Cobra Reference to Provinces in Chile.
x. Artigas Salto 3. Rivera Paysandu 5. Taciaremba 6. Rio Negro 7.0w-azno 8. Cerro Largo g. Treinta-y-Tres xo. Soriano xx.-F/ores 12. Florida 13. Colada San Jose' 15. Montevideo r6. Canelones x7. Minas 18. Maldonado Ig. Rocha Golfo de Pen ds Welling Scale, I:16,500,000 English Miles 59 Madre de Dios l Archipelago Falkland Islands Bahia Grande Hanover kland, ?,r9e°yness G Cvn4 Straits of Magellan he Pt. Queen Adelaide4. Archipelagdfk Straits of Magella' l'C. Desolat Pi ion I. 'East zoo 300 State Capitals Capitals of Provinces, Territories, ' and Departments o Railways .. ?? Swamps..°. Sta,lne Clare. s°- 75 B S0 r (?
?v,p ,?y, ,?-Staten ?.. C. . Wollaston Horn E 60° snow-crowned peaks. Between the 30th and 31st parallels, a region essentially sub-tropical in character, the temperature ranges from 66° on the eastern plains to 62.5° in Cordoba and 64° F. on the higher, arid, sun-parched tablelands of San Juan. The rainfall, which varies between 39 and 47 in. in Entre Rios, decreases to 27 in. in Cordoba and 2 in. in San Juan. The republic has a width of about 745 m. at this point, three-fourths of which is a comparatively level alluvial plain, and the remainder an arid plateau broken by mountain ranges. In the vicinity of Buenos Aires the climatic conditions vary very little from those of the pampa region; the mean annual temperature is about 63° (maximum 104°; minimum 32°), and the annual rainfall is 34 in.; snow is rarely seen. South of the pampa region, on the 40th parallel, the mean temperature varies only slightly in the 370 m. from the mouth of the Colorado to the Andes, ranging from 57° to 55°; but the rainfall increases from 8 in. on the coast to 16 in. on the east slope of the Cordillera. This section is near the northern border of the arid Patagonian steppes. In Tierra del Fuego (lat. 53° to 55°), the climatic conditions are in strong contrast to those of the north. Here the mean temperature is between 46° and 48° in summer and 36° and 38° in winter, rains are frequent, and snow falls every month in the year. The central and southern parts of the island and the neighbouring Staten Island are exceptionally rainy, the latter having 251} rainy days in the year. The precipitation of rain, snow and hail is about 55 in.
The prevailing winds through this southern region are westerly, being moist below the 52nd parallel, and dry between it and the 40th parallel. In the north and on the pampas the north wind is hot and depressing, while the south wind is cool and refreshing. The north wind usually terminates with a thunderstorm or with a pampero, a cold south-west wind from the Andes which blows with great violence, causes a fall in temperature of 15° to 20°, and is most frequent from June to November - the southern winter and spring. In the Andean region, a dry, hot wind from the north or north-west, called the Zonda, blows with great intensity, especially in September - October, and causes much discomfort and suffering. It is followed by a cold south wind which often lowers the temperature 25°. The climate of the pampas is temperate and healthy, and is admirably suited to agricultural and pastoral pursuits. Its greatest defect is the cold southerly and westerly storms, which cause great losses in cattle and sheep. The Patagonian coast-line and mountainous region are also healthy, having a dry and bracing climate. In the north, however, the hot lowlands are malarial and unsuited to north European settlement, while the dry, elevated plateaus are celebrated for their healthiness, those of Catamarca having an excellent reputation as a sanatorium for sufferers from pulmonary and bronchial diseases.
Flora
The flora of Argentina should be studied according to natural zones corresponding to the physical divisions of the country - the rich tropical and sub-tropical regions of the north, the treeless pampas of the centre, the desert steppes of the south, and the arid plateaus of the north-west. The vegetation of each region has its distinctive character, modified here and there by elevation, irrigation from mountain streams, and by the saline character of the soil. In the extreme south, where an Arctic vegetation is found, the pastures are rich, and the forests, largely of the Antarctic beech (Fagus antarctica), are vigorous wherever the rainfall is heavy. The greater part of Patagonia is comparatively barren and has no arboreal growth, except in the well-watered valleys of the Andean foothills. The water-courses and depressions of the shingly steppes afford pasturage sufficient for the guanaco, and in places support a thorny vegetation of low growth and starved appearance. The Antarctic beech and Winter's bark (Drimys Winteri) are found at intervals along the Andes to the northern limits of this zone. The pampas, which cover so large a part of the republic, have no native trees whatever, and no woods except the scrubby growth of the delta islands of the Parana., and a fringe of low thorn-bushes along the Atlantic coast south to Mar Chiquita and south of the Tandil sierra, which, strictly speaking, does not belong to this region. The great plains are covered with edible grasses, divided into two classes, pasto duro (hard grass) and pasto blando, or tierno (soft grass) - the former tall, coarse, nutritious and suitable for horses and cattle, and the latter tender grasses and herbs, including clovers, suitable for sheep and cattle. The so-called " pampas-grass " (Gynerium argenteum) is not found at all on the dry lands, but in the wet grounds of the south and south-west. The pasto duro is largely composed of the genera Stipa and Melica. In the dry, saline regions of the west and north-west, where the rainfall is slight, there are large thickets of low-growing, thorny bushes, poor in foliage. The predominating species is the chanar (Gurliaca decorticans), which produces an edible berry, and occurs from the Rio Negro to the northern limits of the republic. Huge cacti are also characteristic of this region. On the lower slopes of the Andes are found oak, beech, cedar, Winter's bark, pine (Araucaria imbricata), laurel and calden (Prosopis algarobilla). The provinces of Santa Fe, Cordoba and Santiago del Estero are only partially wooded; large areas of plains are intermingled with scrubby forests of algarrobo (Prosopis), quebracho-blanco (Aspido-sperma quebracho), tala (Celtis tala, Sellowiana, acuminata), acacias and other genera. In Tucuman and eastern Salta the same division into forests and open plains exists, but the former are of denser growth and contain walnut, cedar, laurel, tipa (Machaerium fertile) and quebracho-colorado (Loxopterygium Lorentzii). The territories of the Gran Chaco, however, are covered with a characteristic tropical vegetation, in which the palm predominates, but intermingled south of the Bermejo with heavy growths of algarrobo, quebracho-colorado, urunday (Astronium fraxinifolium), lapacho (Tecoma curialis) and palosanto (Guayacum officinalis), all esteemed for hardness and fineness of grain. Other palms abound, such as the pinch!) (Cocos australis), mbocaya (Cocos sclerocarpa) and the yatai (Cocos yatai), but the predominating species north of the Bermejo is the caranday or Brazilian wax-palm (Copernicia cerifera), which has varied uses. The forest habit in this region is close association of species, and there are " palmares," " algarrobales," " chanarales," &c., and among these open pasture lands, giving to a distant landscape a park-like appearance. In the " mesopotamia " region the flora is similar to that of the southern Chaco, but in the Misiones it approximates more to that of the neighbouring Brazilian highlands. Among the marvellous changes wrought in Argentina by the advent of European civilization, is the creation of a new flora by the introduction of useful trees and plants from every part of the world. Indian corn, quinoa, mandioca, possibly the potato, cotton and various fruits, including the strawberry, were already known to the aborigines, but with the conqueror came wheat, barley, oats, flax, many kinds of vegetables, apples, peaches, apricots, pears, grapes, figs, oranges and lemons, together with alfalfa and new grasses for the plains. The Australian eucalyptus is now grown in many places, and there are groves of the paradise or paraiso tree (Melia azedarach) on the formerly treeless pampa. The cereals of Europe are a source of increasing wealth to the nation, and alfalfa promises new prosperity for pastoral industries.
