100 Fun Facts About Argentina

What is the capital city of Argentina?

Buenos Aires was founded twice: the first Spanish settlement of 1536 was abandoned after attacks by local peoples, and Juan de Garay refounded the city in 1580.

Which birds come ashore by the hundred thousand each September to nest at Punta Tombo on Argentina's Atlantic coast?

Penguins return to Punta Tombo every spring: the males land first and reclaim the very burrow they used the year before, then wait there for last year's partner.

Tango was born in the working-class port districts of Argentina's capital and which other capital across the estuary?

Montevideo shares the credit: UNESCO listed tango in 2009 on a joint bid by Argentina and Uruguay, as a tradition born among the urban lower classes of both capitals.

Which Argentine footballer, a 1980s hero at Napoli, was nicknamed 'El Pibe de Oro', the Golden Boy?

Diego Maradona, 'El Pibe de Oro', led Napoli to the first two league titles in its history; days after his death in 2020 the city renamed its stadium after him.

What is the official currency of Argentina?

The peso replaced the inflation-wrecked austral in the early 1990s and was pegged one-to-one to the US dollar until the peg broke in January 2002.

Whose 1808 invasion of Spain set off Argentina's revolution of 1810?

Napoleon forced Spain's Ferdinand VII off the throne and crowned his own brother Joseph, so with no rightful king to obey the colonists set up their own government in 1810; independence followed in 1816.

What is the highest mountain peak in Argentina, also the highest in the Americas?

Aconcagua was first climbed in 1897 by the Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen, who reached the top alone; Edward FitzGerald, the leader of his expedition, never made the summit.

Which infused drink, shared among friends from a gourd with a metal straw, is the national beverage of Argentina?

Mate is brewed from the dried leaves of yerba mate; emigrants returning from Argentina took the habit home to Syria and Lebanon, and Syria has long been the top foreign buyer of Argentine yerba.

Which Argentine writer's labyrinthine short stories fill Ficciones and El Aleph, published in Spanish in the 1940s?

Jorge Luis Borges was made director of Argentina's National Library in 1955, just as his sight failed; he wrote a poem on the irony of being handed so many books and blindness together.

Which vast, sparsely populated region of glaciers and steppe at the southern tip of South America is shared by Argentina and Chile?

Patagonia is dry because the Andes block the moist westerly winds off the Pacific: the mountains' western slopes are drenched, while the plains to the east lie in a rain shadow.

Which bird, famous for building mud nests shaped like clay ovens, is the national bird of Argentina?

A Rufous Hornero pair stays together all year and can raise its domed mud nest, shaped like an old wood-fired oven, in as little as five days.

Which Argentine first lady championed labor rights and women's suffrage in the mid-1900s?

Eva Perón, 'Evita', pushed through the 1947 law giving Argentine women the vote and founded the Female Peronist Party in 1949.

Which waterfall system on the Brazil border is a major attraction of northeastern Argentina?

Iguazu Falls splits into some 275 separate drops because islands along its rim divide the river; about half the flow plunges into a single chasm, the Devil's Throat.

What name is given to Argentina's traditional cowboy, a national folk hero?

The gaucho hunted on horseback with boleadoras, leather-bound stones on cords thrown to tangle an animal's legs, a weapon the plains' indigenous peoples had used long before.

Which Argentine city is known as the "End of the World" due to its southernmost location?

Ushuaia bills itself the 'Fin del Mundo', and its End of the World Train began as a prison railway, though Chile's small Puerto Williams lies further south.

What are Argentina's wide, fertile lowlands, known for cattle ranching, called?

The Pampas made Argentina's fortune: once refrigerated ships could carry its beef to Europe, farm exports lifted the country into the world's ten richest nations by the early 1900s.

Which army officer is the only president of Argentina to have been elected three times?

Juan Perón won the presidency in 1946, 1951 and 1973; he was overthrown in 1955, spent 18 years in exile and died in office in July 1974.

