Ill

ARGENTINE
Juan  Diaz  de  Solis  in  1508  discovered  the
Rio  de  la  Plata,  otherwise  known  as  the  River
Plate,  while  searching  for  a  southerly  passage ­
  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  1525  Sebastian
Cabot  entered  the  river  and  gave  it  the  name
it  now  bears,  at  the  same  time  erecting  a  fort
near  its  mouth.  A  wealthy  Spaniard,  Pedro
de  Mendoza,  in  1536,  in  exchange  for  certain
landed  rights  and  governmental  privileges,
established  what  is  now  the  present  city  of
Buenos  Aires.
It  is  unnecessary  for  the  purposes  of  this
book  to  do  more  than  state  briefly  that  the  conditions ­
  imposed  by  Spain  on  all  its  colonies
were  outrageously  unjust  and  caused  much  dissension. ­
  Efforts  to  progress  were  throttled
and  the  friction  between  the  mother  country
developed  until  the  conquest  of  Spain  by  Na-31