阿根廷(Argentina)
正式名称阿根廷共和国（Argentine Republic）
南美洲的联邦共和国。面积2,780,092平方公里。人口约37,487,000（2001）。首都︰布宜诺斯艾利斯。人口多数为西班牙人，且受其他欧洲人的影响。语言︰西班牙语（官方语）。宗教：天主教（国教）。货币︰披索（Ps）。地形常被分为四大区︰东北平原、彭巴草原、巴塔哥尼亚高原和安地斯山脉。东北部的亚热带平原被巴拉那河分割为西部的大厦谷区和东部美索不达米亚区。彭巴草原位於巴拉那河西部和南部，是世界上农产最富饶的地区之一，也是全国人口最密集的地区。巴塔哥尼亚高原位於科罗拉多河以南。阿根廷的安地斯山脉包括了南美大陆最高峰阿空加瓜山。境内主要河流有巴拉那河、乌拉圭河和皮科马约河，最後都注入拉布拉他河。阿根廷是开发中经济国家，以制造业和农业为主，是拉丁美洲最大的牛肉和牛肉产品出口国。政府形式为共和国，两院制。总统是国家元首暨政府首脑。
欧洲人来到之前人们对当地人的情况知之甚少。1526～1530年间卡伯特为西班牙到该地区探险考察；到1580年，亚松森、圣大非以及布宜诺斯艾利斯等地都已有人定居。它最初依附於秘鲁总督辖区（1620），後连拉布拉他总督辖区（或称布宜诺斯艾利斯总督管辖区）中现今的乌拉圭、巴拉圭和玻利维亚等地区一起都包括进去（1776）。随着1816年成立了拉布拉他河地区联合省，阿根廷脱离西班牙而实现独立，但它的边界直到20世纪初才确定下来。1943年军方推翻了政府；1946年胡安.庇隆上校掌握了控制权。1955年庇隆又被推翻。经过近二十年的混乱，1973年他重执政权。1974年庇隆死後，他的第二任妻子伊莎贝尔成为总统，1976年在一场军事政变中她失去了权力。1982年军事政府试图取得福克兰群岛，但被英国军队打败，结果在1983年政府回到文职人员手中。阿方辛（R. Alfonsin）政府努力结束前任统治者对人权的肆意践踏。极度的通货膨胀导致了公众的骚乱，1989年阿方辛败选；他的继承人梅南是个庇隆主义者，实行放任主义的经济政策。1999年德拉鲁亚（F. de la Rua）当选总统，他的政府所需面对的是日益升高的失业率、外债和政府腐败等问题。2001年年底再度发生暴乱，德拉鲁亚被迫下台，政治局势紊乱。
English version：
Argentina
Federal republic, South America. Area: 1,072,156 sq mi (2,776,884 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 35,409,000. Capital: Buenos Aires. The population is largely ethnically Spanish, with other European influences. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism (official). Currency: Argentine peso. Argentina can be divided into four general regions: the northeastern plains, the Pampas, Patagonia, and the Andes. The subtropical plains in the northeast are divided by the Paraná River into Mesopotamia to the east and Gran Chaco to the west and north. The Pampas, south and west of the Paraná, is one of the world's most productive agricultural areas and the country's most populous region. Patagonia lies south of the Colorado River. The Argentine Andes include the continent's highest peak, Mount Aconcagua. Argentina's hydrology is dominated by rivers, including the Paraná, Uruguay, and Pilcomayo, that drain into the Río de la Plata. Argentina has a developing economy based largely on manufacturing and agriculture; it is Latin America's largest exporter of beef and beef products. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president. Little is known of the indigenous population before the Europeans' arrival. The area was explored for Spain by Sebastian Cabot 1526-30; by 1580, Asunción, Santa Fe, and Buenos Aires had been settled. At first attached to the viceroyalty of Peru (1620), it was later included with regions of modern Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia in the viceroyalty of La Plata, or Buenos Aires (1776). With the establishment of the United Provinces of the Plate River in 1816, Argentina achieved its independence from Spain, but its boundaries were not set until the early 20th century. In 1943 the government was overthrown by the military; Col. Juan Peron took control in 1946. He in turn was overthrown in 1955. He returned in 1973 after two decades of turmoil. His second wife, Isabel, became president on his death in 1974 but lost power after a military coup in 1976. The military government tried to take the Falkland Islands in 1982 but was defeated by the British, with the result that the government returned to civilian rule in 1983. The government of Raul Alfonsin worked to end the human-rights abuses that characterized the former regimes. Hyperinflation led to public riots and Alfonsín's electoral defeat in 1989; his Peronist successor, Carlos Menem, instituted laissez-faire economic policies. In 1999 Fernando de la Rúa of the Alliance coalition was elected president, and his administration struggled with rising unemployment, foreign debt, and government corruption.