The Argentine Republic 



CHAPTER I 



THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA 



The physical environment — Colonization and the natural regions — 

 The struggle with the Indians — Ai'gentine unity — Argentina 

 and the world. 



The South-American continent is divided, from west 

 to east, into three great zones. The lofty chains of 

 the Andes stretch along the Pacific coast ; at the foot 

 of these are immense alluvial tablelands ; further east 

 are the level plains of the Atlantic coast. The eastern 

 zone, the tablelands, ends southward at the mouth of 

 the Rio de la Plata. It enters Argentine territory only 

 in the north-east corner of the province of Misiones. 

 Below 35° S. lat. the alluvial plains open freely upon 

 the ocean. The position of Buenos Aires, in the thres- 

 hold of the plain of the Pampas, is somewhat like that 

 of Chicago at the beginning of the prairies ; if you 

 imagine the north-eastern States and eastern Canada 

 struck off the map, and the sea penetrating inland as 

 far as the Lakes. 



The three essential aspects of Argentine scenery 

 are mountain, plain, and river. The Parana, indeed, 

 is a whole natural region in itself, with its arms and its 

 islands, and the ever-changing low plain over which 

 its floods spread, as one sees it from the top of the clay 

 barrancas (cliffs) ; though it is so broad that one cannot 

 see the opposite bank. It wanders over the plain like 



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