You’re probably on the edge of your seat—read quickly. From James Hickman at schiffsovereign.com:
As the 1800s came to a close and the world propelled itself full of innovation and optimism into the 20th century, there was perhaps nowhere else on the planet more admired and envied (except for the United States) than Argentina.
In fact, just like America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was overflowing with immigrants from all over the world looking for a better way of life in that land of opportunity.
Argentina had already become a rich country at that point. And it was becoming richer so quickly that its economic growth was outpacing even that of the United States.
By 1900 Argentina’s economy was larger than the rest of Latin America combined, and roughly as large as all of Western Europe combined. It seemed like there was nowhere to go but up.
Plus the country was teeming with natural resources— everything from fresh water to some of the world’s most fertile soil, to vast oil and gas reserves. Argentina should have been unstoppable.
(This is still true today; Argentina still boasts one of the largest shale reserves in the world, having quadrupled its output over the last five years.)
You’d have to work really, really hard to screw up such wealth potential. And they did!