==Fauna==The Argentine fauna, like its flora, has been greatly influenced by the character and position of the pampas. Whatever it may have been in remote geological periods, it is now extremely limited both in size and numbers. Of the indigenous fauna, the tapir of the north and the guanaco of the west and south are the largest of the animals. The pampas were almost destitute of animal life before the horses and cattle of the Spanish invaders were there turned out to graze, and the puma and jaguar never came there until the herds of European cattle attracted them. The timid viscacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus), living in colonies, often with the burrowing owl, and digging deep under ground like the American prairie dog, was almost the only quadruped to be seen upon these immense open plains. The fox, of which several species exist, probably never ventured far into the plain, for it afforded him no shelter. Immense flocks of gulls were probably attracted to it then as now by its insect life, and its lagoons and streams teemed with aquatic birds. The occupation of this region by Europeans, and the introduction of horses, asses, cattle, sheep, goats and swine, have completely changed its aspect and character. On the Patagonian steppes there are comparatively few species of animals. Among them are the puma (Felis concolor), a smaller variety of the jaguar (Felis onga), the wolf, the fox, the Patagonian hare (Dolichotis patagonica) and two species of wild cat. The huge glyptodon once inhabited this region, which now possesses the smallest armadillo known, the " quirquincho " or Dasypus minutus. The guanaco (Auchenia), which ranges from Tierra del Fuego to the Bolivian highlands, finds comparative safety in these uninhabitable solitudes, and is still numerous. The " nandu " or American ostrich (Rhea americans), inhabiting the pampas and open plains of the Chaco, has in Patagonia a smaller counterpart (Rhea Darwinii), which is never seen north of the Rio Negro. On the arid plateaus of the north-west, the guanaco and vicuna are still to be found, though less frequently, together with a smaller species of viscacha (Lagidium cuvieri). The greatest development of the Argentine fauna, however, is in the warm, wooded regions of the north and north-east, where many animals are of the same species as those in the neighbouring territories of Brazil. Several species of monkeys inhabit the forests from the Parana, to the Bolivian frontier. Pumas, jaguars and one or two species of wild cat are numerous, as also the Argentine wolf and two or three species of fox. The coati, marten, skunk and otter (Lutra paranensis) are widely distributed. Three species of deer are common. In the Chaco the tapir or anta (Tapir americanus) still finds a safe retreat, and the peccary (Dycotyles torquatus) ranges from Cordoba north to the Bolivian frontier. The capybara (Hydrochoerus capybara) is also numerous in this region. Of birds the number of species greatly exceeds that of the mammals, including the rhea of the pampas and condor of the Andes, and the tiny, brilliant-hued humming-birds of the tropical North. Vultures and hawks are well represented, but perhaps the most numerous of all are the parrots, of which there are six or seven species. The reptilians are represented in the Parana by the jacare (Alligator sclerops), and on land by the " iguana " (Teius teguexim, Podinema teguixin), and some species of lizard. Serpents are numerous, but only two are described as poisonous, the cascavel (rattlesnake) and the " vibora de la cruz " (Trigonocephalus alternatus).1 ' Interesting detail g of the Argentine fauna may be found in Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle; W. H. Hudson's Idle Days in Patagonia, and Naturalist in the La Plata; G. Pelleschi's Eight Months on the Gran Chaco; R. Napp's Argentine Republic; and de Moussy's Confederation argentine. Population.-In population Argentina ranks second among the republics of South America, having outstripped, during the last quarter of the 19th century, the once more populous states of Colombia and Peru. During the first half of the 19th century civil war and despotic government seriously restricted the natural growth of the country, but since the definite organization of the republic in 1860 and the settlement of disturbing political controversies, the population had increased rapidly. Climate and a fertile soil have been important elements in this growth. According to the first national census of 1869 the population was 1,830,214. The census of 1895 increased this total to 3,954,9 11, exclusive of wild Indians and a percentage for omissions customarily used in South American census returns. In 1904 official estimates, based on immigration and emigration returns and upon registered births and deaths, both of which are admittedly defective, showed a population increased to 5,410,028, and a small diminution in the rate of annual increase from 1895 to 1904 as compared with 18.69-1895. The birth-rate is exceptionally high, largely because of the immigrant population, the greater part of which is concentrated in or near the large cities. In the rural districts of the northern provinces, the increase in population is much less than in the central provinces, the conditions of life being less favourable. According to the official returns,' the over-sea immigration for the forty-seven years 1857-1903 aggregated 2,872,588, while the departure of emigrants during the same period was 1,066,480, showing a net addition to the population of 1,806,108. A considerable percentage of these arrivals and departures represents seasonal labourers, who come out from Europe solely for the Argentine wheat harvest and should not be classed as immigrants. Unfavourable political and economic conditions of a temporary character influence the emigration movement. During the years 1880-1889, when the country enjoyed exceptional prosperity, the arrivals numbered 1,020,907 and the departures only 175,038, but in 1890-1899, a period of financial depression following the extravagant Celman administration, the arrivals were 928,865 and the departures 552,175. Another disturbing influence has been the high protective tariffs, adopted during the closing years of the century, which increased the costs of living more rapidly than the wages for labour, and compelled thousands of immigrants to seek employment elsewhere. The influence of such legislation on unsettled immigrant labourers may be seen in the number of Italians who periodically migrate from Argentina to Brazil, and vice versa, seeking to better their condition. Of the immigrant arrivals for the forty-seven years given, 1,331,536 were Italians, 4 1 4,973 Spaniards, 170,293 French, 37,953 Austrians, 35,435 British, 30,699 Germans, 25,775 Swiss, 19,521 Belgians, and the others of diverse nationalities, so that Argentina is in no danger of losing her Latin character through immigration. This large influx of Europeans, however, is modifying the population by reducing the Indian and mestizo elements to a minority, although they are still numerous in the mesopotamian, northern and north-western provinces. The language is Spanish.
Science and Literature.-Though the university of Cordoba is the oldest but one in South America, it has made no conspicuous contribution to Argentine literature beyond the historical works of its famous rector, Gregorio Funes (1749-1830). This university was founded in 1621 and the university of Buenos Aires in 1821, but although Bonpland and some other European scientists were members of the faculty of Buenos Aires in its early years, neither there nor at Cordoba was any marked attention given to the natural sciences until President Sarmiento (official term, 1868-1874) initiated scientific instruction at the university of Cordoba under the eminent German naturalist, Dr Hermann Burmeister (1807-1892), and founded the National Observatory at Cordoba and placed it under the direction of ' There are two distinct statistical offices compiling immigration returns and their totals do not agree, owing in part to the traffic between Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Another report gives the arrivals in 1904 as 125,567 and the departures 38,923. Of the arrivals 67,598 were Italians and 39,851 Spaniards. The total for the years 1859-1904 was 3,166,073 and the departures 1,239,064, showing a net gain of 1,927,009.
the noted American astronomer, Benjamin Apthorp Gould (1824-1896). Both of these men made important contributions to science, and rendered an inestimable service to the country, not only through their publications but also through the interest they aroused in scientific research. A bureau of meteorology was afterwards created at Cordoba which has rendered valuable service. Dr Burmeister was afterwards placed in charge of the provincial museum of Buenos Aires, and devoted himself to the acquisition of a collection of fossil remains, now in the La Plata museum, which ranks among the best of the world. Not only has scientific study advanced at the university of Buenos Aires, but scientific research is promoting the development of the country; examples are the geographical explorations of the Andean frontier, and especially of the Patagonian Andes, by Francisco P. Moreno. In literature Argentina is still under the spell of Bohemianism and dilettanteism. Exceptions are the admirable biographies of Manuel Belgrano (d. 1820) and San Martin, important contributions to the history of the country and of the war of independence, by ex-President Bartolome Mitre (1821-1906). Buenos Aires has some excellent daily journals, but the tone of the press in general is sensational. The number of newspapers published is large, especially in Buenos Aires, where in 1902 the total, including sundry periodicals, was 183.
Political Divisions and Towns.-The chief political divisions of the republic consist of one federal district, 14 provinces and 10 territories, the last in great part dating from the settlement of the territorial controversies with Chile. For purposes of local administration the provinces are divided into departments. The names, area and population of the provinces and territories are as follows: The principal towns, with estimated population for 1905, are as follows: Buenos Aires (1,025,653), Rosario (129,121), La Plata (85,000), Tucuman (55,000), Cordoba (43,000), Sante Fe (33, 200), Mendoza (32,000), Parana. (27,000), Salta (18,000), Corrientes (18,000), Chivilcoy (15,000), Gualeguaychu (13,300), San Nicolas (13,000), Concordia (11,700), San Juan (11,500), Rio Cuarto (10,800), San Luis (10,500), Barracas al Sud (10,200).
Communications.-The development of railways in Argentina, which dates from 1857 when the construction of the Buenos Aires Western was begun, was at first slow and hesitating, but after 1880 it went forward rapidly. Official corruption and speculation have led to some unsound ventures, but in the great majority of cases the lines constructed have been beneficial and productive. The principal centres of the system are Buenos Aires, Rosario and Bahia Blanca, with La Plata as a secondary centre to the former, and from these the lines radiate westward and northward. The creation of a commercial port at Bahia Blanca and the development of the territories of La Pampa, Rio Negro and Neuquen, have given an impetus to railway construction in that region, and new lines are being extended toward the promising districts among the Andean foothills. Beginning with 6 m. in 1857, the railway mileage of the republic increased to 1563 m. in 1880, 5865 m. in 1890, 7752 m. in 1891, 10,304 m. in 1901, and 12,274 m. in 1906, with 1794 m. under construction. The greater development of railway construction between 1885 and 1891 was due, principally, to the dubious concessions of interest guarantees by the Celman administration, and also to the fever of speculation. Some of these lines resulted disastrously. The Transandine line, designed to open railway communication between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, was so far completed early in 1909 that on the Argentine side only the summit tunnel, 2 m. 127 yds. long, remained to be finished. The piercing was completed in Nov. 1909, but in the meantime passengers were conveyed by road over the pass. The gauge is broken at Mendoza, the Buenos Aires and Pacific having a gauge of 5 ft. 6 in. and the Transandine of one metre.
Tramway lines, which date from 1870, are to be found in all important towns. Those of Buenos Aires, Rosario and La Plata are owned by public companies. According to the census returns of 1895, the total mileage was 496 m., representing a capital expenditure of $84,044,581 paper. Electric traction was first used in Buenos Aires in 1897, since when nearly all the lines of that city have been reconstructed to meet its requirements, and subways are contemplated to relieve the congested street traffic of the central districts; the companies contribute 6% of their gross receipts to the municipality, besides paying $50 per annum per square on each single track in paved streets, 5 per thousand on the value of their property, and 33% of the cost of street repaving and renewals.
The telegraph lines of Argentina are subject to the national telegraph law of 1875, the international telegraph conventions, and special conventions with Brazil and Uruguay. In 1902 the total length of wires strung was 28,125 m.; in 1906 it had been increased to 34,080 m. The national lines extend from Buenos Aires north to La Quiaca on the Bolivian frontier (1180 m.), and south to Cape Virgenes (1926 m.), at the entrance to the Straits of Magellan. Telegraphic communication with Europe is effected by cables laid along the Uruguayan and Brazilian coasts, and by the Brazilian land lines to connect with transatlantic cables from Pernambuco. Communication with the United States is effected by land lines to Valparaiso, and thence by a cable along the west coast. The service is governed by the international telegraph regulations, but is subject to local inspection and interruption in times of political disorder.
The postal and telegraph services are administered by the national government, and are under the immediate supervision of the minister of the interior. Argentina has been a member of the Postal Union since 1878. Owing to the great distances which must be covered, and also to the defective means of communication in sparsely settled districts, the costs of the postal service in Argentina are unavoidably high in relation to the receipts.
