Tartagal, Salta

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Cities and towns
in Argentina
Tartagal
Province Salta
Department San Martín
Area 3,015 km²
Location 22°30′ S 63°50′ W
Elevation 510 m AMSL
Population 60,585
Demonym —
Density 20.1 inhab/km²
Phone code +54 3875
CPA base A4560
Mayor Héctor Darío Valenzuela
Party Partido Renovador

Tartagal is a city in the north of the province of Salta, Argentina, 365 km from the provincial capital. It has over 60,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census [INDEC], and it is the head town of the General José de San Martín Department (with about 3/4 of its population). It is crossed by the river of the same name.

Tartagal is located in an area of major economic importance for the province, within Argentina's second largest natural gas reservoir, and at a crossroads for trade in the Mercosur (being only 55 km from the border with Bolivia and 100 km from Paraguay). The area produces 25% of the oil and about 16% of the natural gas in Argentina.

[edit] History

Tartagal derives from the tártago plant (Euphorbia lathyris, a kind of spurge). The area of modern Tartagal appears with this name in legal documents for the first time in 1853. At the time the area belonged to the Tarija Department, Bolivia. The foundation date of the town, however, is acknowledged as 1924-06-13; the municipality was created soon afterwards, and Tartagal attained city status only on 1949-09-22.

Petroleum was discovered here at the beginning of the 20th century. Since 1926 the state-owned oil company YPF employed or indirectly supported most of the local population. In 1992 the company was privatized (becoming Repsol-YPF) and 90% of its workers were fired, prompting violent social conflicts and, a few years later, the appearance of piquetero (unemployed workers) movements, similarly to what happened also in other oil-producing areas like Cutral-Co, Neuquén, and in the neighboring General Mosconi.

[edit] References