What is the traditional Argentine barbecue of meats cooked over an open fire called?

Asado names both the cooking and the gathering around it; the asador favours coals of hardwoods such as quebracho, which burn hot and slow without the resinous smoke of pine.

Which large flightless bird runs wild on the grasslands of Argentina?

The rhea, called ñandú locally, is South America's largest bird; the greater rhea stands about 1.5 metres tall and spreads its big wings like sails when running.

What emblem sits in the centre stripe of the flag of Argentina?

The Sun of May, a golden sun with a human face, was added to the flag in 1818, copying the sun engraved on Argentina's first coin of 1813; it commemorates the May Revolution of 1810.

Which Argentine city is famous for Swiss-style architecture, skiing and chocolate?

Bariloche owes much of its Alpine look to the state: between 1935 and 1940 Argentina's national parks agency put up public buildings in stone and wood, the best known the Civic Centre beside Lake Nahuel Huapi.

What is the primary grape variety used in the production of Argentina's most famous red wines?

Malbec lost ground in Bordeaux, where a severe frost in 1956 killed many of its vines and growers replanted with other grapes, while in Argentina, where it was planted in the mid-1800s, it became the signature red.

Who was the military leader who played a crucial role in the independence of Argentina, Chile, and Peru?

José de San Martín led an army across the Andes in 1817 to free Chile, then sailed north to Peru, where he was named Protector in 1821.

Which young naturalist dug up fossils of giant extinct mammals on Argentina's coast in the 1830s?

Charles Darwin dug the bones from cliffs at Punta Alta while HMS Beagle surveyed the coast, and the likeness of these extinct giants to animals still living there later helped suggest to him that species change.

Which estuary where the Uruguay and Paraná meet forms part of Argentina's border with Uruguay?

The Río de la Plata is about 220 km across at its mouth, so wide that geographers disagree on whether to call it a river, an estuary, a gulf or a sea; two national capitals face each other across it.

Which concertina-like instrument, developed in Germany, anchors tango ensembles?

The bandoneon is named after the German Heinrich Band, who sold the early models; it is thought to have reached Argentina with sailors and immigrants, and tango players there made it the music's defining sound.

Which Argentine city at the foot of the Andes is the centre of the country's main wine-growing region?

Mendoza lies in semi-desert, so the vineyards that make most of Argentina's wine depend on irrigation canals, some dating to the 1500s, and ditches still water the trees along its city streets.

Which far north-western Argentine province, on the Bolivian border, is home to the Quebrada de Humahuaca gorge?

Jujuy's Quebrada de Humahuaca has been lived in for some 10,000 years and later carried the caravans of the Inca Empire, the long history for which UNESCO listed the valley in 2003.

A famous prehistoric cave in Argentina's Santa Cruz province is named for the stencils, sprayed through bone pipes, of what?

Human hands cover the walls of the Cueva de las Manos, and nearly all are left hands, which suggests the painters held the bone spray-pipe in the right.

Which Argentine glacier is famous for the ice bridge that builds up across a lake and collapses every few years?

Perito Moreno Glacier creeps across an arm of Lake Argentino until it dams it; the trapped water rises by up to 30 metres, tunnels through the ice and leaves a bridge that finally crashes down.

Which star played Argentina's most famous first lady in a 1996 film musical, singing 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina'?

Madonna landed a part that Meryl Streep and Michelle Pfeiffer had each been lined up for before her, and she did all her own singing.

Which Argentine sweet sandwiches dulce de leche between two soft biscuits?

The alfajor is no Argentine invention: the sweet came over from Spain, where it goes back to the centuries of Moorish rule.

Which city, Argentina's second largest, is home to a UNESCO-listed Jesuit Block that includes the country's oldest university?

Córdoba is nicknamed La Docta, 'the learned', for the university the Jesuits founded there in 1613 and ran until the Spanish crown expelled the order in 1767.

