With its head nestling against Bolivia and Paraguay while rubbing a north-eastern shoulder with Brazil and Uruguay, and its entire western flank given up to the mighty Andes mountain chain that separates it from Chile, Argentina is a truly vast country - second only in size to Brazil - occupying around 2,767,000 sq kms of South America. Measuring some 3,700 kms from north to south and 1,400 kms from the western border to its eastern Atlantic-facing coast, Argentina is home to an incredible diversity of landscapes and environments where the whole country can be roughly divided into six distinctly different geographical areas.
Stretching for 7000 kms, the Andes mountains are the longest and one of the highest mountain chains in the world, passing through seven countries from its northern-most point in Columbia to the southern tip of Argentina. Born in the Jurassic period after violent plate tectonic processes, the Andes continue to this day to evolve and change according to seismic and volcanic activity that has not only altered the topographical aspects of the mountains but also have a significant influence on the climate. The Cuyo is the Argentinean region of the Andes whose harsh and diverse weather conditions and terrains are virtually uninhabited - while there are tropical rainforests on the slopes of the northern Andes, snow remains permanently in the colder, southern reaches demonstrating how radical the changes in climate and territory can be according to altitude and latitude.
Gran Chaco, the northern-most area of Argentina and one that extends into Bolivia and Brazil, consists largely of forest, grassland and sub-tropical plateaus, separated from Mesopotamia, a broad, swampy plain that spans the north-eastern corner of Argentina up to the river Uruguay, by another of the country's major rivers, the Parana. Towards the south and accounting for much of central Argentina, the Pampas is a region renowned for its fertility, where hot summers and cool winters together with the dry conditions in the south and west and the humidity of the east are perfect for farming. While the Pampas is also home to the nation's capital city, holiday apartments in Buenos Aires, Argentina, are increasing in popularity as a choice of vacation destination with people eager to experience a part of the country where urban culture is as important as agriculture, and a growing tourist industry, along with a high industrial, financial and commercial profile, has resulted in one of the most affluent, dynamic and cosmopolitan cities in south America cradled by some of the most impressive scenic landscapes in the world.
The 'lake district' of Patagonia in the south can take much of the credit for Argentina's agricultural and industrial success, where fertile river valleys and expansive rolling plains support the production of livestock and crops, and its abundant reserves of gas and oil are an important national resource and valuable commodity on the global stock market. Patagonia enjoys mild to chilly temperatures depending on the time of year, but winters here rarely produce the same kind of cold, wet and windy weather that sweeps across the final frontier of southern Argentina, the Tierra del Fuego. This wild region (the largest part of which belongs to neighbouring Chile) is actually an archipelago, or cluster of islands, stretching into the stormy waters of the South Atlantic Ocean and whose landscapes and climate offer little comfort to anyone who thought South America was all about blistering sunshine and paradise beaches! In fact the only thing remotely hot about the Tierra del Fuego is its name - translated from Argentina's national language of Spanish as 'the Land of Fire', the explorer who discovered Argentina in 1516 named this area so after witnessing a land seemingly ablaze with the fires he thought were designed to repel his impending 'invasion' but in reality were the only means the Yamana Indians, who inhabited the area at that time, had for warding off the effects of eternal cold and damp!
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