History of Argentina

The history of Argentina starts well before the installation of Spanish. A long time Spanish colony, it ends up obtaining its independence at the 19th century.

Prehistory - first human populations

The first human beings to be penetrated in Argentine seem to be parvenu there by the extreme south of Patagonie Chilean. The oldest testimonys are gathered with the concise museum of the province of Santa Cruz and go back to Other establishments were raised with Los Toldos, also in province of Santa Cruz with vestiges dating from

These first inhabitants drove out milodons them (animal similar to large bears, but with a head resembling that of one camélidé and unfortunately disappeared) and also hippidions them (South American horses missings them, there is 10 000 years), in addition to the Guanaco S, LAMA S and Nandou S.

Close from there, it is possible to see paintings of hands and guanacos drawn towards 13 000 years, for stylistic group the “has”, the cultural level oldest, then towards 7 300 av. J. - C. for the second cultural level, group “stylistic B”, on the walls of the Cueva of mow Manos (Río Pinturas, Santa Cruz, declared cultural heritage of Humanity by UNESCO).

It is thought that the settlement of the Pampa had already begun as of, while the Argentinian North-West accepted its first inhabitants towards the beginning of

Civilizations and cultures précolombiennes

The Argentinian indigenous people were divided into two great groups, on the one hand the wandering hunters-gatherers who lived the Patagonie, the Pampa and the Chaco, and on the other hand the sedentary farmers, installed in the North-West, the Cuyo, the Sierras of Córdoba and more tardily, in Mésopotamie.

Andean cultures of the west and the North-West

Culture of Ansilta . One of the first cultures to have developed a form of primitive agriculture on the current Argentinian territory was the Culture of Ansilta , located at the accesses of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis. Badly known, this surprising culture goes from 1 800 av. J. - C. until 500 apr. J. - C., is more 2 000 years, which is a single case of continuity. Undoubtedly they are the predecessors of the ethnos groups Huarpes.

Culture Condorhuasi . This culture appears in 200 av. J. - C. in the province of Catamarca. It is about a culture of stockbreeders of spangled and pastors for whom agriculture was only one complement. They had a cruel and violent religion in which the Chaman S used Hallucinogène S such as the Anadenanthera colubrina (also called cebil) and carried out human sacrifices. Large blacksmiths, they were the first to use metal alloys. Their anthropomorphic sculptures are the subject of thorough studies: named the suplicantes (begging them), in fact beautiful abstract sculptures hones some represent human beings in position of supplication, undoubtedly calling the rain and the fertility. This culture disappeared between the 3rd century and the end from the 5th century.

Culture Tafí (of -200 with 800). Contemporary of the Culture of Ciénaga , it appears in the valley of Tafí , on the current territory of Tucumán. It acts farmers who cultivated in particular the Maïs, on terraces. They domesticated also the LAMA.

Culture of Ciénaga (1 - 600). It is with the Ier century that on the Argentinian ground the first completely agricultural company appears, the Culture of Ciénaga , also in the area of Catamarca. It develops to with it plantations of Maïs and systems of irrigation with channels. They as raised spangled, as they used in the caravans to carry out exchanges between various localities. They built small towns of 30 dwellings at the maximum. They were direct precursors of the Culture of Aguada.

Culture of Aguada . Between the 4th century and 10th century the Culture of Aguada develops on the territory of the provinces of Catamarca and Rioja. It is Andean of the cultures of the Argentinian North-West, strongly related to the culture of Tiwanaku. Aguada was characterized by a strong artistic development around the representation of the Jaguar. It seems that it either at this time that a new political form in the cultures of north-ouest develops;: that of the Seigniories , with the capacity of a lord , which dominated a certain area and controlled the surpluses of agricultural production. Among the artistic representations, one notices that of the sacrificator.

The saving in this culture was based on an agriculture in terraces irrigated by complex hydraulic systems. They produced Maïs, Haricot S, Potiron S and Arachide S. They made trade of their products with places very distant San Pedro de Atacama or valley from Copiapó in Chile, on the other side of the Andes, using the LAMA S with this intention. The metallurgy was very advanced and they discovered the Bronze before the arrival of Spanish.

Towards 900, Aguada disappeared. Its heritage will be found in the culture Belén and the culture of Santa María. Culture of Santa María (1200 - 1470). Thanks to its and very complex system terrace cultivation of irrigation, Santa María succeeds in having a strong population and accumulating surpluses stored in underground silos. They cultivated the Maïs, the Potato (called dad ), the Haricot, the Quinoa, the Piment and the Courge S, and intensively gathered the fruits of the creole caroubier or algarroba and of the chañar. Large experts in breeding, they used fodder. They developed the trade with long distance, with caravans of LAMA S. They developed the metallurgy of copper, the money and gold and manufactured bronze articles of excellent quality. The culture of Santa María is characterized by a great sociopolitic complexity, with at the top of the hierarchy a lord whose capacities were hereditary, of the warriors and the Shamans. This culture corresponds mainly with the ethnos group Paziocas known under its denomination Quechua of Diaguita S.

the invasion INCA (1400 - 1520). formation of Tucumán : one century before the arrival of Spanish, the Argentinian North-West counted a large variety of sedentary people with their particular characteristics, and among them, the Paziocas, the Alpatama S, the Omaguaca S, and the Huarpes. At the 15th century this territory was invaded and annexed by the Quechua S at the southernmost zone of Kollasuyu or Collasuyu or Qullasuyu (being given the distance of these areas per report/ratio with Cuzco, the unit formed a special territory of the known Tahuantinsuyu like being “ Tucumán ” and the “ Kiri-Kiri ”).

independent Andean Cultures (1400 - 1520): out of Tahuantinsuyu or Tawantinsuyu were maintained some independent populations sedentary, for example Lule-Toconoté (in war against Quechuas, and pejoratively called by those “surís” or “nandous”), Sanavirón in the zone of the provinces of Tucumán, west of Santiago del Estero and north of Córdoba, as well as Comechingons in the sierras of Córdoba and San Luis.

