Provinces of Argentina

Provinces of Argentina
Provinces of Argentina
Category	Federated province
Location	Argentina
Number	23
Government	Province government;

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one autonomous city (Ciudad autónoma de Buenos Aires, informally the Capital Federal). The city 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 Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos.

First-level Political divisions of Argentina

Provinces of Argentina and Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires^a
Buenos Aires Province
Catamarca
Chaco
Chubut
Córdoba
Corrientes
Entre Ríos
Formosa
Jujuy
La Pampa
La Rioja
Mendoza
Misiones
Neuquén
Río Negro^b
Salta
San Juan
San Luis
Santa Cruz
Santa Fe
Santiago del Estero
Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur^c
Tucumán

^a Not a Province. Autonomous City and seat of National Government.
(Also known as Buenos Aires City).
^b or Provincia del Río Negro.
^c Tierra del Fuego Province includes claims over Argentine Antarctica, Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.

Demographics

Province/District	Capital	Official Language	Population (2010)^[1]	Rank	Area (km²)	Rank	Density (/km²)^[1]	Rank
Buenos Aires City	--		2,891,082	4	203	24	14,241.8	1
Buenos Aires Province	La Plata		15,594,428	1	307,571	1	50.7	3
Catamarca Province	S.F.V. de Catamarca^a		367,820	20	102,602	11	3.6	20
Chaco Province	Resistencia		1,053,466	10	99,633	12	10.6	11
Chubut Province	Rawson		506,668	18	224,686	3	2.3	22
Córdoba Province	Córdoba		3,304,825	2	165,321	5	20.0	6
Corrientes Province	Corrientes	Spanish, Guaraní	993,338	11	88,199	16	11.3	10
Entre Ríos Province	Paraná		1,236,300	7	78,781	17	15.7	7
Formosa Province	Formosa		527,895	17	72,066	19	7.3	14
Jujuy Province	San Salvador de Jujuy		672,260	14	53,219	20	12.6	8
La Pampa Province	Santa Rosa		316,940	22	143,440	8	2.2	23
La Rioja Province	La Rioja		331,847	21	89,680	14	3.7	19
Mendoza Province	Mendoza		1,741,610	5	148,827	7	11.7	9
Misiones Province	Posadas		1,097,829	9	29,801	21	36.8	4
Neuquén Province	Neuquén		550,334	16	94,078	13	5.8	17
Río Negro Province	Viedma		633,374	15	203,013	4	3.1	21
Salta Province	Salta		1,215,207	8	155,488	6	7.8	12
San Juan Province	San Juan		680,427	13	89,651	15	7.6	13
San Luis Province	San Luis		431,588	19	76,748	18	5.6	18
Santa Cruz Province	Río Gallegos		272,524	23	243,943	2	1.1	24
Santa Fe Province	Santa Fe		3,200,736	3	133,007	10	24.1	5
Santiago del Estero Province	Santiago del Estero		896,461	12	136,351	9	6.6	15
Tierra del Fuego Province	Ushuaia		126,190	24	21,263^b	23	5.8^b	16
Tucumán Province	San Miguel de Tucumán		1,448,200	6	22,524	22	64.3	2

^a San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca.
^b Not including claims to the Falkland Islands and the Argentine Antarctica.

Politics

Each province has also its own government, with a provincial constitution, a set of provincial laws and justice system, a supreme court, a governor, an autonomous police force (independent of the Federal Police), and a congress: in eight provinces the parliament is constituted by an upper chamber (senate) and a lower chamber (deputies), while in the remaining fifteen provinces and in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires the congress has just one chamber.^[2]

On occasion the national government intervenes in a province under internal instability or after a corruption scandal, designating an intervenor to replace the local government until the situation is normalized: since the return of democracy to the country in 1983, four provinces were intervened, namely Catamarca, Corrientes (twice), Santiago del Estero (twice) and Tucumán.^[3]

During the 20th century, some provinces have had governments traditionally controlled by a single family (i.e. the Saadi family in Catamarca, or the Sapag family in Neuquén); in one case, it is still the situation as of 2009: the Province of San Luis was ruled almost without a break by the Rodríguez Saá family since December 1983.^[4]

The internal products of the provinces are merged into the national product when the national budget is decided. The share of the budget given to each province is decided based on each province's individual contribution to the national budget. Provinces are free to choose their own utilization of their assigned percentages of the national product.

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 Buenos Aires.

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 Buenos Aires Province and Buenos Aires city, is lessening this difference.

Geographical 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, Buenos Aires
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.

External links

References

^ ^a ^b 2010 Census provisional results
^ Legislaturas distritales en Argentina (in Spanish)
^ Intervenciones en la historia (in Spanish)
^ Gobernadores provinciales de la República 1983-2009 (in Spanish)

[censo2010-1] 2010 Census provisional results

[2] Legislaturas distritales en Argentina (in Spanish)

[3] Intervenciones en la historia (in Spanish)

[4] Gobernadores provinciales de la República 1983-2009 (in Spanish)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Provinces of Argentina
Provinces	Buenos Aires Catamarca Chaco Chubut Córdoba Corrientes Entre Ríos Formosa Jujuy La Pampa La Rioja Mendoza Misiones Neuquén Río Negro Salta San Juan San Luis Santa Cruz Santa Fe Santiago del Estero Tierra del Fuego Tucumán
Autonomous city	Buenos Aires City