Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic ( , ), is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the second largest country in South America and eighth in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous. Its continental area is , between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south. Argentina borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentina also claims of Antarctica, known as Argentine Antarctica, overlapping other claims made by Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory) and the United Kingdom (British Antarctic Territory); all such claims have been suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961.

Argentina has the second highest Human Development Index level and the third highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in purchasing power parity in Latin America. Argentina's nominal GDP is the 30^th largest in the world; but when purchasing power is taken into account, its total GDP makes it the 23^rd largest economy in the world.

The country is currently classified as an Upper-Middle Income Country or as a secondary emerging market by the World Bank. Argentina is also one of the G-20 major economies.

History

main: History of Argentina

Etymology

main: Name of Argentina Río de la Plata aborigines (1603) File:Cabildo de Buenos Aires (1864).jpg|thumb|170px|upright|The Buenos Aires Cabildo, scene of the 1810 resolution that led to independence

The name of Argentina is derived from the Latin argentum (silver), which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek ἀργήντος (argēntos), gen. of ἀργήεις (argēeis), "white, shining". Αργεντινός (argentinos) was an ancient Greek epithet meaning "silvery". The first use of the name Argentina can be traced back to the first voyages made by the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors to the Río de la Plata which means "Silver River", on the first years of 16th century.

Alejo García, one of the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition mounted by Juan Díaz de Solís at 1516, heard notices about a powerful White King in a country very rich in silver, at the mountains, called "Sierra de Plata". García then organized an expedition and reached Potosi's area, gaining several silver objects and gifts. He was killed by the payaguas, returning to Santa Catarina, Brazil, but the guarani people who where part of the expedition took the silver objects back and spread the Sierra de Plata legend, and explained that it was possible to reach that fabulous land through the wide river located to the south .