Argentina

Coordinates: 34°S 64°W / 34°S 64°W / -34; -64

Argentina (ⁱ/ˌɑːrdʒənˈtiːnə/; Spanish: [aɾxenˈtina]), officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina), is a federal republic located in southeastern South America. Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with its neighbour Chile, it is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north; Brazil to the northeast; Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east; Chile to the west and the Drake Passage to the south.

With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km² (1,073,500 sq mi), Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second-largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The country is subdivided into twenty-three provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one autonomous city (ciudad autónoma), Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the nation (Spanish: Capital Federal) as decided by Congress. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system.

Ministries of the Argentine Republic

The Ministries of the Argentine Republic, which form the cabinet, currently consist of sixteen ministries under a ministerial chief of staff. The ministers are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the president. The current organization derives from the constitutional revision of 1994, and is governed by "The Law on Ministries".

History

Prior to independence, the administration of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was organized under the Royal Ordinance of Administrators issued 28 January 1782 (la Real Ordenanza de Intendentes), under which there were eight intendencias each with a governor reporting to the viceroy. The governor had the police, finance and the military under his direct control, and his lieutenant administered the courts. At first the revolutionaries retained the same system, only gradually dispersing the executive authority over a larger body of men. The first true cabinet posts in Argentina emerged in the mid 1800s first under various caudillos such as Saavedra and de Rosas and then under the Argentine Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires. For example, the Department of Governance and War (Departamento de Gobierno y Guerra) was created on 28 May 1810 by the First Junta with Mariano Moreno as secretary, and although the First Junta sent out diplomates as early as 1810, it was not until 27 February 1813 that the Department of Foreign Business (Departamento de Negocios Extranjeros) was created under the supervision of the Secretary of State.