Argentina (officially the Argentine Republic, República Argentina) is the second largest country of South America and has a population approaching 50 million. Located on the southern east coast of the continent, Argentina has a lengthy coastline on the South Atlantic Ocean, extending from the warm waters of the Río de la Plata to the edge of the cold Southern Ocean. Colonized by Spain in the mid 1500s, Argentina secured its independence and territorial integrity in series of uprisings between 1810 and 18i6. Several decades of controversy and conflict established the organization of the country and its borders with its neighbors to the north. Between 1878 and 1884 Argentina expanded its control southward, occupying the region of Patagonia east of the Andes Mountains. The nation is a federation of 23 provinces (provincias) plus the autonomous capital city of Buenos Aires. This page includes lighthouses of central Argentina, all in Buenos Aires Province or Buenos Aires City except for one in Entre Ríos Province. Buenos Aires Province is divided into 135 county units called partidos. The coast in Buenos Aires Province is mostly low and sandy with dangerous shoals offshore. This coast required construction of very tall lighthouses including several that rank with the tallest in the world. The Spanish word for a lighthouse is faro; smaller lighthouses are often called balizas (beacons). In Spanish isla is an island, cabo is a cape, punta is a promontory or point of land, péñon is a rock, arrecife is a reef, bahía is a bay, ría is an estuary or inlet, estrecho is a strait, río is a river, and puerto is a port or harbor. Active lighthouses in Argentina are owned by the Argentine Navy and managed by the Navy's Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume G of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 110. The official Argentine light list, Faros y Señales Marítimas, is not available online.
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Entre Ríos Province (Río Uruguay) Lighthouse
Buenos Aires Province and City Lighthouses
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![]() Martín García Light, La Plata, February 2012 Google Maps photo by Andres Aenbici |
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![]() Torre Toma #3, Buenos Aires Google Maps photo by Agus Ortiz |
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![]() Punta Atalaya Light, Atalaya, August 2009 Flickr photo copyright Carlos Maria Silvano; used by permission |
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![]() Punta Piedras Light, Punta Piedras, July 2020 frame from a Facebook video by Musica y cultura del Rio de la plata |
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Information available on lost lighthouses: Notable faux lighthouses:
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![]() Segunda Barrance Light, Villa Gesell, June 2024 Instagraam photo by Escuela Nautica Barrakuda |
Adjoining pages: North: Uruguay | South: Río Negro and Chubut | Northwest: Paraguay
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Posted 2003. Checked and revised August 26, 2024. Lighthouses: 45, lightships: 1. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.