History of Argentina

History

Modern Argentina is a nation of immigrants. During its history, people from all over the world came to live in Argentina. People from Europe, Africa, and elsewhere have immigrated to Argentina. Because of this, much of Argentina's culture is a reflection of European and African culture. A lot of what you can see and hear in modern Argentina has its roots in Europe and Africa .The earliest inhabitants of Argentina were nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers, who had fought the Incas and lived simply until the arrival of Europeans in the 1500's. The first Spanish settlement was Santa Fe in 1573. Buenos Aires was founded seven years later. At first the Spanish were unenthusiastic by the lack of gold and silver. Later they realized the potential of Argentina to supply food and animals to the cities in Peru and Bolivia. Huge areas of land estancias were given to settlers, and the Indians worked under a forced-labour system. After Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the country was left to fend for itself and began to foster a growing sense of independence, the Creoles (native-born) population even fought off British invaders. Following Napoleon's defeat the Spanish attempted to seize their colonies back.

By 1816, the deep division between Argentina and its mother country had become quite evident, and