, they must be representative republics. Beyond this they are autonomous, they enact their own constitutions, freely organize their local governments. Since 1983 four provinces were intervened, namely Catamarca, Corrientes, Santiago del Estero, article 61 of the Constitution of the city of Buenos Aires states that Suffrage is free, equal, secret, universal, compulsory and not accumulative. The foreign residents enjoy this right, with the obligations, on equal terms with Argentine citizens registered in this district. Argentina is divided into seven geographical regions, many provinces having their territories across more than one. Source, Demographics of Argentina ISO 3166-2, AR, the ISO codes for the provinces of Argentina. com Argentine Provinces since 1973 at World Statesmen
7.
Buenos Aires Province
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Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous Argentinian province. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the capital until it was federalized in 1880. The current capital of the province is the city of La Plata, the entire province is part of the Pampas geographical region. The province has a population of about 15.6 million people, nearly 10 million people live in Greater Buenos Aires, the metropolitan area surrounding the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The area of the province,307,571 km2, makes it the largest in Argentina with around 11% of the total area. The inhabitants of the province before the 16th century advent of Spanish colonisation were aboriginal peoples such as the Charrúas and their culture was lost over the next 350 years. They were subjected to Eurasian plagues from which few survived, the survivors joined other tribes or have been mostly absorbed by Argentinas European ethnic majority. Pedro de Mendoza founded Santa María del Buen Ayre in 1536, even though the first contact with the aboriginals was peaceful, it soon became hostile. The city was evacuated in 1541, Juan de Garay re-founded the settlement in 1580 as Santísima Trinidad y Puerto Santa María de los Buenos Aires. Amidst ongoing conflict with the aboriginals, the cattle farms extended from Buenos Aires, jesuits unsuccessfully tried to peacefully assimilate the aboriginals into the European culture brought by the Spanish conquistadores. A certain balance was found at the end of the 18th century, the end to this situation came in 1879 with the Conquest of the Desert in which the aboriginals where almost completely exterminated. After the independence from Spain in 1816, the city and province of Buenos Aires became the focus of an intermittent Argentine Civil War with other provinces. A Federal Pact secured by Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1831 led to the establishment of the Argentine Confederation and to his gaining the sum of public power, which provided a tenuous unity. Ongoing disputes regarding the influence of Buenos Aires, between Federalists and Unitarians, and over the Port of Buenos Aires fueled periodic hostilities, the province was declared independent on September 11,1852, as the State of Buenos Aires. Concessions gained in the 1859 Pact of San José de Flores, intermittent conflicts with the nation did not truly cease until 1880, when the city of Buenos Aires was formally federalized and, thus, administratively separated from the province. La Plata was founded in 1882 by Governor Dardo Rocha for the purpose of becoming the provincial capital, the equivalent of a billion dollars of British investment and pro-development, education and immigration policies pursued at the national level subsequently spurred dramatic economic growth. Driven by European immigration and improved health, the population, like Argentinas, nearly doubled to one million by 1895. Rail lines connected nearly every town and hamlet in the province by 1914 and this era of accelerated development was cut short by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which caused a sharp drop in commodity prices and led to a halt in the flow of investment funds between nations
8.
La Pampa Province
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La Pampa is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén, in 1604 Hernandarias was the first European explorer to reach the area, it was later explored by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera in 1662. But it was not until the 18th century that Spanish colonists established permanent settlements here, resistance of the local indigenous people prevented much expansion until the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas. It did not cease until Julio Rocas conquest of the desert in the 19th century, the territory was divided between the officers, and they erected the first Spanish settlements. The Territorio Nacional de La Pampa Central was erected in 1884, containing the Río Negro Province, by 1915 there were 110,000 residents, a reflection of movement to that area. In 1945 the territory was divided and La Pampa became a province, in 1952 its constitution was indited and the province was renamed after Eva Peron. In 1955 after the government changed and the Peróns went into exile, situated in the middle of the pampas, the low, flat steppe receives 500 mm of rain a year, diminishing towards the West. The low humidity and temperate weather result in high contrast in temperature between day and night, which is reflected in the vegetation of the region, heat waves are frequent, and temperatures reach over 30°C sometimes. These are often followed by severe storms and much colder periods, by early March nights are already noticeably cooler, and April usually brings the first frosty nights. Averages range from 10°C to 20°C during the day, and 0°C to 7°C at night, winters in La Pampa are usually dry and sunny, with cool days and quite cold nights, and some marked variations between warmer and colder periods. Daytime temperatures range from 10°C in the north and west, to about 5°C in the southernmost areas, nighttime lows range from about 0°C in the northeast corner to around -5°C or slightly below freezing in many southern and western areas. That being said, northerly winds occasionally bring days of up to 25°C, nights below -7°C are quite common everywhere, with temperatures below -10°C possible in most areas. Overall, precipitation ranges from about 700 mm in the east/northeast, to 500 mm in the centre, snow is quite common almost everywhere, although frost can be more common and happen anytime from March to October. Northwestern La Pampa is part of the pampa húmeda, adjacent to the Province of Buenos Aires, the influence of the Cuyo region can be seen in the west, with a low mountain range of 600 meters. There are only two rivers in the province, the Colorado on the border with the Province of Río Negro. The Salados level has been dropping, as its tributaries in the Province of Mendoza are diverted for irrigation, La Pampa, long Argentinas most economically agricultural province, produced an estimated US$3.144 billion in output in 2006, or, US$10,504 per capita. Now, the GDP per capita of the province is of US$14.000, agriculture contributes a fourth to La Pampas economy, the most important activity being cattle ranching, with 3,632,684 head, which takes place all over the province. Other livestock include 202,428 sheep,140,498 goats and 64,118 pigs, the Northeast, on the more fertile lands, has also an important activity with wheat, sunflower, maize, alfalfa, barley, and other cereals
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