11 Interesting Facts about Argentina

I’m currently in Argentina, the fifth country on my extensive South American explorations in 2022-2023. I started nearly one year ago in February, 2022, by spending one full month in the fantastic, far-flung Galapagos Islands.

After that I explored mainland Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and a bit of Chile, where I only made it as far as the capital city, Santiago, and the colorful coastal city of Valporaiso.

I arrived in Argentina in mid December by taking a spectacular bus trip from Santiago up over the high Andes mountains at Los Libertadores border pass. It was an incredibly beautiful trip that exceeded even my own excited expectations. I wrote about the border road in this article.

I’ve been in Argentina three weeks so far: one week in the Mendoza wine country and two weeks in Buenos Aires. I haven’t been able to explore too much of either city yet since I’ve been extra-busy visiting luxury hotels, dealing with the often difficult ways in which things function here, and preparing for the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.

But I have managed to learn a lot of interesting things about Argentina, both through personal experience and online research. And I plan to explore the country more extensively after Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile, here are some of the most intriguing things I learned about Argentina…

1. ‘Argentina’ means ‘silver’

This country was named by Spanish explorers in the 1500s as ‘Argentina’. It’s derived from the Latin word for silver, ‘argentum’.

That makes it pretty clear what the Spaniards found in abundance in this part of South America!

2. A whopping 97% of Argentinians are descendants of Europeans

Most other South American countries, including Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Brazil have a hefty mixed citizenry of various indigenous tribes and descendents primarily of the Spanish conquerors. In those countries you’ll still encounter lots of Incas, other indigenous Andes peoples, African descendents and various Amazon tribes thriving in mountains, coastal regions, cities and towns.

Not so in Argentina, where nearly every Argentinian is descendent from Europeans, particularly Italians. In the mid 1900s, mass migrations from various European countries re-located to Argentina. This gives the Argentinian people, food, culture and cities a much more European flair than most other South American countries.

As for Italians, it’s said that more than 50% of Argentinian family names are Italian. It was the Italian immigrants who brought grapes and wine culture to the Mendoza region of the country. In Buenos Aires there are countless pastry shops full of Italian cakes and cookies. Homemade fresh pastas are sold abundantly, even in supermarkets.

3. Argentina is famous for its wines and vineyards

As noted above, Italian immigrants- in the mid 1800s to early 1900s – arrived to Argentina with their grapes in order to continue growing grapes and making wine. Many settled in Mendoza, a flat region on the eastern edge of the Andes, near the Argentinian western border with Chile.

Nowadays the region is dotted with yineyards, both large and small, that boast grape vines now more than 100 years old. The predominantly family-run vineyards and wineries have developed their wines to world standards. They specialize in red Malbec wines.

Mendoza is now a huge international wine-lovers destination with dozens of very luxurious wine-centric hotels scattered throughout the Uca Valley, just south of Mendoza city.

4. The world’s highest mountain outside Asia is in Argentina

Situated in the high Andes, just west of Mendoza, stands the mighty, domed Mount Aconcagua. Standing at 22,838 ft / 6961 M, Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas.

Aconcagua is the highest peak in the Andes, in South America and, in fact, the highest in all the Americas. It’s considerably higher than Mt. Denali in Alaska, Mt. Whitmore in California and other super-high Andes mountains.

Mt. Aconcagua is situated almost on the border with Chile and is preserved in Argentina’s Aconcagua National Park. The mountain was first summitted in late 1800s and is a popular mountain-trekking expedition for mountaineers.

5. Argentina is the 8^th largest country in the world

In South America, Argentina is the second largest country, after neighboring Brazil.

But on a global scale, Argentina takes eight place after (in order) Russia, Canada, USA, China, Brazil, Australia and India.

For comparison, USA has 9.8 million square kms; Brazil 8.5 million square kms; and Argentina 2.8 million square kms. That makes Argentina only about one fourth the size of massive USA. Still, it’s an extremely large country.

6. Argentina has one of the world’s longest land borders

The incredibly long border between Chile and Argentina runs an astounding 3000 miles / 5000 kms. Most of the border is situated in the high Andes mountains that run north to south down the length of South America, separating the two countries.

There are a whopping 48 border crossings between these two countries, most of them through high mountain passes. One of the most spectacular is Los Libertadores, which connects Santiago, Chile with Mendoza, Argentina. The highest point of the pass is at 10,400 ft / 3800 M, in the middle of a 3-km-long tunnel.

As noted above, I recently had the great pleasure of crossing that border on a bus. I wrote about the pass in this article.

7. Argentina is the birthplace of Tango

The passionate, intense dance of Tango was invented in Buenos Aires in the mid 1800s. To this day, Buenos Aires has the world’s most expert tango performances, though the famous dance style has spread all over the world and is particularly popular in Spain.

8. Che Guevera was from Argentina

The famous Marxist revolutionary of the mid 1900s was born in Rosario, Argentina. Guevarro was a central figure in the Cuban Communist regime and major revolutionary around South America, fighting for the independence of each country from their colonial Spanish rulers.

9. The herbal drink ‘matte’ is Argentina’s famous beverage

Matte is a drink native to Argentina (pronounced ‘mat te’). It consists of a bunch of different herbs blended together and served in a specialized matte cup and straw.

Argentinians are so fond of matte that when they travel abroad they often take their matte cup and herbal blends with them. I’ve come across many many travelers with their matte cups in hand, a sure sign that they’re from Argentina.

10. Argentina is famous for its beef

Now here’s something I can attest to. Argentina has really delicious, tender beef! Even cheaper cuts of beef sold in supermarkets are delcious. Fresh beef sold at small butchers is even better.

Amazingly, beef is also incredibly inexpensive here. On several occassions I’ve bought large pieces of tasty, tender beef for under $2-3 US ! Each time it’s been enough meat for me for three meals.

Argentinians usually eat their delicious beef grilled at home or at steakhouses called ‘parrillos’. Beef, along with fresh vegetables, and often other meats, are slowly grilled on huge grills with open flames or super hot coals. Their term for BBQ is ‘asado’.

11. Argentina is also famous for its world-class soccer teams

In addition to soccer and beef, Argentina’s other main claim to fame is its legendary soccer teams. They’ve won the World Cup three times to date, the most recent just last month in December, 2022.

Over the decades, Argentina has produced several of the world’s best, most celebrated soccer players. The current hero is Lionel Messi, generally considered one of the best soccer players of all time. Historic soccer heros include Diego Maradona, who just passed away in 2020 and Javier Mascherano, current coach of the Argentinian national team and former player…two among a long list of spectacular soccer players from this country.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about Argentina. I certainly have been enjoying my explorations and discoveries here thus far.

I’ll soon be heading to the far southernmost reaches of Argentina, near the very bottom of the contintent, at Ushuaia. There I’ll be exploring parts of Patagonia in both Argentina and Chile.

Stay tuned for more photos of stunning natural places and updates on my South American adventures.

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Meanwhile, you might like:

The Amazing Los Libertadores Border Crossing Chile-Argentina

10 Most Beautiful Natural Places in Chile

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