Argentina
Updated: Oct 3, 2022
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Country Name
Argentina, and officially known as the Argentine Republic.
Location
Argentina is located in Southern South America, bordered by Chile from the west and south, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, and Brazil to Uruguay from the northeast.
Capital
Buenos Aires.
Reason for Naming the country
The country was named Argentina, which means the "silver country," derived from the Latin Argentum, meaning silver.
Argentina did not have any sources of silver but was named because the Spanish invaders came to these lands after rumors spread that they contained silver mountains. The first use of the term Argentina could be traced back to the year 1602 CE in a poem by the poet Martin del Barco Santinera, but the name became only circulating in the 18th century.
Flag
The Flag of Argentina was adopted on February 27, 1812. The last change to the current Argentine flag design was in 2012. The flag was first raised in Buenos Aires Above the Church of St. Nicholas on 23 August 1812.
The flag of Argentina was used without the logo of the sun in the center, it was added to the flag later in 1818.
The flag is divided into three equal horizontal stripes in light blue and white, and it has the Sun of May centered on the white stripe.
The blue and white colors of the flag were selected by Manual Belgrano,
who led the revolution against Spain.
The blue color represents the blue sky opening up to reveal a white cloud.
The “Sun of May” represents the Inca sun god Inti & May revolution.
Flag Facts:
- The flags of Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the flag of Honduras are almost identical to one another, these flags comprise three horizontal stripes of blue and white in the middle but differ from each other because of the symbol featured in the center of the flags.
- Flag Day in Argentina is held on June 20. This was sanctioned by President Roberto Ortiz in 1938.
- Common belief is that the white and blue colors are used to represent the sky and the clouds. However, some historians attribute the colors to the House of Bourbon.
- There are three anthems written for the Argentine flag.
Language
The official language of Argentina is the Spanish language, because most of its population is of Spanish origin, and the Spanish rule of Argentina lasted nearly Three hundred years until independence in 1816.
There are many other languages, including the Italian language, which is the second language in the state,
The Arabic language is considered to be the third of the languages of Argentina in terms of the number of speakers, and there are some other languages used as Catalan, Japanese, German, Slovenian, Ukrainian and the language of Plax Romanian, and many other languages that reach about twenty-seven languages.
Religion
Argentina is a Catholic Christian state and the vast majority of Argentina's population are Christians. There are also Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. Although the Jews are less than 1% of Argentina's population Buenos Aires has the second largest number of Jews in the Americas, and the second after New York City.
Argentina also has the largest Muslim community in the Americas.
Currency
Argentine Peso (ARS).
Time Zone
-03:00 GMT.
Government Regime
The Federal Presidential Republic.