Argentina. History. The Viceroyalty of La Plata

When the Spanish explorer Juan Di'az de Solfs landed on the shores of the Rib de la Plata in 1516, he became the first European to reach what is now Argentina. Between 1527 and 1529, Sebastian Cabot also explored Argentina and founded the fort of Sancti Spiritus, the first Spanish settlement in the Rio de la Plata Basin.

Sancti Spiritus was destroyed by an Indian attack in 1529, but in 1536, Pedro de Mendoza established another settlement on the Rio de la Plata where Buenos Aires now stands. Starvation and Indian raids killed many settlers, and the settlement was abandoned after five years.

Meanwhile, Spanish colonists living in what is now Peru crossed the Andes using the old Inca routes. They founded Santiago del Estero, Tucuman, and other towns in the northwest. In 1580, Juan de Garay founded a new settlement at Buenos Aires.

The Spaniards ruled what is now Argentina for 300 years, but they largely ignored the colony after they discovered it did not have huge deposits of gold and silver. Spanish rulers encouraged settlement in the area only to protect it from Portuguese expansion.

Argentina was colonized by the Spanish in the 1500's. After gaining independence from Spain, the young republic drew large waves of immigrants from Europe. In 1881, it absorbed the territory of Patagonia

The Viceroyalty of La Plata. In 1776, the Spaniards created one large colony out of its territories in southeastern South America. The colony was called the Viceroyalty of La Plata. It consisted of what are now Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and part of Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile. Buenos Aires became the capital.

In 1806 and 1807, British troops tried to seize Buenos Aires, but the residents fought them off without help from Spain. This victory led the people of Buenos Aires to believe that they could fight off Spanish troops in a battle for independence.

In 1810, Buenos Aires set up an independent government to administer the Viceroyalty of La Plata. However, the provinces outside Argentina opposed the movement and eventually broke away.

Beginning in 1812, Jose de San Martin, an Argentine general, led the tight against Spanish rule. In 1816, representatives of the Argentine provinces formally declared their independence at the Congress of Tucuman. The new country took the name of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata.

Two new Constitutions. In 1852, delegates from all provinces except Buenos Aires drew up a Constitution that set up a strong national government. In 1860, the country took the name of Argentina, and in 1862, Buenos Aires agreed to the union and became the nation's capital. In 1881, Argentina annexed the territory of Patagonia.

The people of Argentina enjoyed nearly 70 years of political stability. Argentina was hit hard by the Great Depression, a worldwide economic slump that began in 1929. Military leaders took over the government, and Colonel Juan Peron was elected president in 1946. In 1955, the army and navy revolted, and Peron fled the country.

During the late 1960's and early 1970's, a succession of military and civilian governments ruled Argentina. The country's economic problems worsened. In 1973, Peron returned from exile to be president again.

Peron's third wife, Isabel, was elected vice president and became president when Peron died in 1974. In 1976, the military seized power and launched a period of violent repression. Thousands were imprisoned without trial, tortured, and killed. In 1982, Argentina seized the British-controlled Falkland Islands. Britain won an ensuing 74-day war. Unrest forced the military to relinquish power. In 1983, Raul Alfonsin was elected president. In 1989, amid worsening inflation, Carlos Saul Menem was elected leader.

Menem introduced an emergency economic program, and the rate of inflation dropped. Menem pardoned some of those found guilty of involvement in murders and torture. In 1994, a new Constitution took effect.

Under the Constitution, a president may serve two four-year terms instead of one six-year term. Problems the country had in 2001, however, resulted in a period in which three leaders held the office of president for only a matter of hours or days before Eduardo Duhalde of the Justicialist Party became leafier in January 2002.