Cultures of Mésopotamie Argentina

Guaranís : coming from Amazonia, the Guaraní S, had settled rather recently in Mésopotamie. They belonged to the cultural group called of the Tupí-guaraní.

The Avás (better known as “Guaranís”) were established in Argentinian territory between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, advancing since the North-East mainly by the rivers. They were subdivided in various groups according to the place where they were established. One distinguishes Guaranís from the islands (in the islands of the delta of Paraná), those of the Carcarañá, Santa Anna (north of the province of Corrientes, the Cáingangs or Cainguás (in Mésopotamie) and the Chiriguanos (with the Chaco).

They lived in villages (tekuas) which constituted true tribal units economically independent. Each village guaraní was directed by a political leader, the Mburuvichá , and a religious leader the Payé . The social organization was chapeautée by a Cacique ( Tuvichá ) hereditary.

They led Canoë S. They were very good hunters in forest, gatherers, fishermen and also farmers. They cultivated the Manioc ( mandi' ó ), the Potato ( jetý ), the Potiron ( andai ), the Courge S ( kurapepê ), the Maïs ( avatí ), the Haricot S ( kumandá ), the Coton ( mandyju ) and the yerba subdues ( ka' á ).

Guaranís made irruption with a great brutality in the basin of the Río of Plata, creating a situation of permanent war with the indigenous people not Guaranís which lived the area. They practiced the cannibalism of the captive warriors.

Their warlike strategy was based on a system of massive attacks. Little before the attack, they made fall on their adversaries a rain from arrows and stones. Then came direct confrontation with Lance S, Macana S and Gourdin S ( garrotes ).

Cultures of Gran Chaco

In the northern part of the Gran Chaco one distinguishes five linguistic cultures or families, namely the cultures “Guaycurú”, “Mataco-macá”, “Tupí-guaraní”, “Arawak” and “Lule-vilela”.

To the culture Guaycurú belong the Tobas or Qom' lek, Pilagás, Mocovís and Abipones. They were very skilful warriors and, after the arrival of the Spaniards, they adopted the horse and resisted colonization. The Spaniards called them frentones (especially Qom' lek) because they depilated the face. They occupied is and the south of the area of Chaco.

the culture Mataco-Macá included/understood the Wichí S (or “Matacos”), the Chulupí S and the Chorotes. They occupied the western zone of Chaco.

Chiriguanos belonged to the culture Tupí-guaraní . They settled in the west of the area. In the same zone were found the Chané S of the culture Arawak .

Lastly, in the North-West of Chaco were Vilelas ( culture Lule-Vilela ), since then disappeared.

Cultures of the pampa and Patagonie

In area pampéenne and patagonic, one distinguishes the Het S (“old pampas” or “querandís”), the Tehuelche S (or Tsonek) and the Mapuches - the latter controlled the north of Patagonie until the end of the 19th century. The anthropological studies of the groups of hunters and gatherers considered traditionally as simpler than the people farmers, highlighted the complexity reached by these cultures of an high degree of symbolism, like the Selknam S, the Mánekenk S or Haush, the Yagan S, the Alakaluf S or Kaweskars, of the Ground of Fire and the Magellan Strait.

Arrival of Europeans and colonization

Amerigo Vespucci was the first European to approach the coasts Argentine S in 1502. In 1516, Juan Diaz de Solís, a Spanish navigator visited the territory which will become the Argentine. The Spain will include Argentina in the Vice-royauté of Peru.

A slow and difficult conquest

Contrary to what they did in Peru and in Bolivia, the Spaniards never subjected completely the principal Amerindian people which occupied the current territory of Argentina. The Spanish presence was limited besides at the beginning with small cores, primarily along important the road known as Camino Real , intended for the beginning to drain the mining richnesses of High-Peru (Bolivia current) towards the Río of Plata. There was built, in 1536 a colony called Buenos Aires. Given up because of a blockade and bloody raids of the Indians Didiuhet, it was again founded in 1580. This year, come from Asunción in current Paraguay, Juan de Garay refonda the city that it called Ciudad de Trinidad there Puerto de Santa María del Buen Ayre , and which with time will be known more simply under its current name.

North in the south the principal Spanish cities were created gradually, along this axis. They are mainly Santiago del Estero (1553), San Miguel de Tucumán (1565), Córdoba (1573), Salta (1582), San Salvador de Jujuy (1593) and Buenos Aires (1536 and 1580) (cf Ci above).

Another important economic axis, the waterway of Paraguay-Paraná constituted an excellent road of penetration towards the center of the South America and its richnesses. Thus were founded Sancti Spíritu (1523), Asunción (1537), Santa Fe (1573) and Corrientes (1588).

Some areas were however easily conquered and quickly comparable, which ensured a domination Spanish without problem. It is the case of the area of the Cuyo. As of 1561 the town of Mendoza was founded there, followed San Juan in 1562, and of San Luis in 1594. This area was inhabited by the Huarpes, peaceful Indiens, exploited without scruple at the beginning (work in the mines of Chile), but who métissèrent itself quickly. Peace settled quickly.

Colonization continued in a very progressive way. The last Argentinian city to be built was San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca (1683).

Counter-attacks calchaquíes

But the conquerors had not succeeded in penetrating the valleys Calchaquí are, where several people had taken refuge which led the hard life to the invaders. The Spanish population remained weak within these provinces and of serious counter-attacks and Indian revolts made terrible damage. In 1630 burst the first great rebellion calchaquíe, under the command of cacic Chalemín, and lasted until in 1643, intense war with fire of Rioja and destruction of London (close to Córdoba). The second rebellion, carried out by an Andalusian – Pedro Chamijo – who was made pass for a descendant of INCA, was long and cruel.
The Spaniards directed by Mercado and Villacorta demolished the Andalusian then decimated the tribes. The last, that of the Quilmes, was beaten in 1665. The survivors were off-set close to Buenos Aires, where the large city of Quilmes is drawn up today.

Guaranís and the missions Jesuits

Natives remained not subjected

The Pampa and Patagonie, constituted a vast populated zone of completely free aboriginals, which could never be conquered by the Spaniards and who since the 17th century unified gradually under the culture mapuche. It is only at the end of the 19th century, more than 300 years after the Spanish conquest of the Peru, that the Argentine (like the Chile besides), managed to occupy the area thanks to a war against the Mapuches.

