Country University National University of Catamarca Area 102,602 km2 | Capital Governor Lucía CorpacciJusticialistFPV Population 396,895 (2015) | |
Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the 2001 census , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, from the north): Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja. To the west it borders Chile.
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Map of Catamarca Province
The capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, usually shortened to Catamarca. Other important cities include Andalgalá, Tinogasta, and Belén.
Geography
Most of Catamarca’s territory of 102,602 square kilometers (2.7% of the country total), is covered by mountains (80%), which can be grouped into four clearly differentiated systems: the Pampean sierras, in the east and center; the Narváez-Cerro Negro-Famatina system, in the west; the cordilleran-Catamarca area of transition, in the western extreme; the Puna, an elevated portion, in the northwest.
Located in an arid and semi-arid climate zone, the scarce water resources determine the human settlement pattern. Agricultural activities are concentrated in the pockets and valleys between the mountains. In the east the population is concentrated around a number of water courses, water being distributed by canals and irrigation ditches.
History
Before the arrival of the Spanish conquest, most of todays Catamarca was inhabited by the Diaguitas indigenous people, including the fierce Calchaquí tribe. In 1558 Juan Pérez de Zurita founded San Juan de la Ribera de Londres, but since it was constantly under attack of the indigenous people it was not very populated, it was re-founded, changed its locating, and renamed several times. For its 6th foundation, on July 5, 1683, Fernando de Mendoza Mate de Luna founded the city of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca.
When the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776, Catamarca obtained the title of Subintendencia under the Salta intendency. In 1821, the province claimed its autonomy, and Nicolás Avellaneda y Tula (grandfather of Nicolás Avellaneda) was elected as the first governor of the province.
There are two versions of the origin of the name. The Quechua version form words "cata" ("slope") and "marca" ("fortress") forming "Fortress on the slope", and the Aymara version from words "Catán" ("small") and "marca" ("town") resulting in "Small town".
Catamarca remained isolated from the rest of Argentina by its mountains until 1888, when the rapidly expanding railways first appeared in the province. Attracting immigrants with its spacious, fertile valleys and dry, agreeable weather, Catamarca was soon favored by immigrants from Lebanon and Iran, who found Catamarca reminiscent of the fertile, orchard-lined mountain valleys of the homes they left behind.
One such family, the Saadis, became prominent in local commerce and politics (much as the Syrian Menems in neighboring La Rioja). In 1949, the newly designated province elected Vicente Saadi as governor. Eventually, Saadi, a Peronist, would become indispensable to local politics (a Caudillo), exerting influence mostly by proxy. Passing away in 1988, he was succeeded by his son, Ramon. In 1990, however, close friends of the Saadis were involved in a brutal murder involving a local, 15-year-old girl. Quickly becoming a cause cèlebre, the death of Maria Soledad Morales cost Gov. Saadi much of his popularity and, in 1991, his office, when Catamarca (for the first time) voted in a Radical Civic Union (UCR) candidate, Arnoldo Castillo. Elected by his still considerable following to the Senate, Saadi is today an ally of President Cristina Kirchner, though the governors seat remains in the UCRs column.
Economy
Catamarcas economy is Argentinas smallest, though still developed. Its 2006 economy was estimated at US$1.7 billion, or, US$5,280 per capita, 40% below the national average. Less diversified than most in Argentina, agriculture has never played an important role in the Catamarca economy (contributing less than 5% to its output). The provinces livestock includes around 200,000 head of cattle, 100,000 sheep, and 150,000 goats, with an annual production of 7,000 tonnes of beef, 5 tonnes of mutton/lamb, and 10 tonnes of pork, although outbreaks of foot and mouth disease has kept at times the production from reaching full potential. Large numbers of cattle, fattened in the alfalfa fields of Pucara, Tinogasta and Copacabana, were driven into northern Chile across the San Francisco pass and mules were bred for the Bolivian market in 1910s.