Official name: Argentine Republic
Capital city: Buenos Aires
Size: 2,766,890km². From north to south Argentina is almost as long as the USA is wide.
Neighboring countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Coastline: 4989km
Population: 47 million
Population of downtown Buenos Aires: 2.9 million
Population of greater Buenos Aires: 12.3 million
Government type: Republic
President: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Religion: 92% nominally Roman Catholic
Time zone: GMT -3 hours (no Daylight Saving adjustments). From October to April Argentina is 3 hours behind London; between April and October this changes to 4 hours difference.
Latitude/Longitude: 34 00 S 64 00 W
Climate: mostly temperate; arid in southeast; sub-antarctic in southwest; tropical/subtropical in the north east.
Official language: Spanish
Currency: Argentine peso, signified by the same symbol ($) as the US dollar. To distinguish between the two currencies, U$ is used to signify US dollar.
National holidays: January 1, Good Friday, March 24, April 2, May 1, May 25, June 10, June 20, July 9, August 17, October 12, December 8, December 25. Note: many holidays are moved to the closest Monday.