Not much remains of the earliest settlements in Argentina, only archeological finds, but there’s plenty from Spanish colonialism and the European and Middle Eastern immigrants who arrived at the end of the 19th early-20th centuries by which time the country had already separated from Spain. Independence, however, brought with it political turmoil, periods of calm, military dictatorships and rampant corruption.

One of the country’s bleakest episodes happened during the 1970s with the Dirty Wars culminating in the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas). Since then every president has been elected democratically, although the country has intermittently suffered bouts of serious economic crises.

Pre-Spanish History to Independence
When the Europeans arrived in the 1500s, much of Argentina was inhabited by aboriginal Indians who are believed to have first landed here around 13,000BC - certain cave paintings date from this period while the Cueva de los Manos filled with masses of handprints, dates back to 10,000BC. The origins of these peoples are still a matter for debate, but the consensus seems to be that they probably made their way from Asia first and later on from Polynesia. No architectural monuments or evidence of great cities or wealth like that of the Incas or the Aztecs has ever been found or documented.

Around 500BC many Indians in the northwest started cultivating the land. Here, peoples such as the sedentary Tafi grew crops on terraces like quinoa, maize and potatoes. Much later on around 600AD, peoples such as Condorhuasi produced colourful ceramics and the Aguadas developed techniques to make defensive metal bodyware.

A few hundred years later the Diaguita tribes, who worshipped mother earth, created some intricately-painted pottery, funerary urns and metalwork. They also spoke Kakan, which survived until the 15th century when the Incas arrived to assimilate the area as part of their empire. Only then did Quechua, the Inca tongue, surpass Kakan.

The semi-nomadic Guarani people of the far northeast grew maize, beans and potatoes as did the Comechingones who inhabited the provinces of San Luis and Cordoba. In Patagonia and the Pampas, the nomadic Querandi hunted guanaco and rheas. Many other nomadic groups, like the Puelche and Tehuelche inhabited parts of Patagonia well after the Spanish had come and gone, continuing their hunter-gatherer lifestyles and remaining culturally primitive. Meanwhile, among the Indians in the far south, were the Yamana (Yaghan) and Alacaluf both sea-faring tribes, who lived around the Fuegian archipelago, hunting seals and collecting shellfish. Close by on land both the Ona and Huash hunted guanacos and foxes and wore their hides for protection against the harsh southern climes.

Europeans discover Argentina
At the turn of the 16th century the Rio de la Plata was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci – disputed by some historians who say he merely inspired other explorers like the Spanish-sent Portuguese navigator Juan Diaz de Solis who landed on the shores of the Plata in 1516, and Ferdinand Magellan who found a passage through to the Pacific ocean in 1520, hence the now-named Strait of Magellan. Both voyages revealed the geographical character of Argentina’s Atlantic coast.

Other expeditions headed by Spanish rivals Sebastian Cabot and Diego Garcia followed. Cabot was able to establish a small fort, Sancti Spiritus, near what is now the city of Rosario, but both explorers were thwarted when attacked by local indigenous groups. Cabot named the Rio de la Plata after discovering bullion and believing there to be further deposits. Curiously, here, too are the roots of the country’s future name as silver in Latin is Argentum.

Stories about silver mountains, the conquest of Peru and Portugal’s power in neighboring Brazil, served to encourage Spain to organize more expeditions. It sent Pedro de Mendoza to settle and take the country and in 1536 he founded Buenos Aires. Again Querandi attacks and lack of food forced Mendoza to abandon the settlement the following year. But Domingo Martinez de Irala part of the same expedition, stayed on and sailed a thousand miles up the Rio de la Plata to form the city of Asuncion, surrounded by more amicable Guarani people. A few years later, the remaining inhabitants of Buenos Aires moved to Asuncion, from where the Spanish were latter able to conquer northern Argentina.

Meanwhile, the Spanish changed their focus towards Inca Empire, after its conquest by Francisco Pizarro. Most significant was the discovery of vast silver deposits at Potosi (now in Bolivia), then part of Alto Peru, followed by the Governorship of Tucuman, an administrative centre. At this time there were few direct immigrants from Spain; many of Argentina’s first Spanish settlers arrived from Chile and Peru in search of labor for the mines. However, some of the indigenous peoples were rebellious and resisted those who wanted their forced labor, particularly the Diaguitas. Eventually, they were defeated after which they were sent to work on large farms. Later on, Potosi and Tucuman were so desperate for labor, that they started importing black slaves.

Oldest Argentine Cities
In the latter half of the 16th century some of Argentina’s oldest cities were established, 15 of which still remain. The first and oldest to be founded was Santiago del Estero followed by San Juan, Mendoza, San Luis, Tucuman, Cordoba, Salta and La Rioja. And the cities of Corrientes, Parana and Santa Fe were founded in the northeast and Buenos Aires refounded in 1580.

At the same time, Jesuit missionaries arrived under Spanish protection to civilize the indigenous peoples such as the Guarani. Many Jesuit missions were constructed to house and educate the Guarani people in the provinces of Cordoba and Misiones. During this period Buenos Aires remained unimportant. It was nothing more than a military outpost for the next 300 years. Spain was far too preoccupied exploiting Alto Peru and governing the lands it had already conquered from Lima, also its trading port. But when the British started blocking trade routes from Lima, the Spanish were forced to find another way out from Potosi which is when they created the Viceroyalty of the River Plate in 1776.

Shortly after, Buenos Aires began to flourish after initiating transatlantic trade with Europe, much of which was contraband from Britain (traditional enemies of Spain), France and Brazil. When merchants in Buenos Aires pushed for free trade - gathering outside the cabildo (town council) on 25 May in an act of defiance wearing white and blue ribbons - the British read their discontent as revolutionary and invaded the city, taking control of the viceroyalty in 1806, although they were quickly expelled by the cabildo.

Argentine Independence
In 1810 Buenos Aires set up an autonomous government to run the viceroyalty still loyal to Spain’s Ferdinand VII whose father, Carlos IV, had been forced to abdicate by Napoleon Bonaparte. Cornelio Saavedra presided over the first government (primera junta). His philosophy was to share power with the provinces (known as Federalists) while other government members believed Buenos Aires should take complete control over the rest of the country (known as Unitarists).

This division was to plague the country for years to come. The juntas were also divided between those who wanted independence and those who pledged allegiance to the Spanish Crown. On 9 July 1816, after Peru threatened invasion and Ferdinand’s incompetence as king was proven, independence of the United Provinces of the River Plate was declared at the Tucuman Congress, which was attended by national hero and leader of the independence forces, Jose Francisco de San Martin otherwise known as El Libertador (the liberator). But independence brought neither stability nor concord as the conflict between the Federalists and Unitarists continued to divide the government. The rest is political history.