On arrival of Europeans, the south of the American continent, the area pampéenne like Patagonie, was populated by the Indians Pampas, the Tehuelche S (Patagons) in Patagonie Eastern and the Mapuche S in Patagonie Western. The Ground of Fire was populated by a branch of Tehuelches, the Selknam S (or Onas), by the Yagans or Yamanas and by the Alakalufs or Kaweskar S.

Shortly after the unloading of the conquistadors on banks of the Río of Plata and the foundation of Buenos Aires at the 16th century, the first confrontations occurred between Spaniards and aboriginals, the Pampas (or Het S or Querandis), called later Ranquel S at the 18th century.

As from the 17th century, some bovines given up by the Spaniards in area pampéenne proliferated naturally, formant of vast wild become again herds. The Spaniards like the Pampas natives and Mapuches, started to drive out them what brought confrontations between the two groups. The Spaniards built lines of forts surrounding Buenos Aires and Córdoba, in order to delimit their exclusive zone of hunting called vaquerías . The Pampas considered that the Spaniards had usurped their grounds by invading them, and lasting of the centuries attacked their establishments by a tactic of attack in mass called malones , using horses, long lances and Boleadoras (system made up of several ballasted thin straps large stones intended to immobilize the legs of the horses).

At the same time, the harbor office of Chile proceeded to systematic attacks against the Mapuches called also Araucans (War of Arauco).

Throughout 17th and 18th centuries Mapuches imposed their culture and assimilated native-born people which lived the Pampa and Patagonie. However as of the end of the 18th century the Spaniards progressed slowly on the territory ranquel. The border between two civilizations was located then on the río Salado, which divides the Eastern pampa into two in its center. However certain natives agreed to work in the estancias (large firm-fields) Spanish, métissant themselves with Europeans. The origin of the gaucho S is related to this process of interbreeding.

In the same way, in the north of the territory of current Argentina, the tribes populating the area of the Gran Chaco remained free vis-a-vis the colonizers, and that also lasted until the end of the 19th century.

Viceroyalty of Río of Plata

In 1680, the Portuguese come from very close Brazil had founded in the north of Río of Plata, vis-a-vis Buenos Aires, under the name of Colonia LED Sacramento an establishment, which threatened the Spanish interests seriously. Those had attacked and taken this city on several occasions, but each time, thanks to an international treaty, the Portuguese had recovered the city.

It is finally in 1776 that the king Charles III warned himself of the solution of the problem and what it was necessary to make to drive out the Portuguese of Río of Plata. It made the decision to institute the Vice-royauté of Río of Plata. Almost immediately, the new viceroy Pedro de Cevallos organized a powerful army and carried out it against the Portuguese. He had added to this army of the quotas of Guaraní S, accustomed to fight against the Portuguese. Cevallos took Colonia in 1777 and destroyed completely it, going symbolically until sowing salt on its ruins. The city was however again occupied by the Portuguese then by Brazilian the few decades later.

The creation of the Vice-royauté of Río of Plata brought much to Buenos Aires, where in few years settled all the bureaucratic administration viceroyale, customs, the Consulado (1794), the Audiencia (1785), the naval Academy, and of the schools. One started to publish newspapers, activity difficult because of the censure of the viceroy.

The population of the city increased by 9.568 in 1744 with 32.069 inhabitants in 1778, then with more than 40.000 in 1797 and to almost 100.000 in 1810, very important figure for the time and constituting nearly one the third of the total population of Spanish Argentina to then.

British invasions

See also: British Invasions (Río of Plata)

With the entry in war of Spain on the Napoleonean side, the the United Kingdom started to make plans to improve its influence in the Spanish colonies. In 1806, after having taken the Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope, the British fleet shingled towards the Río of Plata, apparently on clean initiative. The fleet was not long in taking Montevideo, then moved towards Buenos Aires.

The viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte, speculated that the British would not go so far as to launch out on the capital of the viceroyalty, and decided to affect the majority of the troops of the city to cross the río of Plata to take again Montevideo. When the unloading of the British was announced to him, it gave up the city to take refuge with Córdoba, provided with the invaluable revenues of the viceroyalty, ready to be dispatched in Spain, with the intention to organize an army to reconquer its capital.

In June 1806 the British under the command of William Carr Beresford took Buenos Aires, received well by the partisans of independence. But those last déchanter quickly by understanding that the invaders wished to convert the area of Plata into a British colony, and linked themselves with those which wanted to resist. Jacques Linen, marine French born in Niort, ordering port of Ensenada, crossed the river for the Eastern Bande where it organized an army bound for Buenos Aires. In way of the thousands of enthusiastic volunteers united with the troops. A battle of street began and the British, encircled soon in the citadel of the city had to capitulate. Returned in the city, the Audience, supreme court, decided to assume the civil capacity and to entrust the general harbor office to Liniers. Prudently the viceroy withdrew himself in Montevideo.

In 1807 the British returned to invade the country, but this time officially and with a powerful army of 11.000 soldiers under the orders of the general John Whitelocke. At the beginning, this one and its fleet had the role of seizing the Chile and of reinforcing the troops which they believed always main of Buenos Aires. Put at the current of the capitulation of these last, Whitelocke decided to take again the city. They took again Montevideo, unloaded with Buenos Aires and penetrated in the capital, trustful in their supremacy vis-a-vis much lower hispano-Argentinas forces. But very quickly they encountered a keen resistance of the inhabitants who sprinkled them water and of ebullient oil and finally reflect them in rout. The general John Whitelocke was driven back with the general capitulation, and there the the United Kingdom undergoes a defeat particularly humiliating.

Following this frank victory, a judgment relieved Sobremonte of its load of viceroy and sent it in Spain to be judged there. Linen was then named viceroy by interim, decision ratified later by the king.

Birth of the Nation

The British invasions are very important in the history of Argentina, because they are the prelude to independence. They showed the capacity of the people to the self-defense, thanks to militia civil, and revealed that the Argentinian ones were from now on able to only determine their own destiny.

