Land area: 1,056,636 sq mi (2,736,690 sq km); total area: 1,068,302 sq mi (2,766,890 sq km)

Population (2006): 39,921,833 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth rate: 16.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 14.7/1000; life expectancy: 76.1; density per sq mi: 38

Capital City: Buenos Aires

Monetary unit: Peso

Languages: Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French

Ethnicity/race: White: white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%; mestizo, Amerindian, other 3%

Religions: Roman Catholic 92%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%

Argentina contains a number of very distinct features and unique regions. It offers every variety of climate and landscape: from tropical heat, always rainy and full of colorful vegetation, to polar cold, with its soberly white look thanks to snow and ice.

North of Buenos Aires, the Iguazu Falls is one of the greatest wonders of nature in the world. Further South, one can find the unbelievable region of Patagonia. featuring amazing mountains and lakes. El Calafate and Peninsula Valdes feature wonders like the Perito Moreno Glacier along with amazing nature and wildlife, while Tierra del Fuego is the closest point to the Antarctic. Here you will find penguin colonies, glaciers and encounter a great variety of wildlife.

Argentina leads the market of sun seed oil, soy oil, horses, jojoba, lemons, honey, corn, soybean, beef cattle, wine, and hidroboracita.

Argentine culture has been primarily informed and influenced by its European roots. Buenos Aires is undeniably the most European city in South America, due both to the prevalence of people of Italian and Spanish descent and to conscious imitation. There are nevertheless Amerindian influences, particularly in the fields of music and art.

Probably the best known manifestation of Argentine popular culture is the tango - a dance and music which has captured the imagination of romantics worldwide.

Buenos Aires and other cities show a mixture of architectural styles imported from Europe. In the case of older settlements (and of older preserved neighborhoods within cities), modern styles appear mixed with colonial features, relics from the Spanish-ruled past.

Buenos Aires still displays a variety of architectural traditions, though there are only a handful of late colonial constructions around. The city really came into its own around the turn of the 20th century, when Francophile architects erected mansard-crested palacetes for wealthy families, which funded grandiose public buildings like the Congreso Nacional. Modern landmarks include the MALBA, but there are also traditional buildings like the brightly painted, metal-clad houses of La Boca.