| Tucumán | |||
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| — Province — | |||
| Clockwise from top: House of Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán, Cathedral of Concepción, Quilmes ruins. | |||
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| Nickname(s): Garden of the Republic |
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| Location of Tucumán within Argentina | |||
| Country | Argentina | ||
| Capital | San Miguel de Tucumán | ||
| Departments | 17 | ||
| Municipalities and rural communes | 112 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Governor | José Alperovich (PJ) | ||
| • Deputies | 9 | ||
| • Senators | 3 | ||
| Area Ranked 22nd |
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| • Total | 22,524 km2 (8,696.6 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2010[1]) | |||
| • Total | 1.448.200 (Ranked 6th) | ||
| • Density | 64.3/km2 (166.5/sq mi) | ||
| Demonym | tucumano | ||
| Time zone | ART (UTC−3) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | AR-T | ||
| Website | www.tucuman.gov.ar | ||
Tucumán (Spanish pronunciation: [tukuˈman]) is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and Catamarca. It is nicknamed El Jardín de la República (The Republic Garden).
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Before the Spanish colonization, this land was inhabited by the Diaguitas and Calchaquíes, who practiced agriculture.
In 1533 Diego de Almagro explored the Argentine Northwest, including Tucumán. By 1565 saw the foundation of San Miguel de Tucumán by Diego de Villaroel, and the creation of the Provincia de Tucumán, Juríes y Diaguitas, whose first governor was Francisco de Aguirre. San Miguel de Tucumán was refounded in 1685 by Miguel de Salas some 65 kilometres from its first location, in order to avoid the constant attacks of the aboriginal malones.
The local aborigines of the region presented a strong resistance to the Spanish, who decided to move the defeated tribes towards Buenos Aires, being the most famous the case of the Quilmes, who were moved to the city of Quilmes.
Tucumán was a mid-point for shipments of gold and silver from the Viceroyalty of Peru, with important cattle, textile, and wood activities that provided supplies for the convoys on their way to Buenos Aires. Because of its important geographical position, and as head of the civil and Catholic governments it acquired special importance during the 18th century.
The creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776 meant the end of the convoys from Perú to the port of Buenos Aires. Tucumán, with 20,000 inhabitants by that time, suffered also from the British imports from the newly opened customs of Buenos Aires, no longer under the monopoly of the Spanish Crown.
In 1783 the Intendency of Tucumán was divided and Tucumán was set under the control of the Intendency of Salta del Tucumán, with its centre in Salta.
José de San Martín arrived in Tucumán in 1813 and installed the Military School. In 1814 the Intendency of Salta was divided into the present provinces.
On July 9, 1816, at the Congress of Tucumán, the Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata ("United Provinces of the Río de la Plata") declared their independence from Spain, but internal conflicts delayed the final fusion of the provinces into the República Argentina.
Following the failure of Argentina's first independence-era government, the Directorate, Governor Bernabé Aráoz on March 22, 1820, proclaimed the creation of the "Federal Republic of Tucumán." The experiment collapsed, however, when the neighboring provinces of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero withdrew, the following year.
The beginning of the 20th century, with the customs restrictions and the arrival of the railway, brought prosperous economic times for the province and its sugarcane production. Numerous landmarks were built, such as Ninth of July Park and the Tucumán Government Palace, and a daily newspaper founded in 1912, La Gaceta, became the most circulated Argentine daily outside Buenos Aires; but, the sugar price crisis of the 1960s and President Juan Carlos Onganía's order to have eleven large state-owned sugar mills closed in 1966, hit Tucumán's economy hard, and ushered in an era of instability for the province.[2]
The next decade saw mounting unrest due partly to economic hardship and in 1975, Pres. Isabel Perón declared a state of emergency in the province. The decree led to Operation Independence, an official military campaign at least as brutal on local magistrates, lawmakers and faculty as it was on its stated target, the ERP. Violence did not fully abate until the appointment of General Antonio Domingo Bussi, the operation's commander, as governor at the behest of the dictatorship that deposed Mrs. Perón in 1976. Efficient as well as ruthless, Bussi oversaw the completion of several stalled public works; but, also presided over some of the worst human rights abuses during that painful 1976-77 period.[3] Retaining a sizable following, Bussi was elected governor in his own right in 1995, but lost much of his earlier popularity during his four-year tenure.
Life in Tucumán has since returned to a certain normalcy and, if well its economy languished during much of the 1980s and '90s, it has recovered strongly during the expansive period Argentina has seen since 2002.
Despite Tucumán's small size, it is necessary to distinguish two different geographical systems. The east is associated with the Gran Chaco flat lands, while the west presents a mixture of the Sierras of the Pampas to the south, and the canyons of the Argentine Northwest to the north, being the highest peak the Cerro del Bolsón with 5,550 metres (18,209 ft).
