Origin and history of the name of Argentina

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This article explains the origin and history of the names given to the South American country Argentina.

The name Argentina is derived from the Latin argentum (silver). The origin of this name goes back to the first voyages made by the Spanish conquerors to the Río de la Plata. The survivors of the shipwrecked expedition mounted by Juan Díaz de Solís found indigenous people in the region who gave them silver objects as gifts. The news about the legendary Sierra del Plata (a mountain rich in silver) reached Spain around 1524. Since then, the Spaniards named the river found by Solís Río de la Plata ("River of Silver").

The first mention of the Argentina name was in Ruy Díaz de Guzmán's 1612 book Historia del descubrimiento, población, y conquista del Río de la Plata ("History of the discovery, population, and conquest of the Río de la Plata"), naming the territory discovered by Solís as Tierra Argentina ("Land of Silver", "Silvery Land").

In 1776 the Virreinato del Río de la Plata (Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) was created, named after the river; it included present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

During the South American Wars of Independence, the territory used a number of names, mainly Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata (United Provinces of the Río de la Plata), but also Provincias Unidas de Sud América (United Provinces of South America), which were used for the union of today's Argentina and Uruguay (by then one of the provinces) since the beginning of the May Revolution, and until around 1836. Nevertheless, the Constitution of Argentina, sanctioned on December 24, 1826 was entitled Constitución de la República Argentina (This Constitution ruled partially for about six months only).

During the second government of Juan Manuel de Rosas Confederación Argentina (founded in 1832) was the main name used for the young country, but others were also used, including Estados Unidos de la República Argentina (United States of the Argentine Republic), República de la Confederación Argentina (Republic of the Argentine Confederation) and Federación Argentina (Argentine Federation).

The 1853 constipution used the Confederación Argentina denomination, but its 1860 amendment changed it to Nación Argentina, though including a paragraph with the historical names as "equivalent and valid" denominations. Then on October 8, 1860, President Santiago Derqui decreed the official name to be República Argentina.