ARGENTINA 



334 



ARGENTINA 



RGENTINA, ar jcn tee ' nah, the 

 popular name for the nation officially termed 

 AntiKNTiNE REPUBLIC, which is the largest 

 Spanish-American country of South America. 

 Brazil, its great neighbor, is more than twice 

 as large, but Brazil is Portuguese in its origin, 

 customs and language. No .other Spanish- 

 speaking nation on the continent is so popu- 

 lous, so rich as Argentina, or, except Chile, so 

 favorably situated as to climate. 



It has 1,153,000 square miles, a larger area 

 than all of the United States east of the Mis- 

 sissippi River plus all of the states bordering 

 that stream on the west, except one-third of 

 Louisiana. Its population was estimated to be 

 9,710,000 in 1916; 

 the six small New 

 England States 

 alone have nearly 

 as many people. 

 When it is under- 

 stood that about 

 one - seventh of 

 Argentina's peo- 

 ple are in one 

 city (the mag- 

 nificent capital, 

 Buenos Aires), it 

 is clear that the 

 vast expanse of 

 the country is 

 sparsely settled. 

 In Buenos Aires 

 there 



are 



ARGENTINA 

 Location, in black, shows 

 the proportion of the conti- 

 over nent occupied by this great 



18,000 people to country ' 

 the square mile; in some entire inland prov- 

 inces there is only one person to three square 

 miles. Comparing Argentina with Canadian 

 provinces, we find that it has over twice the 

 combined area of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 

 and nine times the number of people. 



The People and the Cities. In its population 

 Argentina presents a strange contrast to other 

 Spanish-American lands. We find here a Babel 

 of European languages, a hive of human indus- 

 try, a metropolis unapproached in size by any 



other Spanish-American city or by any city of 

 Spain itself, or by any city in the world south 

 of the equator, and an almost feverish striv- 

 ing for material wealth. The steady industry 

 of Northern Spain, from which the early set- 

 tlers so generally came, is united with the 

 imagination and enterprise of less steady peo- 

 ples. Spanish conservatism is offset by a striv- 

 ing for the new in modern life and achieve- 

 ment. 



Within the past half-century Argentina has 

 received nearly twice as many immigrants 

 from Italy as from Spain. Two and one-third 

 millions of Italians have been added to its 

 citizenry within the period named. At one 

 time it was thought not unlikely that their 

 language might become the language of the 

 whole population; but the Spanish tongue, 

 marvelous in its perfection and easy to acquire, 

 has held its own, and all immigrants have 

 been assimilated in the population. These in- 

 clude French, Russian, German, British and 

 Portuguese, in large numbers, together with 

 other nationalities, and the population con- 

 tinues to grow rapidly with streams of immi- 

 gration. Thus far, but few North Americans 

 have sought permanent homes in Argentina, 

 though some (like Thomas B. Wood in the 

 educational and religious world and others in 

 commercial and industrial fields) have long 

 been conspicuous there. The number of such 

 persons from the United States and the Do- 

 minion of Canada will grow with the increas- 

 ing acquaintance and mutual appreciation be- 

 tween the Northern and Southern peoples of 

 this hemisphere, whose interests have so much 

 in common, despite the barriers of language 

 and traditional influences. 



Argentina, like Chile, has been free from 

 any negro problem, for it never contained any 

 African population worth mentioning. The 

 Indian and mestizo (mixed Indian and white) 

 population, which is insignificant and perhaps 

 does not exceed a total of 100,000, is rela- 

 tively decreasing through the immigration of 

 Europeans. Of the latter, the Jews formed no 