Tucuman lies at the convergence of temperate climates and tropical climates further north, retaining characteristics of both in the lowlands. Furthermore, it is highly monsoonal, and depends also on elevation. As a rule of thumb, the far east is dryer and hotter, whereas the Piedmont sees many storms in the summer which moderate temperatures. The first foothills are very humid, provoking a dense jungle, and as altitude increases, a thick forest and then cool grasslands. The westernmost areas are once again a bit dryer because of a rain shadow.
Summers are long, hot and humid, with high temperatures ranging from 30ºC to 33ºC (86 F to 91F) and nighttime lows around 20ºC (68F) from November to March (5 months). Fall arrives with dryer conditions and cooler nights, and temperatures drop progressively until winter, when highs hover around 18ºC (64F) and nights around 7ºC (45F), and conditions are very dry (but often foggy). There are frequent warm spells in midwinter, when temperatures may reach 28ºC (82F) for a few days, followed by cold spells with high temperatures close to 10ºC (50F). Night frosts are lighter and less frequent than in the Pampas region, and most of the time the temperature will only descend to 0ºC to -2ºC (32F to 28F) a few nights in the year. Springs arrive very quickly and present hot and dry conditions. Precipitation in the lowlands ranges from 600 mm (24 in) in the east, to close to 1,200 mm in the foothills (48 in), in a very monsoonal pattern with 4-5 completely dry winter months, and a peak of about 200 mm (7.9 in) in the rainiest summer month.
The eastward facing slopes concentrate not only the heaviest precipitation, with spots around 1,800 mm (71 in) falling mostly in the 5 months of the summer monsoon; they also have a unique characteristic, which is that during part of the year, they are constantly immersed in a thick fog, providing humidity for the development of a thick jungle. The climate quickly becomes decidedly temperate with altitude, supporting different kinds of forest which even receive some snow every winter, finally reaching high-altitude grasslands with cool, windy weather year-round.
The high valleys in the west are significantly dryer, with pleasant summers with strong solar radiation and warm afternoons and cold nights, and extremely sunny winters with high thermal amplitude: days can easily surpass 15ºC to 20ºC (59F to 68F), but nights will be frosty, sometimes several degrees below the freezing point.
The abundant precipitation creates a wide area of abundant vegetation and justifies Tucumán’s title of “Jardín de la República” (Garden of the Republic).
The Salí is the province’s main river. Tucumán also has four dams that are used for hydroelectricity and irrigation: El Cadillal on Salí River, the province’s most important dam; Embalse Río Hondo on the Hondo River; La Angostura on de los Sosa River; and Escaba on the Marapa River. The Santa María River crosses the Valles Calchaquíes.
Long among the most underdeveloped Argentine provinces, Tucumán Province has been growing strongly, and, in 2006, its economy reached US$7.2 billion, the nation's 7th largest. Its per capita output of US$5,400 is nearly 40% below the national average but compares favourably with that of most of its neighbors.[4]
Known internationally for its prodigious sugarcane (with 2,300 km², and the sugar production, 60% of the country's), Tucumán's economy is quite diversified and agriculture accounts for about 7% of output. After the sugar crisis of the 1960s, Tucumán tried to diversify its crops and now cultivates, among others, lemons (world 1st. producer), strawberries, kiwifruit, beans, maize, alfalfa, and soybeans.
Cattle, sheep, and goats are raised mainly for local consumption.
Manufacturing in Tucumán initially centered around sugar production but has diversified significantly since 1960. Sugar mills add about 15% to the total economy. Besides the industrialisation of the sugarcane into sugar, paper, and alcohol, there are food, textile, automotive, and metallurgical industries. Among the latter, the freight-truck assembly operated by the Volkswagen Group controlled Swedish Scania company is probably the best known. Mining is a minor activity, centered on salt, clay, lime and other non-metallic extractions.
Cultural and sport tourism is common in the province, and attracts a number of Argentine tourists every year. The Panamerican Highway (Route 9) crosses San Miguel de Tucumán, and connects it with Santiago del Estero and Buenos Aires. The city also serves as a mid-stop for tourists visiting other provinces of the Argentine Northwest. The Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport have regular flights to Buenos Aires and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and receives almost 300,000 passengers every year.
The most visited destinations of the Province are the Campo de los Alisos National Park, Valles Calchaquíes, Tafí del Valle, Ruins of Quilmes, the Diaguita community of Amaicha del Valle, and the city of San Miguel de Tucumán.
There are four important universities in the province: the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (with 60,000 students), the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino and the Universidad de San Pablo-T.
The province is divided into 17 departments (Spanish departamentos).
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