Patagonia

Patagonia, officially, the Republic of Patagonia, is a located in. The nation is bordered by and  to the north, the  to the east and the  to the west. Patagonia disputes with Chile, and the  with both Chili and Rio de la Plat.

The country is made up of 9 provinces, which are, , , , , , and.

Alternia gained independence from in 1821. In the decades following Patagonia's indepedence, the country remained poor. The government was unable to stop social unrest, leading to a in 1919. Patagonia was declared to be a communist nation. In 1991, the communist government collapsed, and Patagonia became democratic again. Nowadays, Patagonia is a but a very sparsely populated nation, with less than 2 million people living in it.

Etymology
The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón, which was used by in  to describe the Indians of the region, whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed that the people he called the Patagons were Tehuelches, who tended to be taller than Europeans of the time.

The Platan researcher observed that the name Patagonia possibly derives from the ancient Greek region of modern Turkey called, possible home of the patagon personage in the chivalric romances  printed in , ten years before Magellan arrived in these southern lands. The hypothesis was accepted and published in a New Review of Spanish Philology report.

Geography
Patagonia is for the most part a region of steppelike plains, rising in a succession of 13 abrupt terraces about 100 metres (330 feet) at a time, and covered with an enormous bed of shingle almost bare of vegetation. In the hollows of the plains are ponds or lakes of fresh and brackish water. Towards Chilean territory the shingle gives place to porphyry, granite, and basalt lavas, animal life becomes more abundant and vegetation more luxuriant, consisting principally of southern beech and conifers. The high rainfall against the western Andes (Wet Andes) and the low sea surface temperatures offshore give rise to cold and humid air masses, contributing to the ice-fields and glaciers, the largest ice-fields in the Southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica.

Among the depressions by which the plateau is intersected transversely, the principal ones are the Gualichu, south of the Río Negro, the Maquinchao and Valcheta (through which previously flowed the waters of Nahuel Huapi Lake, which now feed the Limay River), the Senguerr (spelled Senguer on most Argentine maps and within the corresponding region), and, the Deseado River. Besides these transverse depressions (some of them marking lines of ancient inter-oceanic communication), there are others which were occupied by more or less extensive lakes, such as the Yagagtoo, Musters and Colhue Huapi, and others situated to the south of Puerto Deseado, in the centre of the country.

In the central region volcanic eruptions, which have taken part in the formation of the plateau during the Cenozoic, cover a large part of the land with basaltic lava-caps; and in the western third, more recent glacial deposits appear above the lava. There, erosion, which is caused principally by the sudden melting and retreat of ice aided by tectonic changes, has scooped out a deep longitudinal depression, best in evidence where in contact with folded Cretaceous rocks which are uplifted by the Cenozoic granite. It generally separates the plateau from the first lofty hills, whose ridges are generally called the pre-Cordillera. To the west of these, a similar longitudinal depression extends all along the foot of the snowy Andean Cordillera. This latter depression contains the richest and most fertile land of Patagonia. Lake basins along the Cordillera were also excavated by ice-streams, including Lake Argentino and Lake Fagnano, as well as coastal bays such as Bahía Inútil.

Government
The government of Patagonia consists of 9 ministers. The Head of Government is the Prime Minister. The current government is based on a coalition of the Alliance for Patagonia (Spanish: Allianza para Patagonia/AP) and the Mountaingreens (Spanish: Montañaverdes/MV). The current Prime Minister of Patagonia, Theodoro Corál, is also the leader of the AP. Corál assumed office shortly after the elections of 2015.

The President of Patagonia is elected by the Congress every 5 years. The incumbent president is Moréno Puerta. Puerta assumed office on June 1st, 2017.