THIS LARGE LATIN American country occupies the southeastern part of South America, covering 1,073,514 sq. mi. (2,766,890 sq. km.), with a population of 40,301,927 (2007 est.), of whom some 12 million live in Buenos Aires, the capital, giving the country a population density of 36 people per sq. mi. (13.7 people per sq. km.), although this varies from 14,651 people per sq. km. in Buenos Aires, to 1.4 people per sq. km. in Patagonia. Nine percent of the land is arable, and 52 percent is used as meadow and pasture, especially for cattle. Argentina has the highest per capita number of cattle, at 50,869 cattle per 1,000 people. The heavy reliance on the cattle industry has led to the desertification of some parts of the ...