What navigable sea route separates mainland South America from Tierra del Fuego?

The Strait of Magellan, first sailed by Europeans under Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, was the main steamship route between the Atlantic and Pacific until the Panama Canal opened in 1914.

Which Argentine-born revolutionary fought beside Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution?

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, born in Argentina in 1928, qualified as a doctor in 1953 before meeting Castro in Mexico City in 1955; he was captured and shot in Bolivia in 1967.

Which spotted cat, the largest in the Americas, survives in Argentina's northern forests?

The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and third largest in the world after the tiger and lion; in Argentina it survives mainly in the Yungas, Chaco and Misiones forests.

Which Argentine folk dance, played on guitar, violin and bombo, originated in Santiago del Estero?

The chacarera, from Santiago del Estero, is a flirtation in steps: the man circles his partner with stamping zapateo footwork and, in the final bars, symbolically 'crowns' her.

Argentina meets Brazil and which third country at the Triple Frontier, where two great rivers join?

Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina each mark their own bank with a monument painted in the national colours, and all three countries can be seen from any one of them.

Which vast expanse of swamps and lagoons in Corrientes Province became an Argentine national park in 2018?

The Iberá Wetlands became a national park on former cattle ranches bought up and donated to Argentina by the foundation of the conservationists Doug and Kristine Tompkins.

Which Argentine president implemented market reforms in the early 1990s?

Carlos Menem, president from 1989 to 1999, tied the currency one-to-one to the US dollar under the 1991 Convertibility Plan and privatised state firms such as YPF and the telephone company.

Which building on the Plaza de Mayo is the official workplace of Argentina's president?

The Casa Rosada's pink is popularly said to have been chosen under President Sarmiento (1868–74) to blend the red of the Federalists with the white of the Unitarians.

Which river-port city, Argentina's third largest, is home to the National Flag Memorial?

Rosario's memorial overlooks the stretch of the Paraná River where the national flag was first raised in 1812; the stone complex, built in the shape of a ship, opened in 1957.

Which rare mammal of northern Argentina digs its burrows with a huge sickle-shaped claw on each forefoot?

The giant armadillo is the largest living armadillo; it tears open termite mounds with its claws and, unable to roll into a protective ball, burrows to escape danger.

By what name is the Argentine junta's 1976–83 campaign of kidnap and murder against suspected opponents commonly known?

The Dirty War left somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people 'disappeared'; the junta fell after losing a war with Britain in 1982, and its leaders were later put on trial.

Ischigualasto, a bare, eroded Argentine park rich in early dinosaur fossils, is nicknamed the Valley of the what?

Moon Valley, or Valle de la Luna, is named for its barren, moon-like landscape, and although it is famed for early dinosaurs, they make up only a small share of the fossil animals found there.

Which Argentine composer created 'nuevo tango' by blending the dance music of his homeland with jazz and classical forms?

Astor Piazzolla studied classical composition in Paris under Nadia Boulanger before remaking tango; traditionalists shunned his new style for years, yet Argentina came to revere him.

Which thick Andean stew of corn, beans, meat and gourd is traditionally eaten in Argentina on national holidays?

Locro is an indigenous dish of the Andes, a mixture of corn, beans, meat, bacon, onion and gourd, served on patriotic days.

Which British-run South Atlantic islands does Argentina claim as its own?

The Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, came under British control in 1833; in a 2013 referendum 99.8% of islanders voted to remain a British territory.

Which protected marine area in Chubut Province is famous for whale watching?

Península Valdés shelters a major breeding ground of southern right whales, and its orcas are known for beaching themselves on purpose to seize sea lions at the water's edge.

Which Argentine author wrote 'Rayuela' (Hopscotch), known for its non-linear structure?

Julio Cortázar published Rayuela in 1963; an author's note offers two orders, chapters 1 to 56 straight through or 'hopscotching' across all 155 chapters via a Table of Instructions.