==Shipping==Although Argentina has an extensive coast-line, and one of the great fluvial systems of the world, the tonnage of steamers and sailing vessels flying her flag is comparatively small. In 1898 the list comprised only 1416 sailing vessels of all classes, from Io tons up, with a total tonnage of 118,894 tons, and 222 steamships, of 36,323 tons. There has been but slight improvement since that date. There are excellent fishing grounds on the coast, but they have had no appreciable influence in developing a commerical marine. The steamships under the national flag are almost wholly engaged in the traffic between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the river traffic, and port services.
==Agriculture==In 1878 the production of wheat was insufficient for home consumption, the amount of Indian corn grown barely Live stoc covered local necessities, and the only market for live stock k, &c. was in the slaughtering establishments, where the meat &c was cut into strips and cured, making the so-called " jerked beef " for the Brazilian and Cuban markets. But three years later a new economic development began. In 1881 President Roca offered for public purchase by auction the lands in the southwest of the province of Buenos Aires, the Pampa Central, and the Neuquen district, these lands having been rendered habitable after the campaign of 1878 against the Indians. The upset (reserve) price was go sterling per square league of 6669 acres, and, as the lands were quickly sold, an expansion of the pastoral industry immediately ensued. The demand for animals for stock-breeding purposes sent up prices, and this acted as a stimulus to other branches of trade, so that, as peace under the Roca regime seemed assured, a steady flow of immigration from Italy set in. The development of the pastoral industry of Argentina from that time to the end of the century was remarkable. In 1878 the number of cattle was 12,000,000; of sheep, 65,000,000; and of horses, 4,000,000; in 1899 the numbers were - cattle, 25,000,000; sheep, 89,000,000; and horses, about 4,500,000. Originally the cattle were nearly all of the long-horned Spanish breed and of little value for their meat, except to the saladero establishments. Gradually Durham, Short horn, Hereford and other stock were introduced to improve the native breeds, with results so satisfactory that now herds of threequarters-bred cattle are to be found in all parts of the country. Holstein, Jersey and other well-known dairy breeds were imported for the new industries of butterand cheese-making. Not only has the breed of cattle been improved, but the system of grazing has completely altered. Vast areas of land have been ploughed and sown with lucerne (alfalfa); magnificent permanent pasturage has been created where there were coarse and hard grasses in former days, and Argentina has been able to add baled hay to her list of exports. In 1889 the first shipment of Argentine cattle, consisting altogether of 1930 steers, was sent to England. The results of these first experiments were not encouraging, owing mainly to the poor class of animals, but the exporters persevered, and the business steadily grew in value and importance, until in 1898 the number of live cattle shipped was 359,296, which then decreased to 119,189 in 1901, because of the foot-and-mouth disease. In 1906 the export of live stock was prohibited for that reason. Large quantities of frozen and preserved meat are exported, profitable prices being realized. Dairy-farming is making rapid strides, and the development of sheep-farming has been remarkable. In 1878, 65,000,000 sheep yielded 230,000,000 lb weight of wool, or an average per sheep of about 32 lb. In the season of 1899-1900 the wool exports weighed 420,000,000 lb, and averaged more than 5 lb per sheep. The extra weight of fleece was owing to the large importation of better breeds. The export, moreover, of live sheep and of frozen mutton to Europe has become an important factor in the trade of Argentina. In 1892 the number of live sheep shipped for foreign ports was 40,000; in 1898 the export reached a total of 577,813, which in 1901 fell off to 25,746. In 1892 the frozen mutton exported was 25,500 tons, and this had increased in 1901 to 63,013 tons.
The advance made in agricultural industry also is of very great importance. In 1872 the cultivated area was about 1,430,000 acres; in 1895, 12,083,000 acres; in 1901, 17,465,973 acres. In Crops. 1899 the wheat exports exceeded 50,000,000 bushels, and the Indian corn 40,000,000 bushels. The area under wheat in 1901 was 8,351,843 acres; Indian corn, 3,102,140 acres; linseed, 1,512,340 acres; alfalfa, 3,088,929 acres. The farming industry is not, however, on a satisfactory basis. No national lands in accessible districts are available for the application of a homestead law, and the farmer too often has no interest in the land beyond the growing crops, a percentage of the harvest being the rent charged by the owner of the property. This system is mischievous, since, if a few consecutive bad seasons occur, the farmer moves to some more favoured spot; while, on the other hand, a succession of good years tends to increase rents. The principal wheat and Indian corn producing districts lie in the provinces of Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Entre Rios, and the average yield of wheat throughout the country is about 12 bushels to the acre. Little attention is paid to methods of cultivation, and the farmer has no resources to help him if the cereal crops fail. In the Andean provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca and Rioja viticulture attracts much attention, and the area in vineyards in 1901 was 109,546 acres, only 18% of which was outside the four provinces named. Wine is manufactured in large quantities, but the output is not sufficient to meet the home demand. In the provinces of Tucuman, Salta and Jujuy the main industry is sugar growing and manufacture. In 1901 the production of sugar was 151,639 tons, of which 58,000 tons were exported. The sugar manufacture, however, is a protected and bounty-fed industry, and the 51 sugar mills in operation in 1901 are a heavy tax upon consumers and taxpayers. Other products are tobacco, olives, castor-oil, peanuts, canary-seed, barley, rye, fruit and vegetables.
The pastoral and agricultural industries have been hampered by fluctuations in the value of the currency, farm products being sold at a gold value for the equivalent in paper, while labourers are paid in currency. The existing system of taxation also presses heavily upon the provinces, as may be seen from the fact that the national, provincial and municipal exactions together amount to £7 per head of population, while the total value of the exports in 1898 was only L6 in round numbers. The guia tax on the transport of stock from one province to another, which has been declared unconstitutional in the courts, is still enforced, and is a vexatious tax upon the stock-raiser, while the consumption, or octroi, tax in Buenos Aires and other cities is a heavy burden upon small producers.
Finance
The revenue of the republic is derived mainly from customs and excise, and the largest item of expenditure is the service of the public debt. Since 1891 the national budgets have been calculated in both gold and currency, and both receipts and expenditures have been carried out in this dual system. The collection of a part of the import duties in gold has served to give the government the gold it requires for certain expenditures, but it has complicated returns and accounts and increased the burden of taxation. According to a compilation of statistical returns published by Dr Francisco Latzina in 1901, the national revenues and expenditures for the 37 years from 1864 to 1900, inclusive, reduced to a common standard, show a total deficit for that period of $408,260,795 gold, which has been met by external and internal loans, and by a The bane of Argentine finance has been the extravagant and unscrupulous use of national credit for the promotion of schemes calculated to benefit individuals rather than the public. The large increase in military expenditures during the disputes with Chile also proved a heavy burden, and in the continued strife with Brazil for naval superiority this burden could not fail to be increased greatly.
A very considerable percentage of Argentina's population of five to six millions is hopelessly poor and unprogressive, and cannot be expected to bear its share of the burden. To meet these expenditures there are a high tariff on imported merchandise, and excise and stamp taxes of a far-reaching and often vexatious character. Nothing is permitted to escape taxation, and duplicated taxes on the same thing are frequent. In Argentina these burdens bear heavily upon the labouring classes, and in years of depression they send away by thousands immigrants unable to meet the high costs of living, For the year 1900 the total expenditures of the national government, 14 provincial governments, and 16 principal cities, were estimated to have been $208,811,925 paper, which is equivalent to $91,877,247 gold, or (at $5.04 per pound stg.) to £18,229,612, ios. The population that year was estimated to be 4,794,149, from which it is seen that the annual costs of government were no less than £3,16s. for each man, woman, and child in the republic. About 71% of this charge was on account of national expenditures, and 29% provincial and municipal expenditures. Had the expenses of all the small towns and rural communities been included, the total would be in excess of $20 gold, or £4, per capita. In 1889 the public debt of the republic amounted to about £24,000,000, but the financial difficulties which immediately followed that year, and the continuance of excessive expenditures, forced the debt up to approximately £128,000,000 during the next ten years. In the year 1905 the outstanding and authorized debt of the republic was as follows External debt (July 31, 1905): National loans.. Provincial loans and others, assumed National cedulas .
Total Consolidated Internal debt (Dec. 31, 1904): Gold.. $16,544,000 Paper. .. ... 79,174,400 Total service on funded debt, 19 and $15,914,335 paper .
Floating debt. Treasury bills (Apr. 30, 1905) Unpaid bills, $3,332,594, Paper £8 22,950 The paper currency forms an important part of the internal debt, and has been a fruitful source of trouble to the country. Few countries have suffered more from a depreciated currency than Argentina. During the era of so-called " prosperity " between 1881 and 1890 an enormous amount of bank notes were issued under various authorizations, especially that of the " free banking law " of 1887. During this period the bank-note circulation was increased to $161,700,000, and two mortgage banks - the National Hypothecary Bank and the Provincial Mortgage Bank (of Buenos Aires) - flooded the country with $509,000,000 of cedulas (hypothecary bonds). When the crash came and the national treasury was found to be without resources to meet current expenses, further issues of $110,000,000 in currency were made. The free-banking law which permitted the issue of notes by provincial banks was primarily responsible for this situation. Under the provisions of this law the provinces were authorized to borrow specie abroad and deposit the same with the national government as security for their issues. These loans aggregated £27,000,000. The Celman administration, in violation of the trust, then sold the specie and squandered the proceeds, leaving the provincial bank notes without guarantee and value. The national government has since assumed responsibility for all these provincial loans abroad. As on previous occasions, the great depreciation in the value of the currency has led to a repudiation of part of its nominal value. This depreciation reached its maximum in October 1891 ($460.82 paper for $100 gold), and remained between that figure and $264 during the next six years. To check these prejudicial fluctuations and to prevent too great a fall in the price of gold (to repeat a popular misconception), a £42,297,050 30,395,916 11,763,923 £ 84,456,889 £IO,178,718 05,$24,375,067 gold,. £6,225,669 £259,170 275,220 288,560 conversion law was adopted on the 31st of October i 899,which provided that the outstanding circulation should be redeemed at the rate of 44 centavos gold for each 100 centavos paper, the official rate for gold being 227.27. Provisions were also made for the creation of a special conversion fund in specie to guarantee the circulation, which fund reached a total of $100,000,000 in March 1906. These measures have served to give greater stability to the value of the circulating medium, and to prevent the ruinous losses caused by a constant fluctuation in value, but the rate established prevents the further appreciation of the currency. On the 18th of January 1906 the currency in circulation amounted to $502,420,485, which is more than $95 per capita. (A. J. L.) History The first Europeans who visited the river Plate were a party of Spanish explorers in search of a south-west passage to the East Indies. Their leader, Juan Diaz de Solis, landing incautiously in 1516 on the north coast with a few attendants to parley with a body of Charrua Indians, was suddenly attacked by them and was killed, together with a number of his followers. This untoward disaster led to the abandonment of the expedition, which forthwith returned to Spain, bringing with them the news of the discovery of a fresh-water sea. Four years later (1520) the Portuguese seaman, Ferdinand Magellan, entered the estuary in his celebrated voyage round the world, undertaken in the service of the king of Spain (Charles I., better known as the emperor Charles V.). Magellan, as soon as he had satisfied himself that there was no passage to the west, left the river without landing.
