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Argentina - Geography

The diversity of Argentine society is shaped in part by the major geographic and climatic contrasts that characterize the country. Argentina's distinct regions range from the Andean altiplano, or high plateau, of the Northwest provinces of Salta and Jujuy to the tropical jungle of the Gran Chaco and the cold sheep-raising country of Patagonia in the south. Perhaps best known are the pampas, among the world's most fertile agricultural lands, which are devoted to grain and cattle raising, and Greater Buenos Aires and the Littoral, where large concentrations of wealth, industry, and population are found.

Argentina, covering an area of 2,771,300 square kilometers, is the second largest country in Latin America, after Brazil, and the eighth largest in the world. It occupies most of the southeastern part of the continent of South America and resembles either a giant cornucopia or a wedge having its base near the Tropic of Capricorn and its point aimed at Antarctica.

Officially, Argentina's total area exceeds 4 million square kilometers. Of these, over 1.2 million square kilometers correspond to the insular and antarctic territories that are part of the Federal Territory of Tierra del Fuego. (The Argentine government adds "Antarctica and the Islands of the South Atlantic" to the name of this territory.) It includes the eastern portion of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados, Falkland/ Malvinas Islands, South Georgia/Georgia del Sur Island, South Orkney/Orcadas del Sur Islands, South Sandwich/Sandwich del Sur Islands, South Shetland/Shetland del Sur Islands, and a wedge-shaped sector of the antarctic continent lying to southeast of Cape Horn and extending southward to the South Pole. Only the eastern portion of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and the Isla de los Estados were claimed without dispute; Chilean and British claims in Antarctica overlapped with Argentina's, and Britain effectively controlled the other South Atlantic islands claimed by Argentina.

Argentina shares land borders with five nations. To the west and south it is bounded by Chile; to the north, by Bolivia and Paraguay; and to the east by Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean. Argentina's eastern border runs east and then south from the Iguazü Falls along an estimated 1,000-kilometer river border with Brazil that follows the Rio Iguazñ, Rio San Antonio, Rio Pepiri GuazU, and Rio Uruguay. Farther south it shares a 784-kilometer river border with Uruguay along the RIo Uruguay and the Rio de la Plata estuary. Argentina's Atlantic coastline measures 2,850 kilometers.

The altiplano (high plateau) of the Andes mountains forms the northern border with Bolivia. To the east Argentina shares over 1,500 kilometers of its northern border with Paraguay demarcated by the Rio Pilcomayo, the Rio Paraguay, and the Rio Alto Paraná. The Andes mountains also form the western border with Chile, running southward the length of the Argentine-Chilean border until south of the town of El Turbio in the Argentine Andes, near the source of the RIo Callegos. From there the border moves eastward and then southeast, reaching the Atlantic Ocean at the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan. The border with Chile continues southward across the strait in a line ending at the Beagle Channel, which divides the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego between Argentina and Chile. The triangular eastern part of the island is Argentina's National Territory of Tierra del Fuego.

Argentina has a wide variety of topographical, ecological, and climatic features. Nearly all of Argentina lies south of the Tropic of Capricorn, which marks the boundary of the southern edge of the tropics. The northwestern part of Argentina consists of a dry Andean plateau that lacks vegetation; to the east lie the subtropical jungles of the provinces of Chaco and Misiones, where the majestic Iguazñ Falls (composed of 275 separate falls) is found. The country's central region, known as the pampas, is one of the world's most fertile prairie lands. To the south are the bleak, windswept Patagonian steppes and the National Territory of Tierra del Fuego, where Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, is located. Along Argentina's western frontier are the towering Andes mountains, which include Cerro Aconcagua; at 6,980 meters it is the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere.

Argentina lies almost entirely in the southern temperate zone but registers considerable variations in temperature and rainfall. The northern regions of the country are subtropical and humid, while the southern region is subantarctic. The rest of the country has predominantly temperate weather. Summer months are from December through February and winter months from June through August. January is the warmest month, July the coldest. Precipitation is heaviest during the summer months, and rainfall is most abundant in the subtropical north and in the subantarctic south. The rest of the country is arid or semiarid. The proximity of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, especially in the southern regions, has an impact on the weather.