Chaco Province

History

The area was originally inhabited by various hunter-gatherers tribes of the Mataco-Guaicuru language family. Several native tribes (Guaraní, Toba, Wichí and others) have persisted in the region and have important communities in this province as well as in Formosa.

The first European settlement was founded by Spanish conquistador Alonso de Vera y Aragón in 1585 under the name of Concepción de Nuestra Señora, but it was abandoned in 1632. During its existence, it was one of the most important cities in the region, but attacks from local Indians forced the residents to leave. In the 17th century, the San Fernando del Río Negro Jesuit mission was founded in the area of the modern-day city of Resistencia, but was abandoned 15 years later.

The Gran Chaco region remained largely unexplored and uninhabited by either Europeans or Argentines until the late 19th century, after numerous confrontations between Argentina and Paraguay during the War of the Triple Alliance. San Fernando was thus re-established, this time as a military outpost, and renamed Resistencia in 1876.

The Territorio Nacional del Gran Chaco was established in 1872. This territory included current Formosa province and lands that now belong to Paraguay. The Gran Chaco Territory was superseded by Territorio Nacional del Chaco upon its administrative division in 1884.

Between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, the province received a variety of immigrants. Among them were Volga Germans and Mennonites from Russia, Germany, and Canada. They – along with other immigrants – were able to transform Chaco into a productive farming region known for its dairy and beef production.

The territory became a province in 1951, changing its name to Provincia Presidente Perón; the province recovered its historical name of Chaco in 1955, when the army overthrew the government of President Juan Perón. Chaco voters, however, continued to support Peronist candidates in subsequent elections, notably Deolindo Bittel, whose three terms as governor in the 1960s and 1970s were each cut short by military intervention; he ran for vice-president in 1983 and later served as mayor of the provincial capital, Resistencia.

Underserved by paved highways and therefore very dependent on passenger rail, Chaco was adversely impacted by the national rail privatizations and line closures of the early 1990s. In 1997 the province invested in SEFECHA, at the time the only publically-owned commuter rail in Argentina. SEFECHA today carries nearly a million passengers a year and has contributed to the provinces vigorous recovery from the 2002 crisis. Chaco, however, remains among the provinces with the worst social indicators in the country, with 49.3% of its population living below the poverty line by income, and 17.5% of children aged between 2 and 5 in a state of malnutrition. Among Argentine provinces, it ranks last by GDP per capita and 21st by Human Development Index, above its neighbors Formosa and Santiago del Estero.