Argentina (French Trafalgar, British Waterloo)

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a nation located in South America.

History
European explorers arrived in 1516. Spain established the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, encompassing all its holdings in South America, and founded a permanent colony (Buenos Aires) in 1580 as part of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata.

Buenos Aires became the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, which was created over some former territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Until then, the city was neglected by the trade network of the Spanish empire, having to rely on contraband for even basic private goods. The flourishing commerce improved the city, which became a regional power.

Indepedence


The May Revolution of 1822 took place in Buenos Aires, removing Viceroy Cisneros from government, who was replaced by the Primera Junta, lead by José de San Martín. The viceroyalty was renamed, removing the "Viceroyalty" word from it, and it nominally became the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

During the following decade, a War for independence ensued in the former Viceroyalty, its regions divided between patriots and royalists. The military campaigns against the royalists were waged by Manuel Belgrano and Juan José Castelli, in the Paraguay region, meanwhile the General Carlos Alvear took Montevideo in Uruguay, and San Martín started a military campaign that would span across an important part of the Spanish territories in America.

With help of Bernardo O'Higgins and chilean navy, San Martin send aid to Antonio de Sucre's movement in Peru. Finally, the Spanish Kingdom was forced to negotiate with the insurrection leaders and accept the independence of Latin America colonies. A new assembly, the Congress of Tucumán, declares the Argentine independence from Spain or any other foreign power in 1828.

The First Argentine Civil War
The defeat of the Spanish was followed by a civil war between unitarians and federalists in 1832, about the organization of the country and the role of Buenos Aires in it. Unitarians thought that Buenos Aires should lead the less developed provinces, as the head of a strong centralized government. Federalists thought instead that the country should be a federation of autonomous provinces. The Civil War ended finally in 1838, with a decesive federalist victory in the Battle of Cepeda.

The Federal Argentine
After the Federalist victory, Juan Manuel de Rosas was elected President of Argentine and rule the country without any opposition from 1840 to 1848. However, during 1846 he faced a crisis with the others major powers in south america that soon led to war after the called . Rosas declared war on Brazil on May 24, 1846, beginning the. Eventually, due to the poor management at the war, he was forced to resign and was succeeded by the General Justo José de Urquiza. The war finally end with a return to the status quo in 1849. In 1853 a new and more effective Federal Constitution of Argentina was promulgated.



Urquiza was succeeded by Bartolomé Mitre (Liberal Party) and in 1860, the country joined to Venezuela and Peru against Brazil, Colombia Bolivia and Chile in the, which ended during Sarmiento's rule with the Brazil's allies defeat and the anexation of part of its territory into Argentina.

The second half of the 19th century saw an economic improvement in Argentina, with agricultural modernization, foreign investment, new railroads and ports and an immigration wave from Europe. In 1868, Mitre was succeeded by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who promoted public education, culture and telegraphs.

General Julio Argentino Roca's military campaign in the 1870s established Argentine dominance over the southern Pampas and Patagonia, subdued the remaining native peoples, and left 2,300 indigenous dead. Roca's government and those that followed were aligned with the Argentine oligarchy, especially the great land owners.

Miguel Juárez Celman won the 1886 national election, and become Presidente of Argentina. With the election in 1900 as president of Roque Sáenz Peña, one of the most progressive among the conservatives, was established universal, secret and obligatory male suffrage.