History

The area of present Argentina was relatively sparsely populated until it was colonised by Europeans. Spain established a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580, and the Viceroyalty of River Plate in 1776. Independence from Spain was declared on 9 July 1816. Centralist and federationist groups were in conflict, until national unity was established and the Constitution promulgated in 1853.

Foreign investment and inmigration from Europe aided the introduction of modern agricultural techniques and integration of Argentina into the world economy in the late 19th century. In the 1880s the "Conquest of the Desert" subdued or exterminated the remaining native tribes throughout Patagonia.

From 1880 to 1930 Argentina became one of the ten wealthiest nations. Conservative forces dominated Argentine politics until 1916, when their traditional rivals, the Radicals, won control of the government. The military forced Hipolito Yrigoyen from power in 1930 leading to another decade of Conservative rule.

Political change led to the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón in 1946, who aimed at empowering the working class and greatly expanded the number of unionised workers. The Revolucion Libertadora of 1955 deposed him.

In the 1950s and 1960s, military and civilian administrations traded power. When military governments failed to revive the economy and suppress escalating terrorism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the way was open for Perón's return to the presidency in 1973, with his third wife, Maria Estela Isabel Martinez de Peron, as Vice President. During this period, extremists on the left and right carried out terrorist acts with a frequency that threatened public order.

Perón died in 1974. His wife succeeded him in office, but a military coup removed her from office in 1976. Economic problems, charges of corruption, public revulsion in the face of human rights abuses and, finally, the country's 1982 defeat in the Falklands War discredited the Argentine military regime. Democracy was restored in 1983.

Demographics:

Unlike most of its neighbouring countries, Argentina's population descends overwhelmingly from Europeans. The basic demographic stock (95% of the population) is made up of descendants of the Spanish colonists, augmented by descendants of later Italian, Spanish and other European settlers. The indigenous (poorly estimated between .5% ) and identifiably mestizo populations (estimated at around 4.5%) There was a sizable population of Afro-Argentinians in the 1800's, but the population has largely intermarried into the larger community and the Afro-Argentinian community today is sparse.  There is also a notable population of Gitanos, otherwise known as Roma or Gypsies. in Argentina.  

Waves of immigrants from European countries arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.. The Patagonian Chubut Valley has a significant Welsh-descended population and retains many aspects of Welsh culture. Other important immigrant groups came from Germany, France, Scandinavia (especially Sweden), the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Eastern European nations, such as Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Balkans region (especially Croatia and Serbia). The Jewish community in Argentina is comprised predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews of Northern and Eastern European origin, and numbers about 395,379, which is the largest in Latin America and fifth largest in the world.

Syrian, Lebanese and other Middle Eastern immigrants number about 500,000, mainly in urban areas. Small numbers of people from East Asia have settled Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires. The first were Japanese, but Koreans and Chinese soon followed.

There was a substantial immigration from other Latin American countries during the 1990s from Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile number about 2,000,000 and 4,000,000.