The first attempt to penetrate by way of the river Plate and its affluents inland, with a view to effecting settlements in the interior, was made in 1526 by Sebastian Cabot. This great navigator had already won renown in the service of Henry VII. of England by his voyage to the coast of North America in company with his father, Giovanni Caboto or Cabot (see Cabot, John). Sebastian Cabot had in 151 9 deserted England for Spain, and had received from King Charles the post of pilot-major formerly held by Juan de Solis. In 1526 he was sent out in command of an expedition fitted out for the purpose of determining by astronomical observations the exact line of demarcation, under the treaty of Tordesillas, between the colonizing spheres of Spain and Portugal, and of conveying settlers to the Moluccas. Arrived in the river Plate in 1527, rumours reached Cabot of mineral wealth and a rich and civilized empire in the far interior, and he resolved to abandon surveying for exploration. He built a fort a short distance up the river Uruguay, and despatched one of his lieutenants, Juan Alvarez Ramon, with a separate party upon an expedition up stream. This expedition was assailed by the Charruas and forced to return on foot, their leader himself being killed. Cabot, with a large following, entered the Parana and established a settlement just above the mouth of the river Carcaranal, to which he gave the name of San Espiritu, among the Timbu Indians, with whom he formed friendly relations. He continued the ascent of the Parana as far as the rapids of Apipe, and finding his course barred in this direction, he afterwards explored the river Paraguay, which he mounted as far as the mouth of the affluent called by the Indians Lepeti, now the river Bermejo. His party was here fiercely attacked by the Agaces or Payagua Indians, and suffered severely. Cabot in his voyage had seen many silver ornaments in the possession of the Timbu and Guarani Indians. Some specimens of these trinkets he sent back to Spain with a report of his discoveries. The arrival of these first-fruits of the mineral wealth of the southern continent gained for the estuary of the Parana the name which it has since borne, that of Rio de la Plata, the silver river. As Cabot was descending the stream to his settlement of San Espiritu, he encountered an expedition which had been despatched from Spain for the express purpose of exploring the river discovered by Solis, under the command of Diego Garcia. Finding that he had been forestalled, Garcia resolved to return home. Cabot himself, after an absence of more than three years, came back in 1530, and applied to Charles V. for means to open up communications with Peru by way of the river Bermejo. The emperor's resources were, however, absorbed by his struggle for European supremacy with Francis I. of France, and he was obliged to leave the enterprise of South American discoveries to his wealthy nobles. Cabot's colony at San Espiritu did not long survive his departure; an attempt of the chief of the Timbus to gain possession of one of the Spanish ladies of the settlement led to a treacherous massacre of the garrison.
Two years after the return of Cabot, the news of Francisco Pizarro's marvellous conquest of Peru reached Europe (1532), and stirred many an adventurous spirit to strive to emulate his good fortune. Among these was Pedro de Mendoza, a Basque nobleman. He obtained from Charles V. a grant (asiento) of two hundred leagues of the coast from the boundary of the Portuguese possessions southward towards the Straits of Magellan, and the inland country which lay behind it. Mendoza undertook to conquer and settle the territory at his own charges, certain profits being reserved to the crown. In August 1534 the adelantado, or governor, sailed from San Lucar, at the head of the largest and wealthiest expedition that had ever left Europe for the New World. In January 1535 he entered the river Plate, where he followed the northern shore to the island of San Gabriel, and then crossing over he landed by a little stream, still called Riachuelo. The name of Buenos Aires was given to the country by Sancho del. Aires. Campo, brother-in-law of the adelantado, who first stepped ashore. Here, on the 2nd of February, Mendoza laid the foundations of a settlement which in honour of the day he named Santa Maria de Buenos Aires. Mendoza, after some fierce encounters with the Indians, now proceeded up the Parana, and built a fort, which he called Corpus Christi, near the site of Cabot's former settlement of San Espiritu. The expedition, which originally numbered 2500 men, was reduced by deaths at the hands of the Indians, by disease and privation, within a year to less than Soo men. From Corpus Christi, Mendoza sent out various bodies to explore the interior in the direction of Peru, but without much success, and at length, thoroughly discouraged and broken in health, he abandoned his enterprise, and returned to Spain in 1537.
A portion of one of the expeditions he despatched, under Juan de Ayolas, pushing up the Paraguay, is said to have reached the south-east districts of Peru, but while returning laden with booty, was attacked by the Payagua Indians, and every man perished. The other portion, which had stayed behind as a reserve under Domingos Irala, had better fortunes. Finding their comrades did not return, Irala and his companions determined to descend the river, and on their downward journey opposite the mouth of the river Pilcomayo, finding a suitable site for colonizing, they founded (1536) what proved to be the first permanent Spanish settlement in the interior of South America, the future city of Asuncion (15th August 1536).
In the meantime the colony at Buenos Aires had been dragging on a miserable existence, and after terrible sufferings from famine and from the ceaseless attacks of the Indians, the remaining settlers abandoned the place and made their way up the river first to Corpus Christi, then to Asuncion. Here, by the emperor's orders, the assembled Spaniards proceeded to the election of a captain-general, and their choice fell almost unanimously on Domingos Martinez de Irala, who was proclaimed captain-general of the Rio de la Plata (August 1538). In 1542 the settlement of Buenos Aires was re-established by an expedition sent for the purpose from Spain, under a tried adelantado, Cabeza de Vaca. This able leader, eager to reach Asuncion as quickly as possible, sent on his ships to the river Plate, but himself with a small following marched overland from Santa Catherina on the coast of Brazil to join Irala. His doings at Asuncion belong, however, not to the history of Argentina, but of Paraguay. Suffice it to say that differences with Irala eventually led to his arrest, and to his being sent back to Spain to answer to the charges brought against him for maladministration. The second settlement made by his expedition at Buenos Aires was even less successful and long-lived than the first. Exposed to the incessant attacks of the savages, the place was a second time abandoned, February 1543.
Forty years were now to elapse before any further efforts were made by the Spaniards to colonize any part of the territory of the river Plate and lower Parana. In 1573 Juan de Garay, at the head of an expedition despatched from Asuncion, founded the city of Santa Fe near the abandoned settlements of San Espiritu and Corpus Christi. Seven years later (1580), when the new colony had been firmly established, Juan de Garay proceeded southwards, and made the third attempt to build a city on the site of Buenos Aires; and despite the determined hostility of the Querendi Indians he succeeded in finally gaining a complete mastery over them. In a desperate battle, the natives were defeated with great slaughter, and the territory surrounding the town was divided into ranches, in which the conquered natives had to labour. The new town received from Garay the name of Ciudad de la Santissira Trinidad, while its port retained the old appellation of Santa Maria de Buenos Aires. It was endowed by its founder with a cabildo (corporation) and full Spanish municipal privileges. Garay, when on his way to Santa Fe, was unfortunately murdered by a party of Indians, Minuas (Mimas), three years later, while incautiously sleeping on the river bank near the ruins of San Espiritu. The new settlement, however, continued to prosper, and the cattle and horses brought from Europe multiplied and spread over the plains of the Pampas.
In the meantime the Spaniards had penetrated into the interior of what is now the Argentine Republic, and established themselves on the eastern slopes of the Andes. In 1553 an expedition from Peru made their way through the mountain region and founded the city of Santiago del Estero, that of Tucuman in 1565, and that of Cordoba in 1573. Another expedition from Chile, under Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, crossed the Cordillera in 1559, and having defeated the Araucanian Indians, made a settlement which from the name of the leader was called Mendoza. In 1620 Buenos Aires was separated from the authority of the government established at Asuncion, and was made the seat of a government extending over Mendoza, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Corrientes, but at the same time remained like the government of Paraguay at Asuncion, and that of the province of Tucuman, which had Cordoba as its capital, subject to the authority of the viceroyalty of Peru.
