Argentina
is subdivided into twenty-three provinces ( , 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 ( , singular
departamento), except for Buenos Aires Province
, which is divided into
partidos.
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.
Provinces
Demographics
Politics
See also List of
Governors in Argentina
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.
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
.
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
of 1983.
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.
See also
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