Argentina’s Borders: Boundaries, Limits, and Geographic Features
Argentina’s Boundaries and Frontiers
Boundaries and frontiers of Argentina: This is where one country ends and another begins. On maps, it is represented by a line.
In the field, the limit can be represented by:
- River: A river boundary.
- Mountains: The limit is orographic.
- Straight lines: A geometric limit.
- Parallel and Meridian: Geodetic.
Argentina’s Borders: A Zone of Cultural Exchange
Borders: The strip of land that straddles the international boundary. It is an area where the definitive characteristics of each neighboring country mix: language, economic activities, music, food, clothing, etc.
The borders include the customs office, responsible for monitoring the goods that cross international borders, and migration control, which accounts for the entry and exit of people to prevent the spread of disease.
Types of Borders:
There are two types of borders:
- Contact: There is a relationship between populations located on both sides of the international boundary, generating all kinds of trade.
- Separation: The relationship between neighboring countries is smaller due to the presence of a physical element that hinders communication, for example, the Chilean Cordillera of the Andes.
A Brief Description of Argentina’s Boundaries
Border with Uruguay
- Extension: From the imaginary line linking the northern tip of Cape San Antonio (Buenos Aires) in Punta del Este in Uruguay to Mount Home (Argentina-Corrientes).
- The limit is riverine: Rio de la Plata and the Rio Uruguay.
- Communications between the two countries are very intense, due to the presence of international bridges.
Border with Brazil
- Extension: From Mountain Home to Puerto Iguazu, limited by the Iguazu River.
- The relationship between the two countries is frequent, favored by international bridges.
Border with Paraguay
- Extension: From Puerto Iguazu to the town of Esmeralda.
- The river forms the limit: the Parana, Paraguay, and Pilcomayo.
- The relationship between the two countries is favored by the following international bridges:
- Bridge San Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz, which links the cities of Posadas and Encarnación.
- International Bridge St. Ignatius Loyola, which links the twin cities of Clorinda in Argentina with Asuncion in Paraguay.
Border with Bolivia
- Extension: From the town of Esmeralda to Zapaleri, the limit is based on natural elements and the parallel 22° South.
- With regard to parallel 22° south, a small tube in the locality of Yacuiba, which had always belonged to Bolivia, continues to belong to Bolivia, after the parallel.
- The border with Bolivia presents difficulties for the population due to matching accents and lack of potable water. Population centers are found in the following Twin Cities: Yacuiba, Salvador Mazza, La Quiaca, Villazon.
Border with Chile
- Extension: From Zapaleri to the Drake Passage.
- It is the most extensive limit of Argentina and is divided into several sections:
- Highlands Section: From the hill passing Zapaleri to San Francisco.
- Arid Sector of the Andes: From the passage of San Francisco to Lake Alumina in Neuquen. In this area, the limit is orographic, and the boundary passes through the high mountains.
- Patagonian Section: In this area, the high peaks and watersheds do not coincide; therefore, land was lost, and many bounding problems arose.
- Fuegian Section: Extension: from the Holy Spirit out to the Beagle Channel; from here, the boundary goes east of Lennox and Nueva Picton to the Drake Passage.