''La Argentina'' is a 1602 poem written by

Martín del Barco Centenera Martín del Barco Centenera (1535 – c. 1602) was a Spanish cleric, explorer and author. A street in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is named after him. Life Born 1535 at Logrosán, in the Diocese of Plasencia in Extremadura region (Spain); ...

. The full name is ''Argentina y conquista del Río de la Plata, con otros acaecimientos de los reinos del Perú, Tucumán y estado del Brasil'' ( es, Argentina and conquest of the Río de la Plata, with other events from the kingdoms of Peru, Tucuman and the state of Brazil).

was a priest who arrived to the

Río de la Plata Basin The Río de la Plata basin ( es, Cuenca del Plata, pt, Bacia do Prata), more often called the River Plate basin in scholarly writings, sometimes called the Platine basin or Platine region, is the hydrographical area in South America that drain ...

along with the '' adelantado'' Juan Ortiz de Zárate. He wandered through the region for twenty-four years, narrating a poem with his experiences. The poem mixes both real events and imaginative tales, such as human-shaped fishes. The work, with more than ten thousand verses divided in twenty-four canticles, was published in Lisbon in 1602. The poem is known for being one of the earliest usages of the name of Argentina.

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Argentina Argentine books 1602 books Epic poems in Spanish Argentine poems 1602 poems