Which everyday writing tool did Hungarian-born László Bíró patent after fleeing to Argentina during World War II?

The ballpoint pen is called a birome in Argentina, blending Bíró's name with that of his partner Juan Jorge Meyne. The country marks Inventors' Day on his birthday, 29 September.

Argentina's hugely popular Friend's Day, held each 20 July, was inspired by which event of 1969?

The Moon landing moved Enrique Febbraro, an Argentine dentist, to campaign for a day of friendship among nations. The idea caught on at home and became a mass phenomenon.

What did Argentine Emilio Palma become the first person ever to do, at Esperanza Base in January 1978?

For Emilio to be born in Antarctica, his mother was airlifted to the base when seven months pregnant. His father headed the Argentine Army detachment stationed there.

Which forensic method did Argentine policeman Juan Vucetich pioneer, leading to a landmark murder conviction in 1892?

Fingerprinting convicted Francisca Rojas after a bloody mark on a bedroom door was matched to her, undoing her claim that a neighbour had killed her two children.

Which European country's queen, Máxima, was born in Argentina and met her future husband at a fair in Seville?

The Netherlands' Queen Máxima worked in finance before meeting Willem-Alexander, then heir to the Dutch throne, in 1999. Their romance is said to have really begun later in New York.

Which actress, born in Miami, lived in Argentina until her family moved to London when she was six?

Anya Taylor-Joy, star of The Queen's Gambit, is fluent in Spanish and went to Northlands School in Argentina before her family settled in London's Victoria area.

Which American outlaw sailed to Argentina in 1901 and bought a ranch near Cholila, in Chubut Province?

Butch Cassidy shared a four-room log cabin on the 15,000-acre ranch with the Sundance Kid, and the pair sold up in 1905 fearing the law had found them.

The name Argentina comes from the Latin word for which precious metal, sought by early European explorers?

Silver in Latin is argentum, and 16th-century explorers heard legends of mountains made of it somewhere inland.

Which giant rodent made headlines in 2021 by overrunning Nordelta, a gated suburb built on Argentine marshland?

The capybara, the largest living rodent, was reclaiming its own habitat: Nordelta was built on top of marshes where the animals already lived.

Which papal name did Argentine cardinal Jorge Bergoglio choose in 2013 on becoming the first Latin American pope?

Francis honours Francis of Assisi, a choice he said reflected his concern for the poor. He was also the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church.

Which Argentine forward, treated for a growth hormone deficiency as a boy, won the Golden Ball at two World Cups?

Lionel Messi finished the therapy at 14 in Barcelona, where he starred in a youth side nicknamed the Baby Dream Team. His Golden Balls came in 2014 and 2022.

Which country did Argentina beat 2-1 in a 1986 World Cup quarter-final remembered for the 'Hand of God' goal?

England conceded the handled goal in the 51st minute, then watched the same player dribble past five men four minutes later to score the 'Goal of the Century'.

Which country did Argentina beat on penalties in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar after a 3-3 draw?

France drew level through a Kylian Mbappé hat-trick, only the second ever scored in a men's World Cup final, before losing the shoot-out 4-2.

Which British prime minister sent a naval task force to the South Atlantic days after Argentina's April 1982 invasion?

Margaret Thatcher's task force forced an Argentine surrender within 74 days, and the defeat hastened the collapse of the ruling junta and a return to democracy.

Which Nazi organiser of the Holocaust was seized by Israeli agents in Argentina in 1960 while living as Ricardo Klement?

Adolf Eichmann was identified partly by his ears: agents compared covert photographs with the images in his SS file. He was flown to Israel and tried in Jerusalem.

Which European country do an estimated 60 percent or more of Argentines trace at least part of their ancestry to?

Italy sent wave after wave of emigrants across the Atlantic, and at least 30 million Argentines are thought to have some Italian roots.

