Why Almost Nobody Lives In The Southern Half Of Argentina

Watch the podcast: @GeographyPod

Argentina is an incredible country in so many ways. From the beating economic heart of Buenos Aires in the north, to the pure beauty of the Patagonian mountains and Tierra Del Fuego archipelago in the south. But despite the natural beauty of the south, the vast majority of Argentinians (about 41 million people) have opted to live in the northern half of the country, leaving a relatively scant 6 million people to inhabit the entire south.

So why don't more Argentinians live in the southern half of the country? And why does Argentina continue to claim the Falkland Islands as their own?

Editing by Kat Olsen

[MartinReiter]

When I rented a car in southern Patagonia, about the only advice the owner gave me was to NOT LET GO OF THE DOOR when it was open, so that the wind would not tear it off. Good advice.

[joseluisdrimal]

Despite being an American channel, you told what happened with Operation Condor, managed by the CIA. Congratulations for your seriousness, professionalism and neutrality! Hugs from argentina

[BMWEHQ]

Same reason people don’t live in northern Canada….

[FXwashere]

Going down south, according to me: Sandy beaches, palm trees, and beautiful weather.
Going down south, according to Northern Argentines: *Patagonia*

[mattmackewich]

South Argentina is just Argentina's Canada.

[sanexpreso]

Southern Argentina has the strongest winds in the world outside of Antarctica, for those living in the Midwest or in the Rocky Mountains of the USA it's the same but on steroids

[isaiasrodriguez]

What a fantastic and insightful look at Argentina. It’s such a fascinating country. Buenos Aires is such a thrill. I truly hope that it can recuperate economically.

[TheAURELIANITO]

As an Argentinian, I don't consider Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area as part of the North and, in your map, it is just in the limit between North and South. If you ignore the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, the rest of Argentina is mostly empty with pockets of population that rarely exceed a million people. So while the facts stated in this video are correct, they are clearly misleading.

[timelessdays]

Just to note, Mar del Plata is a coastal town in the southeastern part of Buenos Aires.

[renatoe]

Kinda annoying that México keeps being referenced as the center of spanish control when Lima was the center for South América and directly administered argentina til the 1770's (aprox)

[taotaoliu]

Southern Argentina is almost but not quite Antarctica.

[michaelzeballos]

It's very simple. Most of the southern región is Patagonia, very windy most of the year, very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Not an easy climate to adapt yourself to. No centralization, long distances between cities and towns.

[Yormsane]

Thank you for mentioning the effects of Operation Condor. Strange how other history & geography channels turn a blind eye to one of Henry Kissinger's nastiest pet projects.

[WizardToby]

Southern Argentina (aka Patagonia) is basically antarctica. Cold snowy tundra down there and lots of penguins.

[zddxddyddw]

You incluced Mendoza in your map of Patagonia but that is wrong, Mendoza is parto of another geographic region called Cuyo. Also, you placed Mar del Plata inland when it is a coastal city.

Other than that, great video and greetings from Buenos Aires!

[juanpedronardin]

Hi, an Argentine here and fan of this channel. Great video, I liked it, but I have some notes to amplify the information:

-Patagonia is very underpopulated not only because its weather (the main reason of course), but also because it was incorporated later to the country unlike the north. They took part of the country since the 1880 decade (this isn't the case of Malvinas Islands tho). However in the last couple of decades, the patagonian provinces have been the ones that have grown the most in porcentual terms. Tierra del Fuego has particularly grown in a 50% between 2010 and 2022 census. They are still the most underpopulated ones of course, but they are going in a good way.

-The contrast in population goes mainly between the full pampean region (Provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Entre Rios, and the City of Buenos Aires) with 30 million of people (almost 66% of the country's population) and the rest of the country with 16 million. La Rioja and Catamarca are also very underpopulated provincies (300k and 400k people respectively) like the Patagonia, but this two are located in the north west of the country.

-Mar del Plata is located in the coast, in the extreme south east of Buenos Aires Province.

-I think you exposed well in a respectful and correct way both official positions related with Malvinas Islands (generaly north americans and europeans are limited to show or explain only the British position) which is fine. I just would like to add in the world map, that all Latin American countries supports the Argentinian position in the claim.

Nonetheless I would like to recognize in the good sense the fact that you mentioned Operation Condor, an atrocious historical event that generally is omitted by people from North America or Europe. I have great respect for you for that.

[Tupavada]

Te aporto dos datos: En Argentina somos 46.23 millones de habitantes. Y las Malvinas son Argentinas simplemente por qué son parte de nuestra plataforma continental. (Si les cabe alguna duda, vayan a chequear los últimos mapas de la plataforma submarina de Argentina (consensuados mundialmente) y no les quedarán dudas. Buen video, un saludo desde Buenos Aires 🇦🇷💪🏻

[ElGranAguila]

I would love to go to Patagonia someday.

[Jairoxd]

Errata: Argentinian patagonia never was inhabitated by mapuches, they were live from the chilean patagonia in the other side of Andes mountains, who lived in argentinian patagonia was the tehuelches

[nickd]

Ok, the answer for almost all these videos is the same: IT’S TOO COLD!

But in this case it’s something different. It’s because it’s too Chile down there.