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The name Argentina derives from the Latin argentum (silver). The first Spanish conquistadors discovered the Río de la Plata ("River of Silver"). Indigenous people gave silver gifts to the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition, who were led by Juan Díaz de Solís. The legend of Sierra del Plata — a mountain rich in silver — reached Spain around 1524. The source of the silver was the area where the city of Potosí was to be founded in 1546. An expedition that followed the trail of the silver up the Paraná and Pilcomayo rivers finally reached the source of the silver only to find it already claimed by previous explorers that had reached it from Lima, the capital of the Viceroyalty. The name Argentina was first used 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 Tierra Argentina (Land of Silver) |
Argentina Information:
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