Argentina - South America

Argentina is a nation of diversity, where ice fields contrast with arid zones; mountains with valleys or plateaus; fluvial streams and lakes with large oceans, broad grassy plains with woods and forests.

After the independence from Spain, In 1816, the country's population and culture were heavily shaped by immigrants from throughout Europe, but most particularly Italy and Spain, which provided the largest percentage of newcomers from 1860 to 1930.

The main types of climate in Argentina are four: warm, moderate, arid and cold. The extension of the territory and the features of its relief determine the existence of varieties in each of the mentioned types.

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Buenos Aires at night (right). The brightness of the lights reflects the density of the urban population, which declines to blackness in the farmlands that surround the city. The brightest area is the old part of the city centered on the port and the presidential palace. The blackest part of the scene is the River Plate, the great estuary of the Atlantic Ocean on which this port city is located. The widest city thoroughfare in the world - the Avenida 9 de Julio - is the brightest line in the downtown cluster. It appears as the longest north-south strip just inland of the port (NASA).

Iguazu Falls. The falls are part of a nearly virgin jungle ecosystem surrounded by national parks on both the Argentine and the Brazilian sides of the cascades. The Iguazu River begins in Parana state of Brazil, then crosses a 1,200 km plateau before reaching a series of faults forming the falls. Approximately 2.7 km in width and reaching a maximum height of 81 m, about 2/3 of Iguazu Falls is in Argentina and 1/3 is in Brazil.