Which stuffed pastry has a rival style in almost every Argentine region, such as the small, spicy salteña from Salta?

The empanada is served at Argentine parties and festivals as a starter or a main course, and Salta's juicy version packs in potato, peppers and ground chili.

Which uncooked sauce of chopped parsley, garlic, oregano, oil and vinegar do Argentines spoon over grilled steak?

Chimichurri works as a cooking ingredient as well as a table condiment, and it turns up beside roasted sausages, poultry and fish as well as beef.

Which Argentine racing driver won five Formula One world titles in the 1950s, a record that stood for 46 years?

Juan Manuel Fangio won his titles with four different teams, and in 1958 he was kidnapped from a Havana hotel by gunmen from Fidel Castro's rebel movement.

Which six-year-old comic-strip girl, drawn by Argentine cartoonist Quino from 1964, is known for her hatred of soup?

Mafalda frets about humanity and world peace with a child's innocent seriousness, and her strip found fans across Latin America, Europe, Quebec and Asia.

Which sport's 'cathedral' is a 30,000-capacity ground in the Palermo district of Argentina's capital, opened in 1928?

Polo found its greatest popularity in the Americas in Argentina, which has more players with the top handicap of 10 than any other country.

In July 2010 Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalise what, after a 33-27 Senate vote?

Same-sex marriage made Argentina only the tenth country in the world to take the step, and the second anywhere in the Americas.

Which language, brought by 153 settlers on the ship Mimosa in 1865, is spoken in Chubut towns such as Gaiman?

Welsh has between 1,500 and 5,000 speakers in the province by different estimates, and the settlers' chapels and windmills dot the valley they farmed.

Which battery metal lies under the salt flats of north-west Argentina, one corner of a 'triangle' rich in the element?

Lithium collects in salt pans such as Argentina's Salar del Hombre Muerto, and by late 2022 the country had 40 extraction projects under way, more than any other.

What kind of monument was built in 1936 to mark 400 years since Argentina's capital was first founded?

An obelisk of reinforced concrete went up in about two months, on the site of a church where the Argentine flag was first officially hoisted in the city.

Which Argentine club plays at La Bombonera, a stadium nicknamed for its resemblance to a box of chocolates?

Boca Juniors' ground is said to owe its name to architect Viktor Sulčič, who was given chocolates for his birthday and took the box to design meetings to show the shape.

Which dish do Argentines traditionally eat on the 29th of each month, with money tucked under the plate for luck?

Gnocchi, or ñoquis, also gave local slang a word: a ñoqui is a bogus employee who only turns up at the end of the month to collect a salary.

What do the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo wear as their emblem on Thursday marches for their disappeared children?

White headscarves began as cloth nappies, worn so the mothers could spot each other in a crowd, and were later embroidered with the names of their missing children.

Which big cat is the nickname of Argentina's national rugby union team, thanks to a journalist's mistake in 1965?

The Pumas owe the name to Carl Kohler, a South African newspaper reporter following the team's first overseas tour, and his error became a badge of identity.

Which opera house in Argentina's capital, opened in 1908 with Verdi's Aida, is famed worldwide for its acoustics?

Teatro Colón took twenty years to build, and a survey of leading opera directors by acoustics expert Leo Beranek ranked its hall the best in the world for opera.

Which Argentine sandwich of grilled sausage in crusty bread is sold outside stadiums and beloved by taxi drivers?

Choripán fuses the names of its two parts, chorizo and pan, the Spanish for bread. A sausage split lengthwise for the roll is called a mariposa, or butterfly.

Which bitter herbal liqueur do Argentines mix with cola so eagerly that they drink over 75% of the world's supply?

Fernet with cola, known as fernet con coca or fernandito, is so common that it has been called the country's unofficial drink.

Which lawyer turned general designed Argentina's flag in 1812 after seeing both sides fight under the same colours?

Manuel Belgrano first made a light blue and white cockade so that patriots could be told from royalists, then raised a flag in the same colours.

