Argentina" ("Land of Silver", "Silvery Land"). In 1776 the "Virreinato del Río de la Plata" (Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) was created, named after the river; it included present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul. Independence of Argentina The Spanish viceroy was ousted during the May Revolution, starting the Argentine War of Independence. The new government removed the "Viceroyalty" word from the name, renaming the territory the "Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata" (United Provinces of the Río de la Plata). This denomination was ratified years later by the Assembly of Year XIII. The Congress of Tucumán, seeking a higher Argentine integration, used instead the name "Provincias Unidas de Sud América" (United Provinces of South America). The name "Argentina" was mainly used among the high society, and in limited cases. The use became popular with the sanction of the second Argentine National Anthem, written by Vicente López y Planes. However, it was not widely used because it was not associated to the whole territory, but just to the Buenos Aires province. The Constitution of 1826 was sanctioned as the Constitución de la República Argentina. The other provinces rejected its high centralism, and the president Bernardino Rivadavia was deposed shortly after. During the second government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, Confederación Argentina (Argentine Confederation) was the main name used for the young country, but others were also used, including República de la Confederación Argentina (Republic of the Argentine Confederation) and Federación Argentina (Argentine Federation). Justo José de Urquiza deposed Rosas in the battle of Caseros and called for a Constituent Assembly that would write the Constitution of Argentina of 1853. Buenos Aires did not accept it, and seceded from the Confederation as the State of Buenos Aires. For a decade, Buenos Aires and the Confederation existed as distinct administrative divisions. Buenos Aires rejoined the Confederation in 1860, after an amendment to the 1853 Constitution. The name was changed to Nación Argentina, though including a paragraph with the historical names as "equivalent and valid" denominations. Then on October 8, 1860, President Santiago Derqui decreed the official name to be República Argentina. In common speech, the country is referred to as "la Argentina" (the Argentine) in Spanish, bypassing the noun in any of the above expressions ("the Argentine [land]", "the Argentine [Republic]", etc.). See also List of meanings of countries' names References External links What's our name?