Córdoba Province (Argentina)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Provincia de Córdoba Córdoba Province
Map	Coat of arms
	[[Coat of arms of Córdoba Province|Details]]
	Flag
	([[Flag of Córdoba Province|Details]])
Capital	Córdoba (official) Río Cuarto (alternative)
Area
- Total	165,321 km²
- Divisions	26 departments
Population
- Total	3,066,801 inhabitants(2001)
- Density	18.6 inhabitants/km²
- Illiteracy	3.3%
Demonym	cordobés/esa
Time zone	GMT-3
Governor	José Manuel De la Sota
Web site	cba.gov.ar

Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Its capital, Córdoba, is the second largest city in the country.

Neighboring provinces are (clockwise from the north): Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca.

Contents 1 History 2 Economy 3 Government 4 Political division 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Before the Spanish conquest a few different tribes lived in the region now called Córdoba Province, most notably the Comechingones and Sanavirones.

Once settled in Alto Perú, the Spaniards searched for a route to the Río de la Plata port in the Atlantic Ocean to transport the Peruvian gold and silver to Europe.

Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía (nowadays Córdoba) was founded as a middle point on that route on July 6, 1573 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera. The Colegio Convictorio de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat, founded by the Jesuits in 1599, became the National University of Córdoba in 1622, being the first one in Argentina. The city continued growing as an important cultural center supported by the traffic of precious metals from Perú. In 1761 a printing press was installed in the University.

In 1783, seven years after the consolidation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the Intendency of Córdoba became the capital of what now includes the La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis Province, dividing the former Tucumán Intendency in two. Rafael de Sobremonte was its first governor, when Córdoba City had 38,800 inhabitants.

After the May Revolution in 1810, governor Gutiérrez de la Concha joined a meeting that decided to ignore the authority of the Buenos Aires Junta. Ortiz de Ocampo attacked the city and executed the leaders of the opposition, among whom was Santiago de Liniers, leader of the resistance during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.

Under the hand of Juan Bautista Bustos, and especially after 1820, Córdoba and Buenos Aires started a struggle for the organization of the Nation that had, by that time, neither legislative nor executive branches. Córdoba pleaded for a federal organization of the provinces while Rivadavia pretended a centralised government in Buenos Aires. For 15 years the province was submerged in internal revolts that started to stabilize in 1868 under the provisional government of Félix de la Peña.

During the presidency of Sarmiento an astronomic observatory (1871) and the Faculty of Physic Sciences and Mathematics (1873) were inaugurated.

Córdoba had a second population growth due to the immigration attracted by the arrival of the railways. From 1887 on, several agricultural colonies (San Francisco, Marcos Juárez, etc) emerged, while former rest-point Fraile Muerto (Bell Ville), Ferreira (Villa María) and Los Luceros (Río Segundo), on the route to Buenos Aires, became agricultural, commercial and industrial centers respectively.

The University Reform movement, which originated in Córdoba in 1918, not only influenced the rest of the country but the rest of South America. Modernization of the curricular contents and the improvement of the students' rights were the main achievements of the movement.

After World War II, many foreign workers and workers from other provinces in Argentina were seduced by Córdoba's industrial development, which grew thanks to the expansion of the car industry and its deviates. During Arturo Frondizi's presidency (1958–1962), most car industry installations where settled in Córdoba City and its surroundings.

As in the rest of the country, Peronist groups emerged in 1955 after the coup that took Juan Perón out of office. These Peronist groups, together with other socialist and anarchist groups, started opposing the many military governments of the 1960. Worker and student participation of politics grew due to the popular discontent, resulting in the popular revolt known as the Cordobazo. This revolt, mirrored by the Rosariazo and others in several parts of the country, undermined the power of dictator Onganía and ultimately caused him to be driven out of office by other military factions.

[edit] Economy

Agriculture and livestock provide 25% of the province's income. The agriculture is centered in soybeans, wheat and maize, and other cereals. Cattle and sheep enjoy the grass of Cordoba's green hills. The province provides 15% of the national cattle production. The food industry around oil, milk and cereal derivatives is also very important, the candy factory Arcor being one of the most important.

The installation of the Fábrica Militar de Aviones in 1927, and other state-owned industries placed Córdoba among the most important industrial points in Argentina. In the second half of the 20th century, the industry centered on manufacturing cars and agricultural machinery. Industry represents 20% of the province's income, and the energy production that supports it is based mainly in 15 hydroelectric dams (2,350 millions kW/hour), and the Embalse nuclear power plant (600 MWe).

Mining includes many different minerals, and construction material such as marble and lime. Uranium is also extracted to feed the three Argentine atomic plants.

Tourism, as in the rest of Argentina, is a growing industry favored by the mild weather, a number of small rivers, and low height green hills. Around 3 million tourists from the rest of Argentina and other countries visit Córdoba every year. The province has 500,000 beds within hotels, hostels, farms for tourists and other types of accommodation. Important festivities include the Cosquín National Folk Music, and Jesús María Folk and Taming Festivals.

Córdoba is connected by rail with Buenos Aires, Rosario, Mendoza and Tucumán. The Ingeniero Ambrosio L.V. Taravella International Airport, known as Pajas Blancas, handles international air traffic, while the Las Higueras Río Cuarto Airport handles domestic flights.

[edit] Government

Córdoba has a unicameral legislature elected by universal suffrage. Until December 2001, the legislature was bicameral (a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate), but following the 2001 constitutional reform, this division was abolished. The unified legislature is made up of 70 members: 26 elected to represent each of the provincial departments, and 44 elected by the people of the province as a whole and assigned by a proportional system. ^[1]

The head of government is the governor, accompanied by a vice-governor who presides the legislature and may fill the governor's place in certain cases. Like the legislators, the governor and vice-governor are elected for a four-year term, and can be re-elected for one consecutive term.

Córdoba has long been a bastion of the left-center Radical Civic Union, but since 1999 the governor is the Justicialist José Manuel de la Sota.

[edit] Political division

The province is divided in 26 departments (Spanish: departamentos) here listed with their head towns.

Department	Head town
Calamuchita	San Agustín
Capital	Córdoba
Colón	Jesús María
Cruz del Eje	Cruz del Eje
General Roca	Villa Huidobro
General San Martín	Villa María
Ischilín	Deán Funes
Juárez Celman	La Carlota
Marcos Juárez	Marcos Juárez
Minas	San Carlos
Pocho	Salsacate
Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña	Laboulaye
Punilla	Cosquín
Río Cuarto	Río Cuarto
Río Primero	Santa Rosa de Río Primero
Río Seco	Villa de María del Río Seco
Río Segundo	Villa del Rosario
San Alberto	Villa Cura Brochero
San Javier	Villa Dolores
San Justo	San Francisco
Santa María	Alta Gracia
Sobremonte	San Francisco del Chañar
Tercero Arriba	Oliva
Totoral	Villa del Totoral
Tulumba	Villa Tulumba
Unión	Bell Ville

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Executive Power Site (Spanish)
• Official Legislative Power Site (Spanish)
• Official Judicial Power Site (Spanish)
• La Voz del Interior daily Newspaper (Spanish)
• La Mañana de Córdoba daily Newspaper (Spanish)
• El Diario del Sur de Córdoba daily Newspaper edited in Villa María (Spanish)