Which former first lady and senator became the first woman directly elected president of Argentina, in 2007?

Cristina Kirchner succeeded her own husband, Néstor, and in 2019 became the first former head of state to serve as the country's vice president.

Which president, elected in 1983 as Argentina returned to democracy, put the leaders of the former juntas on trial?

Raúl Alfonsín set up the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, whose findings led to the sentencing of the heads of the former regime.

Which Argentine guard won four NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs and Olympic gold in Athens in 2004?

Manu Ginóbili became one of only two players, with Bill Bradley, to have won a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal.

Which Argentine tennis player beat Steffi Graf to win the 1990 US Open and later had a rose named after her?

Gabriela Sabatini saved two set points in the second set of that final, and in 1992 an orange-red bloom made her the first tennis player with a rose in her name.

Which striker scored twice in the final and took the Golden Boot as Argentina won the 1978 World Cup at home?

Mario Kempes was the only foreign-based player the coach picked for that squad, and his two goals in the final, at just 23, were his last for his country.

Which Argentine rock trio, fronted by Gustavo Cerati, launched a pioneering tour of Latin America in 1986?

Soda Stereo first played as Los Estereotipos, a name borrowed from a song by the Specials that all three members loved, before settling on the one that stuck.

Which Argentine-born composer wrote the theme for the TV series Mission: Impossible, first broadcast in 1966?

Lalo Schifrin, whose father led the second violins of his home city's philharmonic for three decades, also scored Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke and Enter the Dragon.

Which Argentine folk singer, nicknamed 'La Negra', was arrested on stage in 1979 and went into exile in Europe?

Mercedes Sosa, hailed as the voice of the voiceless, came home in 1982 for a run of concerts months before the dictatorship collapsed.

Which 2009 crime drama directed by Juan José Campanella won Argentina its second Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film?

The Secret in Their Eyes brought its director home from the United States, where he had been making episodes of House and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and took over $34 million worldwide.

Which giant meat-eating dinosaur did an amateur fossil hunter find in 1993 while driving a dune buggy in Argentina?

Giganotosaurus means giant southern lizard, and its species name honours the finder, Rubén Carolini. Its thigh bone is 5 cm longer than that of Sue, the famous T. rex.

What kind of shop fills the Grand Splendid, a 1919 theatre in Argentina's capital whose stage and boxes survive?

A bookshop with reading seats in the old theatre boxes and a café where the stage once was, it was named the world's most beautiful bookstore by National Geographic in 2019.

In 1913 Argentina's capital opened the first what in Latin America, nearly six years ahead of Madrid's?

The underground railway kept its original 1913 carriages running on Line A until 2013, by which time they were the oldest in commercial service anywhere.

In which northern Argentine city did a congress declare independence on 9 July, in a house preserved as a museum?

Tucumán's Historical House kept only the hall where the declaration was sworn. The rest was demolished and later rebuilt to its original layout.

Argentina's El Apóstol, a 1917 political satire directed by Quirino Cristiani, is considered the world's first what?

The first animated feature film can no longer be watched: its only known copy burned in a 1926 fire at producer Federico Valle's studio.

Which 1976 novel by Argentina's Manuel Puig, set in a prison cell, became an Oscar-winning film and Broadway musical?

Kiss of the Spider Woman unfolds as talk between two cellmates, one of whom passes the time by retelling the plots of old movies he has seen.

Which aromatic white grape, noted for peach and apricot aromas, thrives in Salta's vineyards over 1,600 metres up?

Torrontés exists in three Argentine varieties, and the most aromatic of them, Riojano, is behind most bottles that carry the name.

Which Argentine heart surgeon pioneered coronary bypass surgery using a leg vein at the Cleveland Clinic in 1967?

René Favaloro went home in 1971 to build a centre modelled on the Cleveland Clinic, and made a point of operating daily on patients who could not pay.