1879 in Argentina

Incumbents

• President: Nicolás Avellaneda
• Vice President: Mariano Acosta

Governors

• Buenos Aires Province: Carlos Tejedor
• Cordoba: Antonio Del Viso
• Mendoza Province: Elías Villanueva
• Santa Fe Province: Simón de Iriondo

Vice Governors

• Buenos Aires Province: José María Moreno

Events

• April – Conquest of the Desert: Julio Argentino Roca begins his second sweep of the land up to the Río Negro, aiming to "extinguish, subdue or expel" the Indians who inhabit the region.
• October – Roca gives up his military career to enter politics.
• 10 November – Tandanor, a worker-owned shipyard, is founded in Buenos Aires.
• date unknown
• *Argentina's first anarchist newspaper, El Descamisado, is launched.
• Aberdeen Angus cattle are first introduced to Argentina by Don Carlos Guerrero.

Arts and culture

• date unknown
• *José Hernández publishes La Vuelta de Martín Fierro, the second and final part of his epic poem.
• *Eduardo Gutiérrez writes his major novel, Juan Moreira.

Births

• 27 May – Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós, post-Impressionist painter
• 22 November – Julio Salvador Sagreras, guitarist and composer
• 6 December – Rogelio Yrurtia, Realist sculptor

Deaths

• date unknown – Juan Madariaga, general