Argentina

=== Colonial era ===
{{Main|Colonial Argentina}}
{{See also|Spanish colonization of the Americas}}
[[File:La Reconquista de Buenos Aires.jpg|thumb|alt=Painting showing the surrender during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.|The surrender of Beresford to [[Santiago de Liniers]] during the [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata]]]]
Europeans first arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of [[Amerigo Vespucci (explorer)|Amerigo Vespucci]]. The Spanish navigators [[Juan Díaz de Solís]] and [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]] visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=128}} In 1536 [[Pedro de Mendoza]] founded the small settlement of [[Buenos Aires]], which was abandoned in 1541.{{sfn|Crow|1992|pp=129–32}}

Further colonization efforts came from [[Paraguay]]—establishing the [[Governorate of the Río de la Plata]]—[[Peru]] and Chile.{{sfn|Abad de Santillán|1971|pp=96–140}} [[Francisco de Aguirre (conquistador)|Francisco de Aguirre]] founded [[Santiago del Estero]] in 1553. [[Londres, Catamarca|Londres]] was founded in 1558; [[Mendoza, Argentina|Mendoza]], in 1561; [[San Juan, Argentina|San Juan]], in 1562; [[San Miguel de Tucumán]], in 1565.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=353}} [[Juan de Garay]] founded [[Santa Fe, Argentina|Santa Fe]] in 1573 and the same year [[Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera]] set up [[Córdoba, Argentina|Córdoba]].{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=134}} Garay went further south to re-found Buenos Aires in 1580.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=135}} [[San Luis, Argentina|San Luis]] was established in 1596.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=353}}

The [[Spanish Empire]] subordinated the economic potential of the Argentine territory to the immediate wealth of the silver and gold mines in [[Bolivia]] and Peru, and as such it became part of the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]] until the creation of the [[Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata]] in 1776 with Buenos Aires as its capital.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=347}}

Buenos Aires repelled [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata|two ill-fated British invasions]] in 1806 and 1807.{{sfn|Crow|1992|p=421}} The ideas of the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and the example of the first [[Atlantic Revolutions]] generated criticism of the [[absolutist monarchy]] that ruled the country. As in the rest of Spanish America, the overthrow of [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]] during the [[Peninsular War]] created great concern.{{sfn|Abad de Santillán|1971|pp=194ff}}