Revolution of May and independence

The news of the French revolution had made germinate the liberal ideas in Latin America. The country began its process of stamping from the Spain on May 25th 1810, at the time of the episode called Revolución of Mayo or Revolution of May, while engaging in hostilities to the Spaniards and their partisans (royalist ); but certain areas of the Río of Plata, fearing the domination of the rich person and powerful Buenos Aires, were interested as much by their independence vis-a-vis the capital than by their stamping from Spain. In 1811, the Paraguay produced its own declaration of independence.

In 1812, the victorious battles that Manuel Belgrano delivered to Tucumán and Salta, ensured the success of independence. So that Jose Gervasio Artigas joins together a first Congress of Argentinian Independence with Arroyo of Clouded (current Concepción LED Uruguay) in March and April 1815. The military campaigns led by Jose de San Martín and Simón Bolívar between 1814 and 1817 increased the hopes of independence vis-a-vis in Spain, which finally was proclaimed with Tucumán on July 9th 1816. The disorder reigned in the provinces. In 1820, Jose de San Martín prepared an army intended to release Chile and Peru, objective which was brilliantly achieved, and in 1822 took place the historical meeting of San Martin with Simón Bolívar with Guayaquil.

The congress of Tucumán

The national congress thus meets in Tucumán and began its sessions on March 24th 1816. Almost all the provinces took part in it. It proceeded to the election of a Supreme Directeur able to maintain the order and to establish the central authority. One needed a man who is supported both by Buenos Aires and by the provinces of the interior. One elects for that Juan Martín de Pueyrredón which was appreciated of all. Another important objective was to consolidate the national unit of the country. One thus decided the intervention of the army where movements localists appeared.

Finally, the Declaration of Independence vis-a-vis the kings of Spain and to the metropolis, was publicly voted the July 9th 1816.

Two positions clashed in all the Spanish America concerning the administration of the released territories: the position americanist and the position localist.

The position americanist proposed the union of the people of Hispanic America. It was necessary to link the forces in order to finish the wars of independence and to organize a stable system which guarantees the union. The position localist defended the autonomy of the areas, fearing that a union which would gather so many country and grounds would delay the recovery of local prosperity. They especially feared to lose capacity with this integration. Bernardino Rivadavia was one of principal representing localists.

The problem of the shape of government arose too. Among the various options, a group of partisans of the constitutional monarchy had been constituted, considering that this stable system would guarantee the order and the human rights. Belgrano proposed a monarchy having at its head a descendant of INCA. This project was accepted by the representatives of High Peru and the cities of north. It had the support of Jose de San Martín and of Güemes. But the men of Buenos Aires opposed it, fearing to lose their hegemonic position there. They proposed to offer the crown to a European prince. However Divided into volumes of Anchorena, deputy of Buenos Aires, defended the federal republic.

To the beginning of 1817, the congress was transferred in the capital and gave the treatment of this problem to later, But the ideas monarchists perdurèrent within the congress.

The Directory of Pueyrredón (1816-1819)

The main aim of Pueyrredón was the realization of forwarding liberator to the Chile and the Peru, in agreement with San Martín, in order to finish the War of Independence. It developed the creation of the Army of the Andes, named San Martín general-in-chief and ordered the execution of the countryside liberator. But the financing of the countryside of Peru required a rise of the customs taxes.

He was criticized hard by the federalists who showed it complicity with the Portuguese by tolerating the invasion of the Banda Eastern (current Uruguay). Portugal had already perpetrated a first invasion of 1811 - 1812. The second aggression took place in 1816 - 1820, and the Portuguese succeeded in annexing the province under the name of Province Cisplatine. Finally Pueyrredón imposed its authority, by exiling the main leaders of the federalistic party of the capital. Inside, it choked the federalistic movements with the interventions of the army of north.

For the defense of Pueyrredón, it should be stressed that when it arrived at the capacity, the Portuguese invasion of the Banda Eastern had already begun. The congress took a neutral position that the supreme director did not divide. However the lack of resources prevented it from taking military measures, and it had to be satisfied to require that the Portuguese not exceed the line of the river Uruguay. This policy perceived as “tolerant” vis-a-vis the attackers increased the resentment of the inhabitants of the province of Litoral.

The civil war

The internal conflicts followed one another in Argentina during more than 40 years. The provincial caudillos dominated the history and the policy of first half of the 19th century. Small local leaders, lords of the war, they managed their province with their own army. They had objections the ones against the others which nourished sometimes wild hatreds and combat. The ones lined up under the banner of unitarianism, others more frequently under that of the federalism.

The majority of them were not soldiers, but civilians. Some, like Manual Juan of Rosas and Justo Jose de Urquiza, had large haciendas and thus had an important economic capacity. In the history of Argentina the caudillo is a character traditionalist, completely opposed to the porteño or inhabitant of Buenos Aires, and dependant on the federalistic cause which represented its personal interest. The caudillos were opposed to the centralism of the metropolis platéenne of Buenos Aires, like with modernity. They were called barbarians. They hated Buenos Aires which concentrated the capacity, this one emanating from the possession of the port and the customs benefit which had never been used for the benefit of the provinces of the interior. In the history of the country, there was many caudillos. The name of some of them deserves to be retained. Let us quote:

Jose Gervasio Artigas (1764 - 1850).
Manual Juan of Rosas (1793 - 1877).
Justo Jose de Urquiza (1801 - 1870).
Martín Miguel de Güemes (1785 - 1821).
Francisco Ramírez (1786 - 1821).

Rosas and the rosism (1829 - 1852)

In 1826, the congress appointed Bernardino Rivadavia first constitutional president of the country. The fact of yielding the current Uruguay to the Brésil caused the resignation of Rivadavia. Manuel Dorrego took again the load, in favor of provincial autonomies. It liquidated the conflict with Brazil by recognizing the independence of the Banda Eastern. The unit ones raised by Juan Lavalle shot Dorrego, which relit the civil war between unit and federalistic.

