Vintage Images Of Argentine History

Argentina

Argentina is situated in South America within the continent known as the Americas, and it is the second-largest country in South America after Brazil. Argentina shares its borders with five other nations, namely, Paraguay, situated to the north, Brazil, is to the northeast, Uruguay, is to the east, Bolivia, is northwest, and Chile, is to the west. Meanwhile, Argentina's eastern border faces the South Atlantic Ocean. Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, with a total land area of just over one million square miles. And on the date of this publication, Argentina's population was said to be about 47 million people. The dominant spoken language of this nation is Spanish, and its capital city is Buenos Aires, which is full of impressive architecture and famous landmarks. Argentina is a land of agricultural paradise with rich mineral soils and expansive fertile lands; it is also known for its extensive plains, deserts, exotic forests, and magnificent mountain regions. Argentinians are famous for their eternal passion for football, tango music, and tango dancing. Argentina also exhibits a variety of stunning beaches and holiday resorts in addition to a wide variety of vibrant night-clubs and popular restaurants to tantalize holiday seekers from all over the world.

The First Native Settlers

In the prehistoric era, humans began to settle in the southern-most region of Argentina about 13,000 years ago. That area is also known as Patagonia, a geographical area that encompasses the southern end of South America, and it crosses the borders of Argentina and Chile, with the Andes (extensive mountain region) dividing the two nations. Originally, various nomadic tribes of people settled into parts of Argentina, some of which were the Charrúa, Minuane, and Guarani peoples, who were hunter-gatherers and farmers. The first Asian tribes to settle in Argentina arrived from the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait was known for connecting Asia to the Americas via Beringia, also known as the Bering Land Bridge (currently submerged beneath the sea), which existed during the last ice age. Many academics state that the first major human migration from Asia crossed the Bering Strait into the Americas approximately 16,000 - 20,000 years ago. Spanning several thousand years, a vast and varied Asian population gradually navigated difficult journeys across the Americas, expanding and diversifying as they established their distinctive cultures and societies within demarcated regions.

The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire was the first major empire to invade northwest Argentina around 1480. The Incas managed to claim a section of Argentina when they defeated the indigenous natives that lived there and thereby absorbed that region within the Inca Empire. The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between 1400 and 1533, and this empire eventually extended across western South America. It was the largest pre-Columbian empire within the Americas, in other words, the era before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, who discovered the so-called New World in 1492, while sailing on board his ship Santa Maria. In 1502, Portuguese explorer Gonçalo Coelho (1554 - 1512) and Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1451 - 1512) arrived in South America. However, it was Amerigo Vespucci, originally a merchant from the Republic of Florence, Italy, that the name America was derived. Additionally, Vespucci was officially credited as the first explorer to proclaim the New World as a new continent separate from Asia.

The First Europeans

The first European to discover Argentina was Spanish explorer Juan Diaz de Solis in 1516, and he arrived in the region that is currently known as, Rio de La Plata. Importantly, Juan Diaz de Solis was the first Spaniard to lay claim to that region on behalf of the Spanish Crown. Unfortunately, soon after his arrival in that region, he was killed by native Indians. Years later, in 1535, Buenos Aires was founded by Spanish explorer, Pedro de Mendoza (born 1499 - died 1537). That region was initially established as a small settlement. However, over time, the population increased significantly, and Buenos Aires flourished economically to eventually be established as a port city. Many generations later, in 1776, Charles III of Spain stipulated that this colony be formally named as Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. However, back in 1612, a famous writer by the name of Ruy Díaz de Guzmán had already published his book about the history of Rio de La Plata, and within it he named that territory, River of Silver and Land of Silver. The name Argentina originated from the Latin word Argentum, meaning silver, and the official name, Argentina, was eventually arrived at because the land contained a rich and vast amount of Silver as well as other valuable minerals and precious metals.

The African Slave Trade

The Spanish Empire began the transportation of African slaves into Rio de la Plata from the 16th century and continued until about the 19th century. European slave traders purchased vast amounts of African slaves, who were then shipped from West Africa across the Atlantic to the Americas, Caribbean, and also parts of Asia, including the East Indies. Spanning from the 16th and 19th centuries, well over 200,000 enslaved Africans were brought to the twin ports of the River Plate, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the capital cities of what are now Argentina and Uruguay. Starting from approximately 1580 until about 1640, the main commercial activity for Buenos Aires was said to be the slave trade. More than 70 percent of the value of all imports arriving in Buenos Aires was enslaved Africans. Moreover, according to an old census by Spanish colonial rulers, in 1778, African slaves totalled about 37% of the population within that region of Argentina. In some major provinces, the proportion of African Argentinians exceeded 50% of the population. However, after Argentina's independence in 1816, the numbers of African Argentinians are not known, because Argentina’s national census bureau stopped collecting racial information (it is claimed) and systematically destroyed historical records and archive photos of African Argentinians. By 1857, the African Argentinian population had dramatically decreased to 15 percent. And by the early 20th-century that number further decreased to less than 5 percent.

The main theories (controversial) put forward by academics for the rapid decline of Argentina's African population between (18th and 19th-century) was attributed to the cholera epidemics, which occurred in 1861 and 1864, and a yellow fever epidemic in 1871. Another important reason debated was the substantial influx of millions of Europeans, mostly Spanish and Italians, who migrated to Argentina towards the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Therefore, some scholars propose the assimilation theory as a partial explanation for the dramatic decrease of black people in Argentina. While other academics reasoned that many African slaves lost their lives when they were compelled to go to the front line of battle in the Argentine War of Independence (1810 - 1818). Yet, modern day scholars such as Alex Borucki (Uruguayan) and Mariam Gomes (Argentine) continue to argue that these theories alone are not enough to explain the mysterious disappearance of so many black-Argentines throughout that era. According to Academic Patricia Gomes (Brazilian) and American author Erika Denise Edwards, the idea of a European Argentina was a fabrication imposed by racist 19th-century leaders to erase Argentina’s black history from the nation’s collective consciousness.

