Silver played an important role in the history of Argentina, a South American country at the bottom of the continent. The name Argentina comes from the Latin ‘argentum’, meaning silver. ‘Argentina’ therefore means the ‘land of silver’. But how did this country get its name? Let us take a look.
In the early 1500s, Spanish conquistadors had heard tales about a land ruled by a White King that was rich in silver. They set on a voyage up a river in search of this wealthy kingdom. They discovered a group of native Indians, who presented them with so many silver objects that the river was named ‘Rio de la Plata’ or Silver River. In time, the country itself was called La Plata which means ‘silver’ in Spanish. When the rule of Spain ended, the name was changed to Argentina, from the Latin word ‘argentum.’
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