Thus at the opening of the 17th century, after many adventurous efforts, and the expenditure of many lives and much treasure, the Spaniards found themselves securely established on the river Plate, and had planted a number of centres of trade and colonization in the interior. Unfortunately, in no part of the Spanish oversea possessions did the restrictive legislation of the home government operate more harshly or disadvantageously to the interests of the colony; it was a more effective hindrance to the development of its resources and the spread of civilization over the country, than the hostility of the Indians. Cabot had urged the feasibility of opening an easier channel for trade with the interior of Peru through the river Plate and its tributaries, than that by way of the West Indies and Panama; and now that his views were able to be realized, the interests of the merchants of Seville and of Lima, who had secured a monopoly of the trade by the route of the isthmus, were allowed to destroy the threatened rivalry of that by the river Plate. Never in the history of colonization has a mother country pursued so relentlessly a policy more selfish and short-sighted. Spanish legislation was not satisfied with endeavouring to exclude all European nations except Spain from trading with the West Indies, but it sought to limit all commerce to one particular route, and it forbade any trade being transacted by way of the river Plate, thus enacting the most flagrant injustice towards the people it had encouraged to settle in the latter country. The strongest protests were raised, but the utmost they could effect was that, in 1618, permission was granted to export from Buenos Aires two shiploads of produce a year. But the Spanish government was not content with the prohibition of sea-borne commerce. To prevent internal trade with Peru a custom-house was set up at Cordoba to levy a duty of 50% on everything in transit to and from the river Plate. In 1665 the relaxation of this system was brought about by the continual remonstrances of the people, but for more than a century afterwards (until 1776) the policy of exclusion was enforced. This naturally Asie led to a contraband trade of considerable dimensions.
The English, after the treaty of Utrecht (1715) held the contract (asiento) for supplying the Spanish-American colonies with negro slaves. Among other places the slave ships regularly visited Buenos Aires, and despite the efforts of the Spanish authorities, contrived both to smuggle in and carry away a quantity of goods. This illicit commerce went on steadily till 1739, when it led to an outbreak of war between England and Spain, which put an end to the asiento. The Portuguese were even worse offenders, for in 1680 they made a settlement on the north of the river Plate, right opposite to Buenos Aires, named Colonia, which with one or two short intervals, remained. in their hands till 1777. From this port foreign merchandise found its way duty free into the Spanish provinces of Buenos Aires, Tucuman and Paraguay, and even into the interior of Peru. The continual encroachments of the Portuguese at length led the Spanish government to take the important step of making Buenos Aires the seat of a viceroyalty with jurisdiction over the territories of the present republics of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Argentine Confederation (1776). At the same time all this country was opened to Spanish trade even with Peru, and the development of its resources, so long thwarted, was allowed comparatively free play. Pedro de Zeballos, the first viceroy, took with him from Spain a large military force with which he finally expelled the Portuguese from the banks of the river Plate. The wars of the French Revolution, in which Spain was allied with France against Great Britain, interrupted the growing prosperity of Buenos Aires. On the 17th of June 1806 General William Beresford landed with a body of Effects of troo s from a British fleet under the command of Sir p Home Popham, and obtained possession of Buenos Aires. But a French officer, Jacques de Liniers, gathered together a large force with which he enclosed the British within the walls, and finally, on the 12th of August, by a successful assault, forced Beresford and his troops to surrender. In July 1807 another British force of eight thousand men under General Whitelock endeavoured to regain possession of Buenos Aires, but strenuous preparations had been made for resistance, and after fierce street fighting the invading army, after suffering severe losses, was compelled to capitulate. The colonists, who had achieved their two great successes without any aid from the home government, were naturally elated, and began to feel a new sense of self-reliance and confidence in their own resources. The successful defence of Buenos Aires accentuated the growing feeling of dissatisfaction with the Spanish connexion, which was soon to lead to open insurrection. The establishment of the Napoleonic dynasty at Madrid was the actual cause which brought about the disturbances which were to end in separation. Liniers was viceroy on the arrival of the news of the crowning of Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, but as a Frenchman he was distrusted and was deposed by the adherents of Ferdinand VII. The central junta at Seville, acting in the name of Ferdinand, appointed Balthasar de Cisneros to be viceroy in his place. He entered upon the duties of his office on the 19th of July 1809, and at first he gained popularity by acceding to the urgent appeals of the people and throwing open the trade of the country to all nations. But his measures speedily gave dissatisfaction to the Argentine or Creole party, who had long chafed under the disabilities of Spanish rule, and who now felt themselves no longer bound by ties of loyalty to a country which was in the possession of the French armies.
On the 25th of May 1810 a great armed assembly met at Buenos Aires and a provisional junta was formed to supersede the authority of the viceroy and carry on the government. The acts of the new government ran in the name of Ferdinand VII., but the step taken was a revolutionary one, and the 25th of May has ever since been regarded as the birthday of Argen tine independence. The most prominent leader of the junta rt cr was its secretary Mariano Moreno 1 3' M (7 - 8 7 181I), who with a number of other active supporters of the patriot cause succeeded in raising a considerable force of Buenos Aireans to maintain, arms in hand, their nationalist and anti-Spanish doctrines. An attempt of the Spanish party to make Balthasar de Cisneros president of the junta failed, and the ex-viceroy retired to Montevideo. A sanguinary struggle between the party of independence and the adherents of Spain spread over the whole country, and was carried on with varying fortune. Foremost among the leaders of the revolutionary armies were Manuel Belgrano, and after March 1812 General Jose de San Martin, an officer who had gained experience against the French in the Peninsular War. A state of disorder, almost of anarchy, reigned in the provinces, but on the 25th of March 1816 a congress of deputies was assembled at Tucuman, who named Don Martin Pueyrred6n supreme director, and on the 9th of July the separation of the united provinces of the Rio de la Plata was formally proclaimed, and comparative order was re-established in the country; Buenos Aires was declared the seat of the government. The jealousy of the provinces, however, against the capital led to a series of disturbances, and for many years continual civil war devastated every part of the country. Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay rose in armed revolt, and finally established themselves as separate republics, whilst the city of Buenos Aires itself was torn with faction and the scene of many a sanguinary fight.
From 1816, however, the independence of the Argentine Republic was assured, and success attended the South Americans in their contest with the royal armies. The combined forces of Buenos Aires and Chile defeated the Spaniards at Chacabuco in 1817, and at Maipu in 1818; and from Chile the victorious general Jose de San Martin led his troops into Peru, where on the 9th of July 1821, he made a triumphal entry into Lima, which had been the chief stronghold of the Spanish power, having from the time of its foundation by Pizarro been the seat of government of a viceroyalty which at one time extended to the river Plate. A general congress was assembled at Buenos Aires on the ist of March 1822, of representatives from all the liberated provinces, and a general amnesty was decreed, though the war was not over until the 9th of December 182 4, when the republican forces gained the final victory of Ayacucho, in the Peruvian border-land. The Spanish government did not, however, formally acknowledge the independence of the country until the year 1842. On the 23rd of January 1825, a national constitution for the federal states, which formed the Argentine Republic, was decreed; and on the 2nd of February of the same year Sir Woodbine Parish, acting under the instructions of George Canning, signed a commercial treaty in Buenos Aires, by which the British government acknowledged the independence of the country. It had already been recognized by the United States of America two years previously.
In 1826 Bernardo Rivadavia was elected president of the confederation. His policy was to establish a strong central government, and he became the head of a party known as Unitarians in contradistinction to their opponents, who were styled Federalists, their aim being to main taro to the utmost the local autonomy of the various provinces. Under the government of Rivadavia the people of Buenos Aires became involved, practically single-handed, in a war with Brazil in defence of the Banda Oriental, which had been seized by the imperial forces (see Uruguay). The Brazilians were defeated, notably at Ituzaingo, and in 1827 the war issued in the independence of Uruguay. Rivadavia's term of office was likewise memorable for the constitution of the 24th of December 1826, passed by the constituent congress of all the provinces, by which the bonds which united the confederated states of the Argentine Republic were strengthened. This project of closer union met, however, with much opposition both at Buenos Aires and the provinces. Rivadavia resigned, and Vicente Lopez, a Federalist, was elected to succeed him, but was speedily displaced by Manuel Dorrego (1827), another representative of the same party. The carrying out of Federalist principles led, however, to the formation in the republic of a number of quasiindependent military states, and Dorrego only ruled in Buenos Aires. After the conclusion of the peace with Brazil, the Unitarians placed themselves under the leadership of General Juan de Lavalle, the victor of Ituzaingo. Lavalle, at the head of a division of troops, drove Dorrego from Buenos Aires, pursued him into the interior, and captured him. He was shot (December 9, 1828), by the order of Lavalle, and during the year 1828 the country was given up to the horrors of civil war.
On the death of Dorrego, a remarkable man, Juan Manuel de Rosas, became the Federalist chief. In 1829 he defeated Lavalle, made himself master of Buenos Aires, and in the course of the next threeears made his authority recognized S' y g after much fighting throughout the provinces. The Unitarians were relentlessly hunted down and a veritable reign of terror ensued. Rosas gradually concentrated all power in his own hands, and was hailed by the populace as a saviour of the state. In 1835, with the title of governor and captain general, he acquired dictatorial powers, and all public authority passed into his hands. This dictatorship of Rosas continued until 1852. In every department of administration and of government he was supreme. He was exceedingly jealous of foreign interference, and quarrelled with France on questions connected with the rights of foreign residents. Buenos Aires was in 1838 blockaded by a French fleet; but Rosas stood firm.
A formidable revolt took place in 183 9 under General Lavalle, who had returned to the country accompanied by a number of banished Unitarians. In 1840 he invaded Buenos Aires at the head of troops raised chiefly in the province of Entre Rios; but he was defeated at Santa Fe, then at Lujan, and finally was captured in Jujuy and shot, 1841. The rule of Rosas was now one of tyranny and almost incessant bloodshed in Buenos Aires, while his partisans, foremost amongst whom was General Ignacio Oribe, endeavoured to exterminate the Unitarians throughout the provinces. The scene of slaughter was extended to the Banda Oriental by the attempt of Oribe, with the support of Rosas, and of Justo Jose de Urquiza, governor of Entre Rios, to establish himself as president of that republic (see Uruguay), where the existing government was hostile to Rosas and sheltered all political refugees from the country under his despotic rule. The siege of Montevideo led to a joint intervention of England and France. Buenos Aires was blockaded by the combined English and French fleets, September 1845, which landed a force to open the passage up the Parana to Paraguay, which had been declared closed to foreigners by Rosas. A convention was signed in 1849, which secured the free navigation of the Parana and the independence of the Banda Oriental. The downfall of Rosas was at last brought about by the instrumentality of Justo Jose de Urquiza, who as governor of Entre Rios, had for many years been one of his strongest supporters. The breach between the two men which led to open collision took place in 1846. The first efforts of Urquiza to rouse the country against the oppressor were unsuccessful, but in 1851 he concluded an alliance with Brazil, to which Uruguay afterwards adhered. A large army of twenty-four thousand men was collected at Montevideo, and on the 8th of January 1852 the allied forces crossed the Parana and the road to Buenos Aires lay open before them. Rosas met the allies at the head of a body of troops fully equal in numbers to their own, but was crushingly routed, February 3rd, at Monte Caseros, about io m. from the capital. The dictator fled for refuge to the British legation, from whence he was conveyed on board H.B.M.S. " Locust," which carried him into exile.
