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History Main article: History of Argentina Pre-Columbian era Main article: Indigenous peoples in Argentina

The Cave of the Hands in Santa Cruz province, with indigenous artwork dating from 13,000–9,000 years ago.

The fortification of Pucará de Tilcara in Jujuy Province, part of the Inca Empire. The earliest traces of human life in the area now known as Argentina are dated from the Paleolithic period, with further traces in the Mesolithic and Neolithic.[19] Until the period of European colonization, Argentina was relatively sparsely populated by a wide number of diverse cultures with different social organizations,[45] which can be divided into three main groups.[46] The first group are basic hunters and food gatherers without development of pottery, such as the Selknam and Yaghan in the extreme south. The second group are advanced hunters and food gatherers which include the Puelche, Querandí and Serranos in the centre-east; and the Tehuelche in the south—all of them conquered by the Mapuche spreading from Chile[47]—and the Kom and Wichi in the north. The last group are farmers with pottery, like the Charrúa, Minuane and Guaraní in the northeast, with slash and burn semisedentary existence;[45] the advanced Diaguita sedentary trading culture in the northwest, which was conquered by the Inca Empire around 1480; the Toconoté and Hênîa and Kâmîare in the country's centre, and the Huarpe in the centre-west, a culture that raised llama cattle and was strongly influenced by the Incas.[45]

Colonial era Main article: Colonial Argentina See also: Spanish colonization of the Americas 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. The Spanish navigators Juan Díaz de Solís and Sebastian Cabot visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively.[20] In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza founded the small settlement of Buenos Aires, which was abandoned in 1541.[48]

Further colonization efforts came from Paraguay—establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata—Peru and Chile.[49] Francisco de Aguirre founded Santiago del Estero in 1553. Londres was founded in 1558; Mendoza, in 1561; San Juan, in 1562; San Miguel de Tucumán, in 1565.[50] Juan de Garay founded Santa Fe in 1573 and the same year Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera set up Córdoba.[51] Garay went further south to re-found Buenos Aires in 1580.[52] San Luis was established in 1596.[50]

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.[53]

Buenos Aires repelled two ill-fated British invasions in 1806 and 1807.[54] 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 overthro