Argentine War Of Independence (1810-1818)

The Argentine independence movement evolved in 1806, following a British army attack on Buenos Aires, at which time the British forces were repelled by the local militia with minimum assistance from the occupying Spanish forces. Over time the Argentine independence movement became increasingly popular, until a series of opportunistic events occurred, which prompted an all-out Argentine rebellion against the Spanish forces. The Argentine War of Independence (1810 - 1818) was a secessionist civil war (favouring a formal withdrawal from a federation or political body) that was fought by Argentine patriotic forces under the leadership of Argentine military commanders Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820), who was also a politician, Juan José Castelli (1764-1812), an Argentine lawyer, and José de San Martín (1778-1850) an army general,. The Argentine patriotic forces waged a protracted war against the royalist forces loyal to the Spanish Empire. After many gruelling years of battle, finally, in July, 1816, Argentina declared its independence from Spanish rule (the official name for that country, Argentina, was said to have originated in 1816), but the war had continued in parts of Argentina, until the final remaining remnants of the Spanish resistance was defeated in 1818. Following Argentina's declaration of independence in 1816, initially, Argentina's United Provinces consisted of what is now Argentina, plus Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. However, a series of wars occurred within the United Provinces which resulted in the separation of the afore-mentioned. But within Argentina, there were various other wars which ensued over many generations, in particular, a civil war occurred in which Argentina was bitterly polarized between unitarists who advocated a unitary state or a strong central government, and federalists who wanted a more loosely associated federation of states.

The Peninsular War (1808-1814)

It is important to mention that the Peninsular War (1808-1814), had overlapped and significantly impacted the outcome of the Argentine War of Independence (1810 - 1818). The Peninsular War (1808-1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the British, Spanish, and Portuguese allied forces against the invading and occupying forces of Napoleon Bonaparte's French army. The Peninsular War resulted in a series of victories for the allied forces, which eventually ousted the French forces from that region. The conflict began when Napoleon's army invaded Portugal in 1807, then Spain in 1808, which immediately compelled King Ferdinand VII of Spain to abdicate the throne in favour of Napoleon, who then granted the throne to his older brother, Joseph Bonaparte; henceforth, France governed Spain. This event resulted in the formation of the Supreme Central Junta, a Spanish-led resistance movement within Spain, but by February 1810, this movement was soundly defeated by the occupying French forces. On 18 May 1810, certain British ships that had sailed to Argentina reported the revelations to the population within the capital. The news of Spanish King Ferdinand VII's deposition and the defeat of Spanish forces by Napoleon's army travelled quickly across the capital and contributed to the May Revolution in Buenos Aires in 1810.

The May Revolution (1810-1818)

The May Revolution was a week-long series of revolutionary events that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 18 May until 25 May 1810. It is believed that it was the May Revolution that initiated the Argentine War of Independence (1810-1818). Importantly, in Argentine history, the May Revolution was considered a catalyst event that eventually liberated Argentina from Spanish colonial rule. The May Revolution was an uprising instigated by Argentine rebels, which culminated in the overthrow of the local Spanish colonial government in Buenos Aires, then known as 'Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata' and was governed by Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, who was a representative of the Spanish Crown. This event resulted in the establishment of Argentina's first independent government on 25 May 1810, which was called the Primera Junta. Meanwhile, in Argentina, 25 May is considered one of the most important commemorative days, also known as National or May Revolution Day (Dia de la Revolución de Mayo), an important date which marks the first official day of emancipation from Spanish colonial rule. After Argentina defeated the Spanish forces during the Argentine War of Independence (1810-1818), the Argentine constitutional assembly established a constitution in 1853, then a formal national government in 1861. And years later, in 1880, Buenos Aires was officially declared the capital of Argentina.

The Infamous Decade (1930-1943)

In the early 20th century, Argentina witnessed a great influx of immigrants from many European countries, but primarily from Spain and Italy. In this era, Argentina's economy increased significantly to become one of the world's wealthiest nations. However, Argentina's prosperity decreased dramatically after 1929 afflicted by the devastating reverberations of the global depression which began in America. In 1930, a military coup supported by the Argentine Patriotic League forced the Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen from power, and he was temporarily replaced by José Félix Uriburu, who was a high-ranking military officer. After which began the Década Infame (the Infamous Decade), which was characterized by electoral fraud, corruption, and the controversial rule of the pro-aristocratic coalition, known as the Concordancia, which was a political alliance between the then three Argentine presidents, Agustín P. Justo, Roberto Ortiz, and Ramón Castillo, who were in power from 1931 to 1943. The Concordancia was supported and ruled by wealthy landowners, and it protected the rich but did very little to help or alleviate the poverty endured by common people, and it also suppressed and excluded the lower classes from politics. The government's unfair treatment of the working class eventually led to mass protests and civil unrest across the nation. As a result, on 4 June 1943, the United Officers' Group (a military alliance) planned a coup d'état to overthrow President Ramón Castillo's government. This event became known as the 1943 Argentine coup d'état, also known as the Revolution of 43.

Old Argentina Map