The Bolivia declared independent in 1825, just as the Uruguay in 1828. The dominant figure at that time became Juan Manuel of Rosas, seen by much like a tyrant. Rosas controlled the province of Buenos Aires and represented the interests of Argentina abroad of 1829 with 1852, without there being central government for the worldwide. It was described as Argentinian imperialist because of his opposition to other tyrants, friends of foreign empires. In its policy it never accepted the disintegration of the Río of Plata like final, but fought on the contrary so that these threatening events do not worsen and with the hope which the Argentinas factions would include/understand soon that the unification was the shared interest. It before was very stigmatized as tyrant by those which were with the pay of foreign interests, like by the victims of its “parapolice” relentless, the Mazorca, directed by his own wife. From another point of view, under Rosas, there was no freedom of press, neither of word, nor of thought and a system of education shone by its absence. For example: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento on several occasions had exilier in Chile under the death threats emitted by the government of Rosas because of its writings putting of before ideas “modern, progressists and European” (see its work entitled “ Facundo ”) such as the free, laic and obligatory school for all.

For this period the Argentine was populated natives, as well as Spanish immigrants and their descendants, the Creoles. Some of the latter were concentrated in the cities, but others lived in the pampas as gaucho S. the rural saving in the latter was based almost exclusively on the breeding of cattle. However the indigenous attacks or “malones” continued and threatened the borders, especially in the west. One can say that the Argentine had acquired the independence of the Spain, but that the Spanish conquest of Argentina was still not finished.

During its long government, Rosas had succeeded in being done many enemies inside. Not only of the unit middle-class men taken refuge in Montevideo, but also of others caudillos and this, even if they defended a federalistic position and that they were not agreement with the monopoly of the port that Buenos Aires continued to have.

This monopoly was temporarily broken during the conflict of Rosas with the French imperialisms and especially British. The emergence of navigation with vapor made it possible to go up the rivers with speed. For these reasons the the United Kingdom and the France which had armed with important commercial fleets and soldiers made up of steamships required freedom of movement on the rivers, which would ensure the free trade to them. The two powers thus required the right of navigation on the Río Paraná to trade there with the other ports, which Buenos Aires refused. The conflict was moulted in war with the combat of Vuelta de Obligado, where the federalistic forces of Rosas tried to block the passage to the foreign fleets. The battle turned to the rout for the forces of Rosas (November 20th 1845). However it was perceived like a symbol of defense of national sovereignty. The skilful diplomatic action of the government of Rosas, doubled support of Jose de San Martín, ended up transforming the defeat into political victory for the government of the Argentinian Confédération, obliging the powers to recognize its right to sovereignty over interior water.

But these events showed with the caudillos (and especially with Justo Jose de Urquiza, governor among Ríos) the capacity which to Buenos Aires the monopoly gave foreign trade. That generated a bringing together between the unit ones and the federalists opposed to Rosas.

It was consequently trained an anti-rosiste clan which gave place to the creation of the Large army , which beat Rosas with the battle of Caseros (on February 3rd 1852). The government rosist was reversed, and the Argentinian unit was reached, at least theoretically.

Adoption of the Constitution of 1853

Urquiza organized the constituent Congress of Santa Fe (1853), which approved a Constitution republican character, representative and federal attenuated, worked out according to a model of Juan Bautista Alberdi. Urquiza was proclaimed president of the Confédération. But the divergences in the camp of the winners (between unit and caudillos anti-rosistes) led the province of Buenos Aires to reject this Constitution and to separate from the Argentinian Confederation, which consequently establishes its capital in the town of Paraná. In 1861, the armies of Buenos Aires reflect those of the Confederation in rout to the battle of Pavón and began a campaign to subject the provinces. That was done, and the country remained definitively unified according to the project of nation of the unit ones.

Birth of modern Argentina

( Note: the Constitution was amended in 1860; Santiago Derqui was elected president and Urquiza and Bartolomé Miter were respectively named governors of the Between Ríos and Buenos Aires . Of new interior dissensions started hostilities again, and with the Bataille of Pavón in 1861, Miter beat Urquiza, following what it was named constitutional president in 1862 for one 6 years period . In 1868, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento succeeded to him).

In 1865, the Argentine is lived implied in the conflict which opposed the Paraguay with the Brazil. Miter united its troops with the armies Brazilian and Uruguyan. Thus constituted, the forces of the Triple Alliance reflect finally diverts the Paraguayan marshal of it Francisco Solano López in 1870.

The war against the Indians

Economic prosperity - the preserving Republic (1880-1916)

Roca was elected in 1880, because it profited from a great popularity following its successes in the Countryside of the Desert. After him, there was Miguel Juárez Celman (1886), which resigned in 1890 following a rising carried out by Leandro NR. Alem, which had been however repressed. The vice-president Carlos Pellegrini replaced it. Its successors were Luis Sáenz Peña (1892), Jose Evaristo Uriburu (1895), then again Julio Argentino Roca (1898). Afterwards, they were Manuel Quintana (1904), Jose Figueroa Alcorta (1906), Roque Sáenz Peña (1910), and Victorino of Plaza (1914).

For all this period, the economy strongly developed and it was on average a time of great prosperity. Three factors are the cause of this important rise: initially, end of the Indian wars and thus the conquest vast new agricultural territories; then, the modernization of the economy, adoption of modern technologies and the integration of the country in the worldwide economy (rise of the trade and the overseas investments); finally, the massive arrival of European immigrants in a democracy in peace.

The overseas investments came especially from the the United Kingdom and were mainly intended for the infrastructure (railroads and ports).

The immigrants worked much with the development of the country, especially in the Western pampas. They arrived primarily from all Europe, but also besides (Christian of the the Middle East).

Of 1880 to the crisis of 1929, Argentina was thus economically prosperous, but the economy was directed more and more towards the export of raw materials and agricultural produce and the product imports manufactured industrialists: industrialization was not done.

