[3] The most populous indigenous groups were the Aonikenk, Kolla, Qom, Wichí, Diaguita, Mocoví, Huarpes, Mapuche and Guarani.

[1] The earliest known evidence of indigenous peoples in Argentina is dated 11,000 BC[5] and was discovered in what is now known as the Piedra Museo archaeological site in Santa Cruz Province.

[6] Both are among the oldest evidence of indigenous culture in the Americas, and have, with a number of similarly ancient sites on other parts of the southern hemisphere, challenged the "Clovis First" hypothesis on the settlement of the Americas (the assumption, based on lacking evidence to the contrary, that the Clovis culture was the first in the Western Hemisphere).

Between 1820 and 1850 the original Aonikenk people were conquered and expelled from their territories by invading Mapuche (that called them Tehuelches) armies.

These changes were perhaps best summarized by the anthropological metaphor which states that “Argentines descend from ships.”[11] The strength of the immigration and its contribution to the Argentine ethnography is evident by observing that Argentina became the country in the world that received the second highest number of immigrants, with 6.6 million, second only to the United States with 27 million, and ahead of countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, etc.

[12][13] The expansion of European immigrant communities and the railways westward into the Pampas and south into Patagonia was met with Malón raids by displaced tribes.

[16] The extensive explorations, research and writing by Juan Bautista Ambrosetti and other ethnographers during the 20th century, which followed earlier pioneer studies by anthropologists such as Robert Lehmann-Nitsche,[17] encouraged wider interest in indigenous people in Argentina, and their contributions to the nation's culture were further underscored during the administration of President Juan Perón in the 1940s and 1950s as part of the rustic criollo culture and values exalted by Perón during that era.

The use of pejorative terms likening the indigenous to lazy, idle, dirty, ignorant and savage are part of the everyday language in Argentina.

Due to these incorrect stereotypes many indigenous have over the years been forced to hide their identity in order to avoid being subjected to racial discrimination.

Qom community leader Félix Díaz claimed that his people were being denied medical assistance, did not have access to drinking water, and were subject to arbitrary rises on food prices by non-indigenous businesses.

Similarly, the study also showed that the population in the North Eastern provinces of Argentina (for example, Misiones, Chaco, Corrientes, and Formosa) were on average 43% of indigenous, 54% European, and 3% of African ancestry.

[31] The population of the Southern provinces of Argentina, such as Río Negro and Neuquén, were on average 40% of indigenous, 54% European, and 6% of African ancestry.

[32] Finally, in another study published in 2005 involving the North Western provinces of the country, the genetic structure of 1293 individuals from Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca and La Rioja was analysed.

This region includes the provinces of Chubut, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego.