provinces of Argentina
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Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one federal district (Capital de la República or Capital de la Nación, informally the Capital Federal). The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system.
Provinces are then divided into departments (Spanish: departamentos, singular departamento), except for
Regions
The country is also divided into six or seven regions (seven when The Pampas is divided into the Pampas' plains and Pampas' sierras):
| Region | Provinces included |
|---|---|
| Argentine Northwest | Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja |
| Gran Chaco | Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero |
| Mesopotamia | Misiones, Entre Ríos, Corrientes |
| Cuyo | San Juan, Mendoza, San Luis |
| The Pampas | Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Pampa, |
| Patagonia | Rio Negro, Neuquén, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego |
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 three regions: the Pampas to the south, Gran Chaco to the northeast, and Argentine Northwest.
Provinces
a Federal district. Also known as |
  |
Demographics
a San Fernando del Valle de
Catamarca.
b Not including claims on the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) or
Argentine Antarctica.
Politics
<imagemap> Image:Argentina - Político 2.png|thumb|right|400px|Argentine provinces and territorial claims
poly 157 837 163 895 241 890 158 835 Tierra del Fuego poly 89 663 67 748 62 780 78 799 90
790 99 793 92 799 92 811 105 824 132 822 144 822 154 826 162 824 147 777 164 764 169 739 197 708 199 691 165 660 Santa Cruz poly 65 565 75 636 90 663 161 659 206 615 223 576 236 562 233 552 205 550 75
556 Chubut poly 76 557 71 538 139 478 139 435 148 441 147 446 156 450 158 446 176 465
204 466 241 476 240 515 252 523 240 530 210 517 204 523 208 547 Rio Negro poly 71 536
76 475 88 465 73 443 78 412 87 398 109 431 116 424 138 434 138 477 Neuquen poly 136 430
143 432 156 445 181 467 207 463 242 475 242 365 202 365 202 391 136 392 La Pampa poly
254 523 240 515 243 348 277 348 301 324 309 325 349 340 346 352 375 375 370 394 383 405 360 453 310 469 274 472 260 460 263 514
desc bottom-left </imagemap> The internal products of the provinces are merged 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 utilization 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 in a province under internal instability or after a corruption scandal, designating an intervenor to replace the local government until the situation is normalized.
Many provinces have had, or still have, governments controlled by a single family. This is the case of the Rodríguez Saá in San Luis Province,[1] the Saadi family in Catamarca Province,[2] and many others, often involved in corruption or criminal scandals that are never solved, such as the murder of María Soledad Morales in Catamarca while Ramón Saadi was its governor.[3]
History
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
Santiago del Estero, in the year 1550, 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 remained 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 were named provinces in 1957. The exception is Tierra del Fuego Province, which was named in 1990.
Due to the late conquest of the south of the country and the prevailing cold weather, most people live in the central or
northern provinces. Recent immigration to the south, mainly from
See also
- ISO 3166-2:AR, the ISO codes for the provinces of Argentina.
- List of Argentine Provinces by Human Development Index
- List of Argentine provinces by GDP (nominal)
- List of Argentine provinces by GDP (nominal) per capita
External links
- Argentine provinces
- (Spanish) Information of Argentine provinces
- (Spanish) Provincias Argentinas
- (Spanish) Division
- Provinces' Flags and Governors since 1983
| First-level administrative divisions of South America |
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