BRIEF HISTORY OF ARGENTINA

CONTENTS..
1. About Argentina. 2. Colonial Argentina.

3. Argentina in the 19th century.

4. Argentina in the 20th century.

5. 1944 San Juan Earthquake.

6. Wall Street Crash.

About Argentina
Officially the Argentine Republic.

Located in southeastern South America.

8th largest country in the world. 2nd largest in Latin America. Largest Spanish speaking nation. Capital & largest city is Buenos Aires.

Spanish as official language.

Colonial Argentina
Before Europeans came to Argentina it was thinly populated. In the Northwest people grew crops such as potatoes and squash. They sometimes lived in walled towns and they used metal and made pottery. However in most of Argentina people lived by hunting animals and gathering plants. They continued their hunter-gatherer lifestyle until the late 19th century. In 1516 Juan de Solis reached the River Plate but he was killed by the natives. He was followed by Sebastian Cabot who reached the River Plate area in 1526. Then in 1536 Pedro de Mendoza led an expedition to the area and he built a fort.

Juan de Solis

Sebastian Cabot

Pedro de Mendoza

Nevertheless later in the 16th century several towns were founded in the Northwest of what is now Argentina. Buenos Aires was founded in 1580 to give access to the sea. Yet the southern part of Argentina was left in the hands of the natives. Finally in 1776 a new Viceroy of the River Plate was formed with Buenos Aires as its capital. In 1806 the British captured Buenos Aires but they were forced to withdraw. In 1807 they attacked the city again but they were repelled. Nevertheless links between Argentina and Spain weakened in the early 19th century especially after 1808 when Napoleon forced the Spanish king to abdicate and made his own brother king of Spain. Finally on 25 May 1810 the Viceroy was deposed and a junta took control of Argentina. However the junta did not break all links with Spain until 1816. The United Provinces of the River Plate was declared on 9 July 1816.

Argentina in the 19th Century

Eventually in the 1820s the new state broke up. Bolivia became independent in 1825 and Uruguay was created as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil in 1828 after a war between the two countries.

In 1835 General Juan Manuel de Rosas became dictator of Argentina. He was a federalist but ironically he introduced a strong and repressive central government. However Rosas eventually alienated many people in the provinces and in 1852 a rebellion removed him from power.
Until the late 19th century the natives of Southern Argentina lived in their traditional way. However in 1879 General Julio Roca led an army to conquer them. The Conquest of the Desert was over by 1880.

General Juan Manuel de Rosas

General Julio Roca

Meanwhile the first railroad in Argentina was built in 1857. It was followed by many others. By 1900 there were over 10,000 miles of railroad in Argentina and by 1912 over 20,000 miles. The railways made it much easier to transport produce to the coast for export. Argentina exported meat, wool and grain and by 1900 she was the richest country in South America. Meanwhile the population of Argentina boomed partly due to immigrants from Spain and Italy. By the end of the century the population of Argentina was about 4 million.

Argentina in the 20th Century

In the 1920s Argentina was the 7th richest country in the world. However Argentina, like the rest of the world, was affected by the Wall Street Crash. In 1930 the army staged a coup and General Jose F. Uriburu became president of Argentina. Uriburu called an election in 1931 (although a major party, the Radical Party was banned from taking part). Another election was held in 1937. Despite many accusations of electoral fraud Roberto Oritz became president with Ramon Castillo as vice-president.

In January 1944 Argentina severed diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan. Finally on 27 March 1945 Argentina declared war on Germany.

General Jose F. Uriburu

Roberto Oritz

Ramon Castillo

1944 San Juan earthquake

The 1944 San Juan earthquake took place in the province of San Juan, in the center-west area of Argentina, a region highly prone to seismic events. This moderate to strong earthquake (estimated moment magnitudes range from 6.7 to 7.8 destroyed a large part of San Juan, the provincial capital, and killed 10,000 of its inhabitants, 10% of its population at the time. One third of the province population became homeless. It is acknowledged as the worst natural disaster in Argentine history.

Wall Street Crash

During the 1920s, the economy of the United States was booming. It was the largest and richest economy in the world. People made fortunes by buying stocks and shares on the United States' stockmarket. Many borrowed money so that they could invest. Prices kept increasing, making people richer. But, too much money was chasing too few stocks resulting in the market becoming over-heated. On 3 September 1929, stock prices reached an all-time high. Shortly, prices began to drop, leading to panic and mass-selling. By October 1929, the value of the market had nearly halved. This is known as the Wall Street Crash.

Suddenly everyone wanted to get their money out. Banks did not have enough money to repay everyone or to lend to businesses. As a result businesses failed, leading to high unemployment across America. As economies were linked together, the rest of the world suffered too.
During the 1920s, the German economy had been supported by loans from American banks. After the Wall Street Crash, the Americans wanted their money back and called in the loans. America gave Germany just 90 days to start repayments. Germany could not pay.

THANK YOU