Arctic Ocean (continued)
western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean and lasts about 10 months; permafrost in islands; virtually icelocked from October to June; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage
Note: major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May; strategic location between North America and the USSR; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western USSR; floating research stations operated by the US and USSR
Economy
Overview: Economic activity is limited to
the exploitation of natural resources,
including crude oil, natural gas, fishing, and
sealing.
Communications
Ports: Churchill (Canada), Murmansk
(USSR), Prudhoe Bay (US)
Telecommunications: no submarine cables
Note: sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Asia) are important waterways
Argentina
_Argentina.jpg)
See regional map IV
Geography
Total area: 2,766,890 km²; land area:
2,736,690 km²
Comparative area: slightly more than four times the size of Texas
Land boundaries: 9,665 km total; Bolivia 832 km, Brazil 1,224 km, Chile 5,150 km, Paraguay 1,880 km, Uruguay 579 km
Coastline: 4,989 km
Maritime claims:
- Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
- Territorial sea: 200 nm (overflight and navigation permitted beyond 12 nm)
Disputes: short section of the boundary with Uruguay is in dispute; short section of the boundary with Chile is indefinite; claims British-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); claims British-administered South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica
Climate: mostly temperate; arid in southeast; subantarctic in southwest
Terrain: rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in south, rugged Andes along western border
Natural resources: fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, crude oil, uranium
Land use: 9% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 52% meadows and pastures; 22% forest and woodland; 13% other; includes 1% irrigated
Environment: Tucuman and Mendoza areas in Andes subject to earthquakes; pamperos are violent windstorms that can strike Pampas and northeast; irrigated soil degradation; desertification; air and water pollution in Buenos Aires
Note: second-largest country in South America (after Brazil); strategic location relative to sea lanes between South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage)
People
Population: 32,290,966 (July 1990),
growth rate 1.2% (1990)
Birth rate: 20 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 32 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 67 years male, 74 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 2.8 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Argentine(s); adjective—Argentine
Ethnic divisions: 85% white, 15% mestizo, Indian, or other nonwhite groups
Religion: 90% nominally Roman Catholic (less than 20% practicing), 2% Protestant, 2% Jewish, 6% other
Language: Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French
Literacy: 94%
Labor force: 10,900,000; 12% agriculture, 31% industry, 57% services (1985 est.)
Organized labor: 3,000,000; 28% of labor force
Government
Long-form name: Argentine Republic
Type: republic
Capital: Buenos Aires (tentative plans to move to Viedma by 1990 indefinitely postponed)
Administrative divisions: 22 provinces (provincias, singular—provincia), 1 national territory* (territorio nacional), and 1 district** (distrito); Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, Distrito Federal**, Entre Rios, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquen, Rio Negro, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego and Antartida e Islas del Atlantico Sur*, Tucumán
Independence: 9 July 1816 (from Spain)
Constitution: 1 May 1853
Legal system: mixture of US and West European legal systems; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday National Day, 25 May (1810)
Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Senado) and
