From lost territory tango to gained territory rock.

Territorial formation of the Argentine Republic (1810-1917)

Abstract

Carlos Escudé analyzes the origins of “Argentine territorial irredentism” that, through the teaching of history and geography, maintains that the Argentine Republic lost territories, taking as an initial myth the territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This article, based on the analytical framework, mainly from Oscar Oszlak, argues that on May 25, 1810, there was a rupture of the pre-existing political order and that the new political unit that was formed could have culminated in different territorial configurations.

For this reason, it will be argued that the current Argentine territory is the result of the wars in which said country intervened between 1810 and 1917 against neighboring countries that were going through the same process and against native peoples, and of the external recognition of the current border limits. In this sense, the article reflects, after some analytical considerations, through a set of maps how the current territory of the Argentine Republic was formed, showing that there were no territorial losses and that, on the contrary, it increased from the May Revolution.