The name "Argentina" means 'silver,' (in Spanish I suppose??) However, silver is not the only colour to be found within the borders of this varied country. Argentina is a very long country, it stretches from the sub-tropical north, with vast green rainforests, down to the sub-antarctic south, with whitey blue icey bits. On the edge is the blue/grey/green coast of the South Atlantic. In the middle of all this, you find the Andes mountain ranges, often snow-capped (that white colour again;) and the "Pampas." This name comes from a Guarani Indian word meaning "Level Land" which more or less sums that up. More than two thirds of the population lives on the Pampas plains. Actually, the nation's capital, Buenos Aires, and a few of the other large cities are located here. By the way, the Pampas is probably a grass green colour, because other than the cities, that's about all there is, grass, and the occasional herd of cows.
Cows! Well that brings me to the next topic! Argentina has a colourful array of wildlife. They have flamingos (can you get pinker that that?) herons, parrots of different types, black-necked swans, albatross, the tinamou (related to the ostrich) and the condor. Also some unusual animals such as the armadillo, opossum, coatimundi (whatever thay may be?) Giant anteaters, a variety of monkeys and a variety of large cats. They have a bizarre animal called the "guanaco" which is related to the camel, except smaller and has no hump. Has anyone out there ever seen one of these? Wouldn't a small camel with no hump just look like a goat? Anyway, it is a common ancestor to the alpaca, llama, and vicuna. Both the vicuna and alpaca contribute hides and wool to the economy. As is found all around South America, the capybara, the world's largest rodent, resides in Argentina. Imagine a guinea pig the size of a small pig. You wouldn't like to find that in your pantry would you?
Now we move from coloured animals, to the colour of the 32 million inhabitants. As you probably know, the national language of Argentina is Spanish. It is a different form of Spanish to Spain, and the rest of South America, but it's Spanish nonetheless. Naturally you would think most of the "whites" (approx 85% of the population) would have Spanish ancestry. A lot do, yes, about 3 out of 10 people do. Surprisingly though, 4 out of 10 people can trace their ancestry back to Italy! This would explain the Italian influence in the spoken language around Buenos Aires, where most of the Italians have settled. Other white groups include the British, Irish, Welsh, Austrian, Dutch, French, German, Jewish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swiss, Japanese, and people of Syrian descent. Also there are those from the rest of South America, and there have been many immigrants from the South-East Asian countries. Most of these nationalities still hold some of their own customs and speak their native language; they have also made an impact on the spoken Spanish. Another minority group is the "Mestizo," they are people of mixed European and Indian ancestry.
There are approx 50,000 full blooded Argentinian Indians. Mostly they live in isolated areas. Each community has their own customs, style of dress etc. Between them they speak Guarani, Quechua, Aymara, Chiriguano, Choroti, Mataco, Mocovi, Toba, Lule, Ranquel, Moleche, Tehuelche, Ona and some others. Most of these, however, are disappearing.
Catholicism is the national religion, and about 90% of the population regard themselves as Catholic. About 2% of the population are Protestants, slightly less than 2% are Jewish, about 1.3% are Muslims, spiritualists, atheists, and sect members. Naturally there are many native Indian religious practices, which are often mixed with Christianity.
Info from the "Cultures of the World" series