Provinces of Argentina

From Freepedia

Argentina is subdivided in 23 provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular - provincia) and 1 federal district (capital federal). These provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system.

Provinces are then divided into departments (Spanish: departamentos, singular - departamento) except for the Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos.

Contents

Geography

Main article: Geography of Argentina

The country is usually divided in 6 different regions as seen in the adjacent table, though some separate the Pampas in Pampas' plains and Pampas' sierras.

* Claim in suspension by Antarctic Treaty

Even though there are provinces that belong to more than one region, they are shown here within the most representative region. In the Tucumán province, the smallest of Argentina, coexist 3 regions: the Pampas to the south, Gran Chaco to the northeast, and Argentine Northwest.


Provinces' geographical situation

Image:Argentina provinces.png
  1. Ciudad autónoma de Buenos Aires *
  2. Buenos Aires
  3. Catamarca
  4. Chaco
  5. Chubut
  6. Córdoba
  7. Corrientes
  8. Entre Ríos
  9. Formosa
  10. Jujuy
  11. La Pampa
  12. La Rioja
  13. Mendoza
  14. Misiones
  15. Neuquén
  16. Río Negro
  17. Salta
  18. San Juan
  19. San Luis
  20. Santa Cruz
  21. Santa Fe
  22. Santiago del Estero
  23. Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and South Atlantic Islands
  24. Tucumán
note: * federal district

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Argentina

Table of provinces with Population, Area and Density, and the associated rankings (rnk) among the 23 provinces and the federal district of Buenos Aires city.

Province/District Capital Population (2001) rnk Area (km²) rnk Density (p/km²) rnk
Buenos Aires - 2,776,138 4 203 24 13,675.6 1
Buenos Aires Province La Plata 13,827,203 1 307,571 1 44.95 3
Catamarca Province San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca 334,568 20 102,602 11 3.26 19
Chaco Province Resistencia 984,446 9 99,633 12 9.9 11
Chubut Province Rawson 413,237 18 224,686 3 1.84 23
Córdoba Province Córdoba 3,066,801 2 165,321 5 18.6 6
Corrientes Province Corrientes 930,991 11 88,199 16 10.6 10
Entre Ríos Province Paraná 1,158,147 7 78,781 17 14.7 7
Formosa Province Formosa 486,559 16 72,066 19 6.75 14
Jujuy Province San Salvador de Jujuy 611,888 14 53,219 20 11.5 8
La Pampa Province Santa Rosa 299,294 21 143,440 8 2.0 22
La Rioja Province La Rioja 289,983 22 89,680 14 3.23 20
Mendoza Province Mendoza 1,579,651 5 148,827 7 10.61 9
Misiones Province Posadas 965,522 10 29,801 21 32.4 4
Neuquén Province Neuquén 474.155 17 94,078 13 5.0 16
Río Negro Province Viedma 552,822 15 203,013 4 2.72 21
Salta Province Salta 1,079,051 8 155,488 6 6.94 12
San Juan Province San Juan 620,023 13 89,651 15 6.92 13
San Luis Province San Luis 367,933 19 76,748 18 4.8 17
Santa Cruz Province Río Gallegos 196,958 23 243,943 2 0.81 24
Santa Fe Province Santa Fe 3,000,701 3 133,007 10 22.56 5
Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero 804,457 12 136,351 9 5.9 15
Tierra del Fuego Province Ushuaia 101,079 24 21,2631 23 4.751 18
Tucumán Province San Miguel de Tucumán 1,338,523 6 22,524 22 59.42 2
note 1:without claims on Falkland/Malvinas Islands or Argentine Antarctica.

Politics

The internal products of the provinces are merge into the national product, and then the national budget is decided, including what percentage of it is given to each province. Provinces are free to choose their own utilisation of the assigned percentage of the national product.

Each province has also its own government, with a governor, a senate and a deputy chamber. It is not uncommon though, for the national government to intervene a province under internal instability or after a corruption scandal, designating an intervenor to replace the local government until the situation normalised.

Many provinces have had, or still have, governments controlled by a single family. This is the case of the Rodriguez Saá[1] in San Luis Province, the Saadi[2] in Catamarca Province, and many others, often involved in corruption or criminal scandals that are never solved, such as the murder of María Soledad Case in Catamarca.

History

Main article: History of Argentina

The north of Argentina was the first part of the present country to be explored by the Spanish colonisation, searching for the routes that would allow them to bring the gold and silver extracted in the Viceroyalty of Peru to the port of Buenos Aires.

Santiago del Estero, in the year 1553, was the first city founded in the territory with such ends, but lost its importance when Tucumán and Salta replaced it as mid-stops to the Atlantic coast when these two cities secured from the aboriginal attacks, and economically strengthened.

The centre of the country was also soon explored and inhabited, being the most important of the first founded cities the city of Córdoba, that became not only a political but also cultural centre with the creation of the first university, the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in 1622.

Most capital cities of the centre-northern Argentina were founded before the year 1600, except for Santa Rosa in La Pampa Province, and Resistencia in Chaco Province.

To the south of the Colorado River, the Patagonia reminded under control of the aboriginals. The river itself served as natural frontier.

It was not until the infamous Roca's Conquest of the Desert, started in 1879, when the southern part of Argentina was conquered in what meant the near annihilation of the aboriginal people living in these lands.

The current political division of the provinces of Patagonia was set in 1884 and has not been changed since then, except between 1944 and 1955 when a stripe covering the southern part of Chubut Province and the northern part of Santa Cruz Province was named Comodoro Rivadavia Military Zone.

But the National Territories didn't have provincial status until the 20th century. They where named provinces in 1957, except for Tierra del Fuego Province named in 1990.

Due to the late conquest of the south of the country and the cold weather that reigns in it, most people live in the central or northern provinces, but recent immigration to the south, mainly from Buenos Aires Province and Buenos Aires city, is demising this difference.

See also

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Provinces_of_Argentina.html"


Views
Personal tools
In other languages
Similar Links