A provisional government was formed under Urquiza, and the Brazilian and Uruguayan troops withdrew. He summoned all the provincial governors at San Nicolas in the province of Buenos Aires, and on the 31st of May they pro claimed a new constitution, with Urquiza. as provi sional director of the Argentine nation. A constituent congress, in which each province had equal representation, was duly gress had (May 1, 1853) appointed Urquiza president of the confederation, and he established the seat of government at Parana. The province of Buenos Aires was recognized as an independent state, and under the enlightened administration of Doctor Obligado made rapid strides in commercial prosperity. The two sections of the Argentine nation contrived to exist as separate governments without an open breach of the peace until 1859, when the long-continued tension led to the outbreak of hostilities. The army of the portent's, commanded by Colonel Bartolome Mitre, was defeated at Cepeda by the confederate forces under Urquiza, and Buenos Aires agreed to re-enter the confederation (November 11, 1859). Urquiza at this juncture resigned the presidency, and Doctor Santiago Derqui was elected president of the fourteen provinces with the seat of government at Parana; while Urquiza became once more governor of Entre Rios, and Mitre was appointed governor of Buenos Aires.
The struggle for supremacy between Buenos Aires and the provinces had, however, to be fought out, and hostilities once more broke out in 1861. The armies of the opposing met at Pavon in the province of Santa Fe (September 17). The battle ended in the disastrous defeat of the provincial forces; General Mitre used his victory in a spirit of moderation and sincere patriotism. He was elected president of the Argentine confederation and did his utmost to settle the questions which had led to so many civil wars, on a permanent and sound basis. The constitution of 1853 was maintained, but Buenos Aires became the seat of federal government without ceasing to be a provincial capital. Causes of friction still remained, but they did not develop into open quarrels, for Mitre was content to leave Urquiza in his province of Entre Rios, and the other administrators (caudillos) in their several governments, a large measure of autonomy, trusting that the position and growing commercial importance of Buenos Aires would inevitably tend to make the federal capital the real centre of power of the republic. In 1865 the Argentines were forced into war with Paraguay through the overbearing attitude of the president Francisco Solano Lopez. The dictator of Paraguay had quarrelled with Brazil for its intervention in the internal affairs of Uruguay, and he demanded free passage for his troops across refused, and alliance was formed between Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, for joint action against Lopez. General Mitre became commander-in-chief of the combined armies for the invasion of Paraguay and was absent for several years in the field. The struggle was severe and attended by heavy losses, and it was not until 1870 that the Paraguayans were conquered, Lopez killed, and peace concluded (see Paraguay). Meanwhile, disturbances had broken out in the interior of Argentina (1867), which compelled Mitre to relinquish his command in Paraguay, and to call back a large part of the Argentine forces to suppress the insurrection. The rebels had hoped for assistance from Urquiza, but the powerful governor of Entre Rios maintained the peace in his province, which under his firm and beneficent rule had greatly prospered, and the revolutionary movement was quickly subdued.
In 1868 the term of General Mitre came to an end, and Doctor Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a native of San Juan, was quietly elected to succeed him. His conduct of affairs was by earnest efforts to promote education and to develop the resources of the country. His period of office was marked by the rapid advance of Buenos Aires in population and prosperity, and by an expansion of trade that was unfortunately accompanied by financial extravagance. The war with Paraguay left a legacy of disputes concerning boundaries which almost led to war between the two victorious allies, Argentina and Brazil, but by the exertions of Mitre, who was sent at the close of 1872 as special envoy to Rio, a settlement was arrived at and friendly relations restored. The month of April 1870 saw an insurrection in Entre Rios headed by the caudillo, Lopez Jordan. Urquiza was assassinated, and the provincial legislature, through fear, at once proclaimed Lopez Jordan governor. The federal government refused to acknowledge the new governor, and troops were despatched by Sarmiento against Entre Rios. The contest lasted with varying success for more than a year, but finally Lopez Jordan was completely defeated and driven into exile.
The presidential election of 1874 resolved itself, as so often before, into a struggle between the provincials and the poytenos (Buenos Aires). The candidate of the former, Dr Nicolas Avellaneda, triumphed over General Mitre, not without suspicions of tampering with the returns; and the unsuccessful party appealed to arms. The new president, however, who was installed in office on the 12th of October, took active steps to suppress the revolution, which never assumed a really serious character. The government troops gained two decisive victories over the insurgents under Generals Mitre and Arredondo, and they were compelled to surrender at discretion. But though peace was for a time restored, the old causes of soreness and dissension remained unappeased, and as the time for the next presidential election began to draw near, it became more and more evident that a critical struggle was at hand, and that the people of Buenos Aires, supported by the province of Corrientes, were determined to bring to an issue the question as to what position Buenos Aires was to hold for the future with regard to the remaining provinces of the confederation. It was evident that the president intended to use all the influence which the party in power could exercise, to secure the return of General Julio Roca, who had distinguished himself in 1878 by a successful campaign against the warlike Indian tribes bordering on the Andes. The poytenos on their part were determined to resist this policy to the utmost. Mass meetings were held, and a committee was appointed for the purpose of considering what action should be taken to defeat the ambitious designs of the provincials. Under the direction of this committee, the association known elected, and in order to provide against the predominance of Buenos Aires, it was determined that Sante Fe should be the place of session. But this did not suit the portenos, as the people of Buenos Aires were called, and the province refused to take any part in the congressional proceedings. But Urquiza was a man of different temperament from Rosas, and when he found that Buenos Aires refused to submit to his authority, he declined to use force. The con Mitre parties ,under Generals Mitre and Urquiza respectively,. P q P Y?
the Argentine province of Corrientes. This Mitre war. broad-minded and upright, and was characterized as the " Tiro Nacional " was formed, with the avowed Nacional. object of training the able-bodied citizens of Buenos Aires in military exercises and creating a volunteer army, ready for service if called upon, to withstand by force the pretensions of their opponents. The establishment of the Tiro Nacional was enthusiastically received by all classes in Buenos Aires, the men turning out regularly to drill, and the women aiding the movement by collecting subscriptions for the purpose of armament and other necessaries. On the 13th of February 1880, the minister of war, Dr Carlos Pellegrini, summoned the principal officers connected with the Tiro Nacional, General Bartolome Mitre, his brother Emilio, Colonel Julio Campos, Colonel Hilario Lagos and others, and warned them that as officers of the national army they owed obedience to the national government, and would be severely punished if concerned in any revolutionary outbreak against the constituted authorities. The reply to this threat was the immediate resignation of their commissions by all the officers connected with the Tiro Nacional. Two days later, the national government occupied, with a strong force of infantry and artillery, the parade ground at Palermo used by the Buenos Aires volunteers for drill purposes. A great meeting of citizens was then called and marched through the streets. President Avellaneda was frightened at the results of his action, and to avoid a collision ordered the troops to be withdrawn. Negotiations were now opened by the government with the provincial authorities for the disarmament of the city and province of Buenos Aires, but they led to nothing. Matters became still further strained on account of the outrages committed by the national troops, and such was the bitterness of feeling developed between the two factions, that an appeal to arms became inevitable.
In the month of June 1880, President Avellaneda and his ministers left Buenos Aires, and this act was considered by the porteno leaders equivalent to a declaration of war. The The national government and the twelve provinces forming the Cordoba League, were ranged on one side; the city and province of Buenos Aires and the province of Corrientes on the other. The national troops were well armed with Remington rifles, provided with abundant ammunition, equipped with artillery and supported by the fleet. In the city and province of Buenos Aires, plenty of volunteers offered their services, and an army of some twenty-five thousand men was quickly raised, but they were armed with old-fashioned weapons and there was only a limited supply of ammunition. Feverish attempts were made to remedy the lack of warlike stores, but difficulty was experienced on account of the fleet blockading the entrance to the river. After several skirmishes, the national army commanded by General Roca, containing many troops seasoned in Indian campaigns, assaulted the portenos posted before Buenos Aires, and after two days' hard fighting (20th and 21st July) forced its way into the town.
On 23rd July the surrender of the city was demanded and obtained. The terms of the surrender were that all the leaders of the revolution should be removed from positions of authority, all government employees implicated in the movement dismissed, and the force in the province and city of Buenos Aires at once disarmed and disbanded. The power of Buenos Aires was thus completely broken and at the mercy of the Cordoba League. The portenos were no longer in a position to nominate a candidate in opposition to General Julio Roca, who was duly elected. He assumed office in October 1880.
Hitherto General Roca had been regarded only in his capacity as a soldier, and not from the point of view of an administrator.
In the campaigns against the Indians in the south the Rio Negro he had gained much prestige; the victory over Buenos Aires added to his fame, and secured his authority in the outlying provincial centres. One of the first notable acts of the Roca administration was to declare the city of Buenos Aires the property of the national government. This separation of the city from the province, and its federalization had been one of the chief aims of the Cordoba League, and was the natural consequence of the crushing defeat inflicted on the portenos. As a sequel to this step, in 1884 the town of La Plata was declared to be the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, and the provincial administration was moved to that place. This federalization of the capital has proved to be a most important factor in binding together the different parts of the confederation, and in promoting the evolution of an Argentine nation out of a loosely cemented union of a number of semi-independent states.
Considering the circumstances in which General Roca assumed office, it must be admitted that he showed great moderation and used the practically absolute power that he possessed to establish a strong central government, and to initiate a national policy, which aimed at furthering the prosperity and development of the whole country. He was able by the influence he exerted to keep down the internal dissensions and insurrectionary outbreaks which had so greatly impeded for many years the development of the vast natural resources of the republic. With this object he had promoted the extension of railways so as to link the provinces with the great port of Buenos Aires, and to provide at the same time facilities for the rapid despatch of military forces to disturbed districts. Unfortunately the last two years of Roca's term of office were marked by two grave errors, which subsequently caused widespread suffering and distress throughout the country. The first of these mistakes was a measure making (January 1885) the currency inconvertible for a period of two years. This act, which was only decided upon after much hesitation, had a most deleterious effect upon the national credit. The second was the nomination of Dr Miguel Juarez Celman for the presidential term commencing in October 1886. The nomination was brought about by the Cordoba clique, and Roca lacked the moral courage to oppose the decision. of this group, though he was well aware that Celman, who was, his brother-in-law, was neither intellectually nor morally fitted for the post.
No sooner had President Juarez Celman come into power towards the close of 1886, than the respectable portion of the community began to feel alarmed at the methods practised by the new president in his conduct of public affairs. At first it was hoped that the influence of General Roca would serve to check any serious extravagance on the part of Celman. This hope, however, was doomed to. disappointment, and before many months had elapsed it was. clear that the president would listen to no prudent counsels, from Roca or from any one else. The men of the old Cordoba. League became dominant in all branches of the government,, and carpet-bagging politicians occupied every official post. In their hurry to obtain wealth, this crowd of office-mongers from the provinces lent themselves to all kinds of bribery and corruption. The public credit was pledged at home and abroad to fill the pockets of the adventurers, and the wildest excesses were committed under the guise of administrative acts. What followed in the second and third years of the Celman administration can only adequately be described as a debauchery of the national honour, of the national resources, of the rights of Argentines as citizens of the republic. Buenos Aires was still prostrate under the crushing blow of the misfortunes of 1880, and lacked strength and power of organization necessary to raise any effective protest against the proceedings of Celman and his friends when the true character of these proceedings was first understood. The conduct of public affairs, however, at length became so scandalous, that action on the part of the more soberminded and conservative sections was seen to be absolutely imperative if the country was to be saved from speedy and certain ruin. In 1889 the association of the " Union Civica " was founded, and the organization undertaken by Dr Leandro Alem, Dr Aristobulo del Valle, Dr Ber nardo Irigoyen, Dr Vicente Lopez, Dr Lucio Lopez, Dr Oscar Lilliedale and other leading citizens. The untiring energy and zeal of Leandro Alem fitted him for being the chief organizer of a movement into which he threw himself heart and soul. Mass meetings were held in Buenos Aires, and it fell specially to the lot of Dr del Valle, who was an able orator as well as a sincere patriot, to expose the irresponsible and corrupt character of the administration, and the terrible dangers that threatened the republic through its reckless extravagance and financial improvidence. Subsidiary clubs affiliated to the central administration were formed throughout the length and breadth of the coilntry, and millions of leaflets and pamphlets were distributed broadcast to explain the importance of the movement. President Celman underrated the strength of the new opposition, and relied upon his armed forces promptly to suppress any signs of open hostility. No change was made in official methods, and the condition of affairs drifted from bad to worse, until the temper of the people, so long and so sorely tried, showed plainly that the situation had become insufferable. The Union Civica then decided to make a bold bid for freedom by attempting forcibly to eject Celman and his clique from office. On the night of the 26th of July 18go the Union Civica called its members to arms. It was joined by some regiments of the regular army and received the support of the fleet. Barricades were thrown up in the principal streets, and the surrounding houses were occupied by the insurgents. Two days of desultory street fighting ensued, during which the fleet began to bombard the city, but was compelled to desist by the interference of foreign men-of-war, on the ground that the bombardment was. causing unnecessary damage to the life and property of noncombatants. A suspension of hostilities then took place, and negotiations were opened between the contending parties. Celman, acting upon the advice of General Roca, who recognized the strength of public opinion in the outbreak, placed his resignation in the hands of congress on the 31st of. July. A scene of west of the province of Buenos Aires and the valley of p y intense enthusiasm followed, and Buenos Aires was en fete for the following three days. The vice-president of the confederation, Carlos Pellegrini, who had been minister of war under presidents Avellaneda and Roca and had had much administrative experience, succeeded without opposition to the vacant post.
Much satisfaction was shown in Europe at the fall of President Celman, for investors had suffered heavily by the way in which the resources of Argentina had been dissipated by that the uprising of public opinion against his financial methods signified a more honest conduct of the national affairs in the future. Great expectations were entertained of the ability of President Pellegrini to establish a sound administration, and he succeeded in forming a ministry which gave general satisfaction throughout the country. General Roca was induced to undertake the duties of minister of the interior, and his influence in the provinces was sufficient to check any attempts to stir up disturbances at Cordoba or elsewhere. The most onerous post of all, that of minister of finance, was confided to Dr Vicente Lopez, who, though he was not of marked financial ability, was at least a man of untiring industry and of a personal integrity that was above suspicion. But the economic and financial situation was one of almost hopeless embarrassment and confusion, and Pellegrini proved himself incapable of grappling with it. Instead of facing the difficulties, the president preferred to put off the day of reckoning by flooding the country with inconvertible notes, with the result that the financial crisis became more and more aggravated. Through the rapid depreciation of Argentine credit, the great firm of Baring Brothers, the financial agents of the government in London, became so heavily involved that they were forced into liquidation, November 1890. The consequences of this catastrophe were felt far and wide, and in the spring of 1891 both the Banco Nacional and the Banco de la provincia de Buenos Aires were unable to meet their obligations. Amidst this sea of financial troubles the government drifted helplessly on, without showing any inclination or capacity to initiate a strong policy of reform in the methods of administration which had done so much to ruin the country.
It is little wonder that, in these circumstances, the choice of a successor to Pellegrini, whose term of office expired in 1892, should have been felt to possess peculiar importance. General Bartolome Mitre was proposed by the portenos as their candidate. He had been absent from Argentina on a journey to Europe, and on his return in April 1891, a popular reception was given to him at which 50,000 persons attended. A petition was presented to him begging him to be a candidate for the presidency, and with some reluctance the veteran leader gave his consent. His partisans, however, found themselves confronted by a compact provincial party, who proposed to put forward the other strong man of the republic, General Roca, to oppose him. But the two generals were equally averse to a contest a outrance, which could only end in civil war. They met accordingly at a conference known as El Acuerdo, and it was arranged that both should withdraw, and that a non-party candidate should be selected who should receive *the support of them both. The choice fell upon Dr Saenz Pena, a judge of the supreme court, and a man universally respected, who had never taken any part in political life. This compact aroused the bitter enmity of Dr Leandro Alem, who did his utmost to stir up the Union Civica to a campaign against the neutral candidate. Finding that the more conservative section of the union would not follow him, Alem formed a new association to which he gave the name of Union Civica Radical. Such was his energy, that soon a network of branches of the Union Civica Radical was organized throughout the republic, and Dr Bernardo Irigoyen was put forward as a rival candidate to Dr Saenz Pena. But Alem was not content with constitutional opposition to the Acuerdo, and his movement soon assumed the character of a revolutionary propaganda against the national government. His violence gave Pellegrini the opportunity of taking active steps to preserve the peace. In April 1892 Alem and his chief colleagues were arrested and sent into exile.
In the following month (May), the presidential elections were held; Dr Saenz Pena was declared duly elected, and Dr Jose Uriburu, the minister in Chile, was chosen as vice-president. The idea of Dr Saenz Pena was to conduct the government on common sense and non-partisan lines, in fact to translate into practical politics the principles which underlay the compromise of the Acuerdo. He was a straightforward and honourable man, who tried his best to do his duty in a position that had been forced upon him, and was in no sense of the word his own seeking. No sooner, however, was he installed in office than difficulties began to crop up on all sides, and he quickly discovered that to attempt to govern without the aid of a majority in congress was practically impossible. He had had no experience of political life, and he refused to create the support he needed by using his presidential prerogative to build up a political majority. Obstruction met his well-meant efforts to promote the general good, and before twelve months of the presidential term had run public affairs were at a deadlock. Dr Alem, who had been permitted to return from exile, was not slow to profit by the occasion. Embittered by his treatment in 1892, he openly preached the advisability of an armed rising to overthrow the existing administration. Public opinion had been outraged by the immunity with which the governors of certain provinces, and more particularly Dr Julio Costa, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, had been allowed to maintain local forces, by the aid of which they exacted the payment of illegal taxes and exercised other acts of injustice and oppression. A number of officers of the army and navy agreed to lend assistance to a revolutionary outbreak, and towards the end of July 1893 matters came to a head. The population of Buenos Aires assembled in armed bodies with the avowed intention of ejecting the governor from office, and electing in his stead a man who would give them a just administration. The president was for some time in doubt whether he had any right to intervene in provincial affairs, but eventually troops were despatched to La Plata. There was no serious fighting. Negotiations were soon opened which quickly led to the resignation of Costa, and the return of the insurgents to their homes. While these disturbances were taking place in the province of Buenos Aires, another revolutionary rising was in progress in Santa Fe. Here the efforts of Dr Alem succeeded in supplying a large body of rebels with arms and ammunition, and he was able, by a bold attack, to seize the town of Rosario and there establish the revolutionary headquarters. This capture so alarmed the national government that a force was sent under the command of Roca to put down the insurrection. The revolt speedily collapsed before this redoubtable commander, and Alem and the other leaders surrendered. They were sentenced to banishment in Staten Island at the pleasure of the federal government.