Politically and socially, the situation was less brilliant. The governments of Roca and its successors were aligned on the interests of the Argentinian oligarchs, especially the land big landowners. The elections were sullied with fraud. The preserving forces dominated the republic until in 1916, when the law Roque Sáenz Peña of the vote for all upset the old order and allowed the electoral triumph of the radicals, rivals traditional of the conservatives, and directed by Hipólito Yrigoyen. The radicals, which had carried out attempts at rising against the mode fallacious and discredited and which had proposed the abstention to fight against the electoral fraud, represented the middle-classes expanding to which they opened the doors.

Radicalism (1916-1930)

First government of Hipólito Yrigoyen (1916-1922)

In 1916 Yrigoyen arrived at the government thanks to the vote for all and secret. It created a full social sector of State. Yrigoyen impelled a series of policies which expressed a transformer tendency.

Economic policy

It was characterized by Plane a” of the Earth and Oil” , granting the State a big role of intervention in the economy. Radicalism showed an economic tendency different from traditional liberalism. Yrigoyen declares as follows:

“the policy of the president is to maintain with the hands of the State the exploitation of the natural sources of richness, whose products are vital elements of the development of the country… The State must acquire a position each day more dominating in the industrial activities which answer mainly the realization of public services”.

In 1922, it decided the creation of the oil government enterprise Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales or YPF , which will become most important of the country.

It made vote laws concerning the rural rents to protect the colonists vis-a-vis the land big landowners. One reorganized the Bank mortage holder to help the rural small holders.

Finally the national Merchant navy was created. Yrigoyen had an expansion policy of the railroads of State, and there were clashes with powerful foreign railway companies. It made build a new railway towards the north of the Chile and the Pacific Ocean.

International policy

It basically supported the principle of equality of the nations vis-a-vis the great powers, on the following basis:

It maintained neutrality during the First World War, but with strong calls to the belligerent countries of the two camps.
In 1917, it convened a Congress of the nonbelligerent Latin-American nations to define a position joint vis-a-vis the First World War, which failed following the strong opposition of the United States.
Vis-a-vis the Traité of Versailles and with the creation of the Société of the Nations, the position was to support the separation of the two acts, with the idea that the Treaty was a problem limited to the countries which had fought, but that the SDN was to be a levelling and voluntary association of all the nations of the world.

Political of work

This one was extremely contradictory. On a side Yrigoyen made vote the laws of work and asked for the Congress a project of labor regulation, claimed since glosses by the Socialist party and the labor movement; it often acts like mediator in conflicts. But on another side it had conflict relations with the Socialist party and the majority sector of the labor movement, denying the right to him to represent the Argentinian workers at the time of the foundation of ILO (1919).

It repressed sometimes hard. It is under its government that the greatest working massacres of the history of the country took place: the Tragic Week of 1919 and shootings of Patagonie in 1921/1922.

The government of Marcelo T. of Alvear (1922-1928)

Elected like successor of Yrigoyen and belonging to the same party as him, Marcelo T. of Alvear more had not pressed anything to make than to take the opposite course to the policy of its predecessor. What involved a violent political struggle between the two men. This caused a deep internal division in the radical civic Union between personalists or yrigoyenists, and anti-personalists in favor of Alvear. Each sector of the party introduced its own candidate to the following elections. The anti-personalists presented like candidate to the presidency Leopoldo Mello, and the personalists presented Hipólito Yrigoyen again.

Second mandate of Hipólito Yrigoyen (1928-1930)

It was Yrigoyen which gained with 60% of the voices. The new government was assembled the October 12th 1928. In 1929 occurred the Grande world Depression. Radicalism, with Yrigoyen at its head, could not answer the crisis. The brawl was total between the two wings of the radical party, and one seldom saw such a level of political violence in the history of the country since the end of the civil wars.

The September 6th 1930 the general Jose Felix Uriburu reversed the constitutional government, initiating a series of coups d'etat and governments military which would be prolonged until in 1983 and, more serious fact still, crushing by the force all the governments resulting from free elections at the time of a popular vote.

Juan Perón and Péronisme

The soldiers organized a “Putsch” in 1943. Juan Domingo Perón, a Colonel of the Armed , took part in this Coup d'etat and became Ministre of the Emploi, then vice-president of the country. It should be noted that Argentina remained neutral at the time of the Second world war until in 1944 but declared the war in Germany and Japan as of this year. Meanwhile the popularity of Juan Perón increased quickly, at the point to seriously worry its adversaries as well as the American embassy. It was forced to resign the October 9th 1945, was arrested and imprisoned on the island Martín García. But of imposing popular demonstrations, organized by the CGT of Angel Borlenghi; led to its release the October 17th 1945. One can go back to this day the birth of the movement of the Péronisme.

It gained, the February 20th 1946, the presidential election. It carried out a Politique favorable to the Ouvrier S, supporting the development of the Syndicat S. It nationalized also the transportation routes belonging the abroads hitherto.

Perón had admiration for Benito Mussolini and Franco, its style governmental was thus inspired by them. The country accommodated several criminal thousands of Nazis, of which S of high importance in the IIIe Reich. His wife Eva Perón, called “Avoided”, old a modest Actrice of origin, was very popular near the poor: she was with the head of a Organization of Charité. The women obtained the Right to vote in 1947. She died in 1952 of a Cancer.

Years of violence and instability (1955 to 1976)

The September 6th 1955 the soldiers under the command of the general Eduardo Lonardi relieved Perón and established the Revolution liberator (Revolución Libertadora).

The “revolution Liberator” of the soldiers

A little later the general Pedro Eugenio Aramburu replaced Lonardi, took the title of president and abolishes the national Constitution reformed in 1949. The party peronist or justicialist was put outlaw. A long cycle of violence and internal conflicts started.

In 1956, the military government ordered the execution of 31 soldiers and civil peronists who would have tried a Coup d'etat.

In 1957 one made elections to reform the Argentinian Constitution, with the peronism maintained in the illegality. Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo, from Ricardo Balbín, obtained the first place. Unión Cívica Radical Intransigente, of Arturo Frondizi, supported that the abolition of the constitution and the convocation of constituent without the peronists were illegal actions and left the constituent assembly. This one validated the abolition of the constitution of Perón of 1949 and restores that of 1853 by adding a reform to it relating to the security of the employment.

