Argentina and Her People of To-day: An account of the customs, characteristics, amusements, history and advancement of the Argentinians, and the development and resources of their countryWinter, Nevin O. (Nevin Otto)
History
Argentina and Her People of To-day: An account of the customs, characteristics, amusements, history and advancement of the Argentinians, and the development and resources of their country
Winter, Nevin O. (Nevin Otto)
Argentina
Argentina is a land of big things. Farms are reckoned by the square
league, consisting of nearly six thousand acres, instead of by the paltry
acre. All grains are measured and sold by the metric ton of twenty-two
hundred and five pounds, instead of by the diminutive bushel. That
country is now the greatest flax-producing country in the world, and
ranks third in wheat and second in corn. It has more horses than any
country except Russia and the United States, more sheep than any country
except Australia, and is exceeded in the number of cattle only by the
United States. If all the sheep in Argentina were marched across the
United States two abreast they would form a solid column reaching from
Sandy Hook to the Golden Gate. Argentina contains within her borders the
largest city in the southern hemisphere, and the second Latin city in
the world. She probably exports more foodstuffs than any nation on the
globe, if you include both meat and grains. And yet the real resources
of the country have only been scratched on the surface. It is predicted
by good authority that the United States will have to import meat from
foreign markets before a not very distant day. There is no other country
that can be looked to except Argentina with her millions of sheep and
cattle and thousands of fertile leagues that invite development. A
brilliant future certainly awaits this great republic on South American
soil, and North Americans may well inform themselves upon the country,
its people and resources.
Argentina might be divided into two parts, Buenos Aires and the Camp—the
name given to the country. Buenos Aires is at once the London, New
York and Paris of the republic and dominates the country as no other
capital of the world does. It is the largest Spanish-speaking city in
the world, being more than twice as large as Madrid. In the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, was a far
more important place. It contains most of the factories of the country,
receives the greater part of the foreign trade, does the banking of
the nation through its great moneyed institutions, and is the social
and business centre where the money made by those in the interior of
the republic is spent. It is growing at the rate of nearly one hundred
thousand persons each year. The large admixture of foreigners coming in
keep this city, as well as the nation, up to date. New ideas are thus
brought in from everywhere, and the latest inventions and improvements
follow. The Spanish type has been considerably modified by the foreign
commingling so that this capital is now as cosmopolitan as any in the
world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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