15 Facts About Argentina
With these facts about Argentina, you’ll discover fascinating glimpses into the Argentinean people, their culture and politics. Discover where the tango came from, uncover a little more about the numerous military coups and catch a glimpse of Argentina’s diverse landscape of waterfalls and glaciers. These facts will fascinate you. Also featured in this section is a series of in-depth articles about Argentinean history, their iconic heroes and their culture.
Food and drink facts about Argentina
Fact 1 - When it comes to eating beef, no one beats the Argentineans, they eat more beef per person than anyone else. The average Argentinean chomps through 60kg per year. We discovered how important steak 
is to Argentineans when one chatty taxi driver described in great detail each of his 7 main meals per week - all containing beef.Fact 2 – Not only is beef a favorite of the Argentine diet - it’s also essential to the health of their economy, as Argentina is the 4th largest exporter of beef in the world. Taste it and you’ll understand why. Fact 3 – Every day 92% of Argentineans consume the national drink of ‘mate’. This bitter herb based drink has its own special method of consumption using a small spherical gourd and a metal straw. In Buenos Aires it isn’t long before you will see someone going about his or her daily business whilst slurping away on this national obsession. Fact 4 – Argentina is famous for its deep red wines, grown in the hot arid region of Mendoza. Their famous malbec grapes grow under the hot dessert sun fed from the cool flowing waters of the nearby snow caped Andes. Argentinean red wine complements their favorite dish of beef making them rank 7th in the world for their consumption of wine per capita.
Political facts about Argentina
Fact 5 – Since 1912 only 3 presidents have actually completed their full term and handed over power to an elected leader, all the others have either resigned or been forced out. In fact there have been a staggering 6 military coups since 1930.Fact 6 –The power hungry British botched two invasions of Buenos Aires, leading to the Argentines claiming independence in 1816 from the Spanish. This resistance to the bungling Brits gave a make shift army the self-belief to take power from the Spanish. Find out how 7,000 British troops were defeated by a band of cowboys and towns people in a
brief history of Argentina. Fact 7- Argentina has the record for the largest financial loss in history when a series of corrupt and incompetent governments mismanaged their economy causing a run at its national banks and US$150 billion to be lost overnight.
Cultural facts about Argentina and its people
Fact 8- 20% of the population are practicing Catholics which is Argentina’s national religion.Fact 9 – Buenos Aires is known as the ‘Paris of South America’. Its simple colonial Spanish buildings were demolished and completely rebuilt in a lavish Parisian style in the 1880’s mainly by Torcuato de Alvear, when Argentina was one of the richest cities in the world. 
Fact 10 – Argentina’s variety of immigrant populations over the centuries has had a dramatic affect on Argentinean culture and history. Today, Argentineans are known as people who speak Spanish like an Italian, think they have the culture of the French but act with the pomposity of the British.
Find out more about this fusion of cultures and how this mixture was responsible for the creation of the tango. Fact 11 – Buenos Aires population grew from 11% to 30% between 1939 and 1945, just 6 years! Since then it still holds around 1/3 of Argentina’s 40 million people. Fact 12 - Soccer is Argentina’s national sport and the Argentineans are crazy about it. Fact 13 –Argentineans are not shy of the surgeon’s knife with an estimated 1 in 30 Argentineans having had cosmetic surgery. The standard being so good (and since 2001, now so cheap) that cosmetic surgery tourism is booming in Buenos Aires. People are flocking here to get beautiful beef and bulging breasts!
Geographic facts about Argentina
Fact 14 – Iguazu falls is the 2nd largest waterfall in the world. Located in the humid tropical north of Argentina, it’s considered to be the most beautiful and spectacular falls in the world, something that is difficult to dispute when you hear and see the roar of 300 million gallons per second (65 million liters) of water, the spray rising 1000ft (300m) in the air and experience the incredible panoramic views. The falls measures a staggering 2 miles (3.2kms) in width and are made up of nearly 300 individual falls crashing down its 270ft (80m) drop.
 Fact 15 – In contrast, the world's 4th largest body of ice is located in wild Patagonian. Only the North Pole, South Pole and Greenland surpass this mass of gigantic glaciers formed from the Andean snow. Its most famous part is the monstrous Perito Moreno Glacier, which moves so regularly that visitors watch and listen to the 200ft (60m) high shards of ice that crash into the melt below.
Other related articles in this section:
Argentina’s flag
- the history of the famous blue and white flag.
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