Presidency of Frondizi (1958-1962)

In 1958 Arturo Frondizi, leader of Unión Cívica Radical Intransigente and which had a development project of the country, gained the presidential election with the support of the always illegal, but quite active peronism.

Military coup d'etat and presidency of Guido (1962-1963)

The government of Frondizi was relieved in 1962 by a new military coup d'etat, after the party peronist had gained a series of provincial elections. During the great confusion which reigned then, the Supreme court indicated Jose María Guido, then provisional president of the Senate, like new president of the Nation. And this decision was endorsed by the military junta.

Presidency of Illia (1963-1966)

Military dictatorship (1966-1973)

That led to a small series of general-presidents deeply hated (Onganía, Levingston and Lanusse - all of facto-) and, except the last, tyrannical and imposed by the army. It reigned in Argentina an atmosphere of perpetual protests of the peronists, and a urban guerilla warfare developed (Montoneros - abduction and execution of Aramburu). Finally, Alejandro Lanusse, invested in 1971, tried to restore the democracy by elections.

The return of Juan Domingo Perón

Lanusse thus organized general election S the March 11th 1973, and that for the first time since ten years. Juan Perón could not take part in it; the Argentinian ones thus élirent Héctor Jose Cámpora president, with however an enormous rate of Abstention. Campora resigned in July 1973 and of new elections were organized. Perón gained the elections and became again president in October of the same year, at the sides of his third wife and vice-president, Isabel Martínez de Perón, after several years of exile in Spain. The extremists, so much of right than of left, organized Attentat S Terroriste S and the Gouvernement took emergency measures, in the form of Décret S. the government could thus imprison suspects for one undetermined period.

Perón died on July 1st 1974. His wife became president, but it had to face serious economic problems, with the internal conflicts in its political party, and the climbing of the terrorist attacks.

Dirty war

Return to the democracy and economic crisis

Elections were organized the October 30th 1983 to renew the president, the vice-president, the governors of province and local representatives. The international observers approved these elections. Raúl Alfonsín, of the Radical Civic Union, gained the presidential election with 52% of the voices. Its 6 years mandate began the December 10th 1983. It worked in particular for the re-establishment of the public institutions and the rights and guarantees constitutional.

The return to the democracy involved serious improvements on the level of the foreign relations. Under the mandate of Raúl Alfonsín settled a frontier disagreement with the Chile which eliminated a risk of conflict. The two countries signed the November 29th 1984 a friendship and peace treaty. It is then with its regional rival the Brésil that Argentina reconciled the November 30th 1985, date of the declaration of Foz C Iguaçu . This declaration was the first stone of what thereafter will become the Mercosur.

At the economic level, the situation of the country throughout its mandate was extremely difficult. The prices were in constant Hyperinflation, reaching already world records in 1983. During the year 1984, annual inflation was established to 625% whereas the average increase in the wages was only of 35%. With the approach of the end of the presidential mandate in May 1989, the inflation of 78% monthly, was accompanied by an dizzying increase of the rate of Pauvreté, passing from 25% in May to 47% in October.

It is thus on economic bottom of racing that Raúl Alfonsín announced an anticipated presidential election which took place the May 14th 1989 and saw the defeat of the Radical Civic Union and the election of Carlos Menem (justicialist Parti).

Economically, the government of Carlos Menem followed a very liberal policy. It carried out many privatizations, in particular tanker YPF ( Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales ), gas the Gas del Estado as well as public services in the televised media, the post office, telephony, the water supply and of electricity, rail-bound transports etc to attract the foreign assets it slackened the control of the State on the economy and the Minister for Finance Domingo Cavallo founded a law of convertibility between the American dollar and the Argentinian Austral (replaced thereafter by the convertible peso, to obtain parity 1 dollar being worth 1 peso). These measurements made it possible to decrease inflation drastiquement, bringing back it toa rate close to zero to the beginning of the Années 1990. The country suffered however still from a rate of high Chômage, in slow reduction at the time of its first years of mandate then again in rise until reaching a peak with 18,4% in May 1995 following the crisis of the Tequila to the Mexico in 1994, which also touched Argentina. Although in better state than at the end of the Years 1980, the Argentinian economy remained fragile because very dependant from abroad.

Argentina under Menem continued to promote the creation of a Free exchange zone in South America in particular thanks to the signature of the treaty of Asunción the March 26th 1991 with the Brésil, the Paraguay and the Uruguay, treated which gives rise to officially Mercosur. Always in 1991, Argentina standardizes its diplomatic relations with the the United Kingdom, stopped since the Guerre of the Falklands.

At the beginning of the Years 1990, two Attentat S touched the Israeli interests in Argentina: first of all an attack which touched the embassy of Israel with Buenos Aires the March 17th 1992 making 29 dead, then the July 18th 1994 a van charged with explosives which killed 85 people aiming at the buildings of the mutual Association Argentinian Jew (AMIA). Fundamentalist groups Lebanon board were pointed finger, the Iran was also suspected of having contributed to the attacks.

In 1994, following the scandal caused by the death of a conscript consecutive to abuses and ill treatments in the army, the military service obligatory was abandoned.

The same year, Carlos Menem negotiated with the opposition a reform of the Constitution authorizing a second presidential mandate and bringing back the term of the office from 6 to 4 years. It could thus be presented to its own succession, and was re-elected in 1995 for a second mandate which began the December 10th from this year.

For this second mandate, Menem maintained the same course political however her popularity quickly decreased. He did not manage to control the unemployment which remained high (12,4% in October 1998, 13,8% at the end of its mandate), involving the appearance of the movement Piquetero : it is about a social movement initiated following the dismissal of workers by oil company YPF recently privatized, movement which gained little by little the worldwide.

Moreover, Argentina increased its Foreign debt much, which crosses during the mandates of Menem the bar of the 40% of GDP. The third quarters 1998 saw beginning a Economic recession. The assessment of privatizations was criticized, the privatized companies having contributed to increase unemployment, and if the quality of the service were considered to be positive in certain sectors (electricity, telephony) it were it much less in particular in ferrovières transport. Lastly, of serious scandals of Corruption completed to blacken this mandate.