But the suppression of disorder did not relieve the tension between the congress and the executive. During the whole of the 1894 session, the attitude of senators and deputies alike was one of pronounced hostility to the president. All his acts were opposed, legislation was at a standstill and every effort was made to force Dr Saenz Pena to resign. But although he experienced the utmost difficulty in forming a cabinet, the president was obstinate in his determination to retain office without identifying himself with any party. A definite issue was therefore sought by the congress on which to join battle, and it arose out of the death sentences which had been pronounced on certain naval and military officers who had been implicated in the Santa Fe outbreak. The president had made up his mind that the sentence must be carried out; the congress by a great majority were resolved not to permit the death penalty to be inflicted. It was a one-sided struggle, for without the consent of the congress the president could not raise any money for supplies, and congress refused to vote the budget. But heavy expenses had been incurred in putting down revolutionary movements in various parts of the provinces, and war with Chile a corru t government, and hopes were entertained p g p was threatened upon the question of a dispute concerning the boundaries between the two republics. In January 1895 a special session of congress was summoned to take into consideration the financial proposals of the government, which included an increase in the naval and military estimates. Congress, however, had now got their opportunity, and they used the time of national stress to bring increased pressure to bear upon the president. On the 21st of January Dr Saenz Pena at last perceived that his position was untenable, and he handed in his resignation. It was accepted at once by the chambers, and the vice-president, Dr Jose Uriburu, became president of the republic for the three years and nine months of Pena's term which remained unexpired.
Uriburu was neither a politician nor a statesman, but had spent the greater portion of his life abroad in the diplomatic service. His knowledge of foreign affairs was, however, peculiarly useful at a juncture when boundary ques tions were the subjects that chiefly attracted public attention. After disputes with Brazil, extending over fifteen years, about the territory of " Misiones," the matter had been submitted to the arbitration of the president of the United States. In March 1895 President Cleveland gave his decision, which was wholly favourable to the contention of Brazil. The Argentine government, though disappointed at the result, accepted the award loyally. The boundary dispute with Chile, to which reference has already been made, was of a more serious character. The dispute was of old standing. Already in 1884 a protocol had been signed between the contending parties, by which it was agreed that the frontier should follow the line where " the highest peaks of the Andine ranges divide the watershed." This definition unfortunately ignored the fact that the Andes do not run from north to south in one continuous line, but are separated into cordilleras with valleys between them, and covering in their total breadth a considerable extent of country. Difference of opinion, therefore, arose as to the interpretation of the protocol, the Argentines insisting that the boundary should run from highest peak to highest peak, the Chileans that it should follow the highest points of the watershed. The quarrel at length became acute, and on both sides the populace clamoured from time to time for an appeal to arms, and the resources of both countries were squandered in military and naval preparations for a struggle. Nevertheless despite these obstacles, President Uriburu did something during his term of office to relieve the nation's financial difficulties. In 1896 a bill was passed by congress, which authorized the state by the issue of national bonds to assume the provincial external indebtedness. This proof of the desire of the Argentine government to meet honestly all its obligations did much to restore its credit abroad. Uriburu found in 1897 the financial position so far improved that he was able to resume cash payments on the entire foreign debt.
In 1898 there was another presidential election. Public opinion, excited by the prospect of a war with Chile, naturally supported the candidature of General Roca, and he elected without opposition (12th October 1898).
The first question which he had to handle was the Chilean boundary dispute. During the last months of President Uriburu's administration, matters had reached a climax, especially in connexion with the delimitation in a district known as the Puna de Atacama. In August an ultimatum was received from Chile demanding arbitration. After some hesitation, on the advice of Roca the Argentines agreed to the demand, and peace was maintained. The principle of arbitration being accepted, the conditions were quickly arranged. The question of the Puna de Atacama was referred to a tribunal composed of the United States minister to Argentina and of one Argentine and one Chilean delegate; that of the southern frontier in Patagonia to the British crown. One of the first steps of President Roca, after his accession to office, was to arrange a meeting with the president of Chile at the Straits of Magellan. At their conference all difficulties were discussed and settled, and an undertaking was given on both sides to put a stop to warlike preparations. The decision of the representative of the United States was given in April 1899. Although the Chileans professed dissatisfaction, no active opposition was raised, and the terms were duly ratified. In his message to congress, on the 1st of May 1899, General Roca spoke strongly of the immediate necessity of a reform in the methods of administering justice, the expediency of a revision of the electoral law, and the imperative need of a reconstruction of the department of public instruction. The administration of justice, he declared, had fallen to so low an ebb as to be practically non-existent. By the powerful influence of the president, government measures were sanctioned by the legislature dealing with the abuses. which had been condemned. On the 31st of August of the same year a series of proposals upon the currency question was submitted to congress by the president, whose real object was to counteract the too rapid appreciation of the inconvertible paper money. The official value of the dollar was fixed at 44 cents gold for all government purposes. The violent fluctuations in the value of the paper dollar, which caused so much damage to trade and industry, were thus checked. In October 1900 Dr Manuel Campos Salles, president of Brazil, paid a visit to Buenos Aires, and was received with great demonstrations of friendliness. The aggressive attitude of Chile towards Bolivia was causing considerable anxiety, and Argentina and Brazil wished to show that they were united in opposing a policy which aimed at acquiring an extension of territory by force of arms. The feeling of enmity between Chile and Argentina was indeed anything but extinct. The delay of the arbitration tribunal in London in giving its decision in the matter of the disputed boundary in Patagonia led to a crop of wild rumours being disseminated, and to a revival of animosity between the two peoples. In December 1901 warlike preparations were being carried on in both states, and the outbreak of active hostilities appeared to be imminent. At the critical moment the British government, urged to move in the matter by the British residents in both countries, who feared that war would mean the financial ruin of both Chile and Argentina, used its utmost influence both at Santiago and Buenos Aires to allay the misunderstandings; and negotiations were set on foot which ended in a treaty for the cessation of further armaments being signed, June 1902. The award of King Edward VII. upon the delimitation of the boundary was given a few months later, and was received without controversy and ratified by both governments.
To the calm resourcefulness and level-headedness of President Roca at a very difficult and critical juncture must be largely ascribed the preservation of peace, and the permanent removal of a dispute that had aroused so much irritation. His term of office came to an end in 1904, when Dr Manuel Quintana was elected president and Dr Jose Figueroa Alcorta vice-president, both having Roca's support. Dr Quintana at the time of his election was sixty-four years of age. He proved a hard-working progressive president, who did much for the development of communications and the opening up of the interior of the country. He died amidst general regret in March 1906, and was succeeded by Dr Alcorta for the remaining years of his term. (G. E.) Authorities. - C. E. Akers, Argentine, Patagonian and Chilian Sketches (London, 1893), and A History of South America 1854-1904 (New York, 1905); Theodore Child, The Spanish-American Republics (London, 1891); Sir T. H. Holdich, The Countries of the King's Award (London, 1904); W. H. Hudson, The Naturalist in La Plata (London, 1892), and Idle Days in Patagonia (London, 1893); A. H. Keane and C. R. Markham, Central and South America, in Stanford's " Compendium of Geography and Travel " (London, 1901); G. E. Church, " Argentine Geography and the Ancient Pampean Sea " (Geogr. Journal, xii. p. 386); " South America: an Outline of its Physical Geography " (Geogr. Journal, xvii. p. 333); Dr Karl Karger, Landwirtschaft and Kolonisation im spanischen Amerika (2 vols., Leipzig, 1901); F. P. Moreno, " Explorations in Patagonia " (Geogr. Journal, xiv. pp. 2 4 1, 354); Carlos Lix Klett, Estudios sobre production, comercio, finanzas e interesses generales de la Republica Argentina (2 vols., Buenos Aires, 1900); G. Carrasco, El crecimiento de la poblacion de la Republica Argentina comparado con el de las principales naciones 1890-1903 (Buenos Aires, 1904); C. M. Urien and C. Colombo, Geografia Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1905); E. von Rosen, Archaeological' Researches on the Frontier of Argentina and Bolivia 1901-1902 (Stockholm, 1904); Arturo B. Carranza, Constitucion Nacional y Constituciones Provinciales Vigentes (Buenos Aires, 1898); Angelo de Gubernatis, L' Argentina (Firenze, 1898); Meliton Gonzales, El Gran Chaco Argentino (Buenos Aires, 1890); John Grant & Sons, The Argentine Year Book (Buenos Aires, 1902 et seq.); Francis Latzina, Diccionario Geografico Argentino (Buenos Aires, 1891); Geographie de la Republique Argentine (Buenos Aires, 1890); L' Agriculture et l'Elevage dans la Republique Argentine (Paris, 1889); Bartolome Mitre, Historia de San Martin y de la Emancipation Sud-Americana, segun nuevos documentos (3 vols., Buenos Aires, 1887); Historia de Belgrano y de la Independencia Argentina (3 vols., Buenos Aires, 1883); Felipe Soldan, Diccionario Geografico Estadistico Nacional Argentino (Buenos Aires, 1885); Thomas A. Turner, Argentina and the Argentines (New York and London, 1892); Estanislao S. Zeballos, Description Amena de la Republica Argentina (3 vols., Buenos Aires, 1881); Anuario de la Direcion General de Estadistica 1898 (Buenos Aires, 1899); Charles Wiener, La Republique Argentine (Paris, 1899); Segundo Censo Republica Argentina (3 vols., Buenos Aires, 1898); Handbook of the Argentine Republic (Bureau of the American Republics, Washington, 1892-1903). (A. J. L.)
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Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Argentina'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/a/argentina.html. 1910.
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