The elections of the October 24th 1999 gave the victory to Fernando of Rúa, candidate of an alliance of center-left directed by the Radical Civic Union vis-a-vis the candidate of the justicialist party.

In front of the deterioration of the economy and public finances, Of Rúa the assistance of the the IMF all required while maintaining the parity peso/dollar. The recession in which the country was plunged caused a beginning of escape of the foreign assets and the beginning of the Argentinian Economic crisis. The government announced an investment of 20 billion dollars for public work programs in order to revive the economy, but that is not enough to stop the capital flight.

The political system appeared completely put in failure starting from the resignation of the vice-president Carlos Álvarez, the October 8th 2000, in full scandal of bribes to the senate for the approval of a law of the work which would remove with the Argentinian workers their historical rights.

At the end of 2001, unemployment had reached the rate of 20%. Confusions, strikes, popular demonstrations broke on all the country in December. Of Rúa issued the state of siege and ordered a wild repression which caused more than the 35 dead December 19th and 20th. The popular rebellion, far from ceasing, accepted the support of the middle-classes whose bank deposits had been expropriés, vis-a-vis what of Rúa had to dislocate itself, having hardly achieved half of its mandate. Three temporary presidents succeeded to him in less than one year, incompetents to stabilize the situation. In January 2002, the Congress named finally Eduardo Duhalde, of the justicialist party, to complete the presidential term. Duhalde removed the parity of the Argentinian peso with the dollar, it who involved a which gallops inflation inevitably. It devoted the expropriation of the small bank deposits of the private sector, thus protecting the interests from the large banks and the exporting sector, which worsened the popular rebellion whose principal watchword was, in December 2001: “ ¡ that vayan todos! ” - “ That they all from go away ”.

However, in 2002 the economic recession ended, and Duhalde caused anticipated elections for on April 27th, 2003 which transfer the victory of Nestor Kirchner, with the head of the Front for the victory .

Fate of the criminals of the dictatorship

One of the first decision of the new president Raúl Alfonsín, in 1983 was to create the National Commission on the disappearance of people (CONADEP) in order to inquire into the forced disappearances made by the military juntas between 1976 and 1983. The CONADEP published a report in 1984.

The April 22nd 1985 opened the Procès of the juntas which was to judge the military officials with the capacity between 1976 and 1983. Such a lawsuit does not have a precedent in Latin America, it highlighted a great number of crimes committed by the juntas. However, the government of Alfonsín prevented the judgment of many persons in charge, according to him because of the pressures carried out by soldiers, whose influence remained important. It promulgated initially the law of the final punto , coming into effect the December 24th 1986, which suspends most of the lawsuits against the soldiers.

The April 15th 1987 the Carapintadas , a group of soldiers mutineers directed by the lieutenant colonel Aldo Rico, required the cancellation of the lawsuits of the soldiers not exempted by the law of the final punto . The mutineers all were neutralized but only two were stopped. Always it is that the June 4th same year, the law of the obediencia debida is promulgated: it exonerates of any responsibility the soldiers in charge of repression. More than 2000 soldiers would have thus escaped with continuations.

In 1988, the carapintadas rebelled still twice, going each time in the following days but managing to obtain concessions on behalf of the government.

In 1989, it is an organization armed with extreme left, the Movimiento Todos por Patria (MTP), which attacked the military regiment of Tablada in the province of Buenos Aires. The group made up of 40 members was carried out by Enrique Gorriarán Merlo, founder of the revolutionary Armée with the people (ERP), which claimed to act to prevent a Coup d'etat on behalf of the carapintadas . The army retorted with weapons with the white Phosphore, of which the use is prohibited by a international convention. 39 people were killed (including 28 pertaining to the MTP), and 60 people wounded during the attack.

Just after its election, in 1990, Carlos Menem has proclaimed in continuity of laws already voted under Alfonsín amnesty for “national reconciliation” aiming as well soldiers (of which Jorge Rafael Videla, Emilio Eduardo Will mass and Leopoldo Galtieri) that civilians (whose old guerillas) implied in the Guerre salts , with a will posted, according to the terms of Menem, to turn “a black and sad page of the history of Argentina”. In addition Carlos Menem carried out drastic cuts in the military budget.

The same year, French justice condemned by contumacy the Argentinian soldier Alfredo Astiz to the prison to perpetuity for the assassination of two nuns in disastrous the University of mechanics of the navy.

In March 1996, the Spanish Justice is seized to judge the criminals of the military juntas between 1976 and 1983. Indeed Spanish justice is stated qualified to judge certain crimes like the crimes against humanity made or not on the Spanish ground and by foreigners as by Spaniards.

Moreover, in spite of the amnesty, the former Videla dictator could be placed in detention in 1998 under the count of indictment of “flight of babies”, being children victims of the mode, this crime recognized by Argentinian justice being covered neither by the amnesty of Carlos Menem nor by the laws of the final punto and the obediencia debida .

21e century, the return to stability

Lifting of impunity against the criminals

Nestor Kirchner is elected in particular with the promise to raise the immunity of the criminals who spread blood in the country for the periods of dictatorship.

The July 25th 2003, Nestor Kirchner repeals the decree prohibiting the extradition of the criminals of the dictatorship. In August, the Argentinian deputies unanimously adopt a bill aiming at registering in the Constitution the imprescriptibility of the war crimes and the crimes against humanity. The National congress cancels the laws of the final punto and the Obediencia debida , decision confirmed by the Supreme court of justice the June 14th 2005.

In September 2006, federal judge Norberto Oyarbide raises the amnesty pronounced in 1990 by Carlos Menem for Videla and two of its former ministers. The April 25th 2007, the Supreme court confirms the anticonstitutional character of this amnesty. This decision again validates the judgments of prison with perpetuity returned by Argentinian justice at the time of the lawsuit of 1985. However, Roberto Violated and Leopoldo Galtieri died today, as for Emilio Massera, it was victim in December 2002 of a brain hemorrhage and will not appear probably any more before the judges.

References

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